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Poor New Yorkers Outlive Poor Americans in Other Cities

By Nicole Levy | April 11, 2016 6:01pm
 The income equality gap in New York City may be big, but the life-expectancy gap is relatively small, a study found.
The income equality gap in New York City may be big, but the life-expectancy gap is relatively small, a study found.
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New York may have one of the highest rates of income inequality among American cities, but it has one of the smallest life-expectancy gaps between the rich and poor, a new study has found.

The life expectancy of low-income New Yorkers tends to significantly surpass that of their counterparts in other U.S. metro areas, according to a paper published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Data from tax records and social security death records show that Americans in the bottom five percent of household incomes live an average of more than 10 years longer in New York City than they do in Detroit, Mich.

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Credit: The Health Inequality Project

Economically disadvantaged New Yorkers still live shorter lives than their wealthier neighbors, but that measure of inequality has shrunk in the Big Apple since 2001. (Nationwide, the gap has widened in recent years.)

How can that be the case in an expensive city where affordable housing is scarce?

For one thing, New York's large immigrant population tends to be healthier than native-born Americans. 

But the JAMA article suggests that it's the Bloomberg administration's pursuit of policies to reduce smoking and obesity that have made the biggest difference. 

New York City's government spends a lot on social services, including access to medical care, for low-income residents, but it also enforces laws that promote healthy behavior.

New Yorkers smoke less because a single pack of cigarettes can cost them more than $12 with tobacco taxes. The city's trans-fat ban and its requirement that chain restaurants post calorie counts on menus both help to curb the risk of heart disease and obesity. 

“Even with income inequality as big as it is, there are things that government can do to help the poor be healthier and live longer lives,” former New York health commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley told the New York Times. “It’s about combating the things that are killing people.”