Bucks County residents live an average of 79.6 years, more than two years above the Pennsylvania average of 77.5.
Philadelphia County sits at 74.9 years, a gap of 4.7 years, according to a county-by-county life expectancy map published by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania. The data comes from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute's County Health Rankings model. BUCKSCO Today first reported on the regional spread in the map.
Bucks County ranks seventh among the state's 67 counties, in a three-way tie with Snyder and Northampton counties. Chester County leads the Philadelphia suburbs at 81.4 years, followed by Montgomery County at 80.6, Bucks at 79.6 and Delaware County at 78.4.
What drives the difference
The rankings model does not measure hospital quality, BUCKSCO Today noted. It assigns the most weight to social and economic conditions: income, education, employment and community safety. Health behaviors like smoking, diet and physical activity rank second. Clinical care and the physical environment carry the least weight.
Bucks County checks several of those boxes. The county's median household income is about $114,764, second in Pennsylvania behind Chester County, according to a SmartAsset analysis of Census Bureau data. Not a single Bucks County municipality falls below the state's lower middle-class threshold. Buckingham Township is among nine local municipalities whose median incomes exceed the top of Pennsylvania's middle-class range.
Education tracks a similar pattern. Several Bucks County school districts ranked in the state's top 50 for 2026 standardized test scores, with New Hope-Solebury leading at No. 16, Council Rock at No. 37 and Central Bucks at No. 38, according to statewide rankings compiled by BUCKSCO Today.
Where Bucks County falls short
The county still trails Chester County by nearly two years. The gaps are specific. Diabetes mortality in Bucks County runs roughly 32 percent higher than in Chester County, according to a separate BUCKSCO Today analysis of the same data. Accidental deaths are nearly 30 percent higher. Chronic lower respiratory disease is about 18 percent higher, and cancer mortality is about 10 percent higher. Cardiovascular mortality runs close to even.
State and national context
U.S. life expectancy reached 79.0 years in 2024, the highest on record, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Pennsylvania has not fully recovered from its pandemic-era drop. The state averaged 78.3 years in 2019 and fell to 76.8 by 2020. The current 77.5-year average sits between those marks.
One note: county, state and national estimates come from different data windows and methods. The comparisons are directionally sound but not precise to the decimal, BUCKSCO Today noted.
Centre County leads all 67 Pennsylvania counties at 81.7 years, followed by Chester at 81.4, Union at 80.7 and Montgomery at 80.6.
