Really, though, it's not where you live, it's the composition of the neighbors in the hood; it's the difference of a bunch of dollars and/or education. I'm talking about the latest health stats, as presented in this county by county map. Here's a post on Herndon Patch about the study.
Fairfax County, where I live, had a male life expectancy of 75.6 in 1985. Prince William, just south of here, had 71.3. DC had a life expectancy of 64.3. Over 25 years things changed. DC improved by 9.4, Fairfax 6.1, Prince William 7.4. Loudoun county, just to the west of Fairfax, and DC were the two jurisdictions which stand out as having the greatest increase. Why--Loudoun has gone from mostly rural to rich suburbia in the 25 years; DC has changed its demographics almost as drastically--picking up a lot of yuppies and dinks (as we used to call them) and seeing lower income blacks move out. DC has also cut its homicide rate drastically.
It's an interesting map to play with. What's happening in Kentucky? The bluegrass state has seen a statewide increase in physical activity in the last 10 years, it really stands out on the national map. I don't think Mrs. Obama has been there more than other states. More seriously, there doesn't seem to be a correlation, at least by eyeball, between changes in physical activity and changes in hypertension or obesity, and Kentucky was very low on activity in 2001, so there may be something odd with the data, not reality. And using just eyeballs, it looks as if the crime wave documented in the TV series "Justified" has some basis in reality?
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