The U.S. Small-area Life Expectancy Estimates Project (USALEEP) is a partnership of NCHS, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)External, and the National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems (NAPHSIS)External to produce a new measure of health for where you live. The USALEEP project produced estimates of life expectancy at birth -- the average number of years a person can expect to live -- for most of the census tracts in the United States for the period 2010-2015. These estimates were published in September, 2018."A growing body of research is recognizing the importance of measuring mortality outcomes in small geographic areas, such as U.S. census tracts, to identify health disparities within a population. The indicator most widely identified as the ideal measure of a population's mortality experience is life expectancy at birth. The concept of life expectancy is intuitive and easily understood by both policymakers and the lay public. Life expectancy is estimated for national populations by most developed countries, including the United States, which has produced the estimate annually since 1945 and decennially since 1900. However, its calculation is relatively complex compared with that of other summary mortality measures, because it entails the calculation of six distinct functions and requires a minimum number of age groups and total population size, below\ which the estimates become unstable and unreliable." - USALEEP Methodology Summary The methodology used to calculate the U.S. censustract abridged life tables consisted of several stages. First, through a collaboration between the National Vital Statistics System registration areas and the National Center for Health Statistics, death records of U.S. residents (excluding residents of Maine and Wisconsin) for deaths occurring in 2010 through 2015 were geocoded using decedents' residential addresses to identify and code census tracts. Second, population estimates were produced based on the 2010 decennial census and the 2011--2015 American Community Survey 5-year survey. Third, a methodology that combined standard demographic techniques and statistical modeling was developed to address challenges posed by small population sizes and small and missing age-specific death counts. Last, standard, abridged life table methods were adjusted to account for error introduced by population estimates based on sample data. To review the full methodology, please use the following link: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_02/sr02_181.pdf

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These data are published for informational purposes and there are no restrictions for using or disseminating this data set. Users of the data should consider factors such as the data source, time period, assignment of geography, statistical reliability, and calculation of rate. The City and County of Denver Department of Public Health and Environment assumes no liability to the completeness, correctness, or fitness for use of this data set. Please contact Maggie Kauffman at DDPHE (margaret.kauffman@denvergov.org) for more information on how this data was assembled, using this data set, or to request additional access to this data.