Interactive Map: Which North Carolina counties have the highest and lowest life expectancies?

(WGHP) — There’s more than a 10-year difference between the North Carolina counties with the longest life expectancy and those with the shortest.

Life expectancy is just one of the many data sets available in the North Carolina Data Portal . This online tool, a project of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Division of Public Health and NC Public Health Region 4, draws data from sources like the U.S. Census Bureau, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Using information from the National Center for Health Statistics’s Mortality Files, the NC Data Portal calculated the life expectancy for people born between the years of 2019 and 2021 in each of North Carolina’s 100 counties.

Below, you’ll find an interactive map showing each county’s life expectancy at birth.

For the state of North Carolina, the average life expectancy at birth is 76.6 years old, a year short of the U.S. expectancy of 77.6

Orange and Wake counties, with expectancies of 81.6 and 81.2 respectively, were the only two in the state with an expectancy over 80.

Robeson and Swain, both with an expectancy of 69.3, were the only two below 70.

Death rate by cause

While the data does not explain why Orange and Wake ranked so high or why Robeson and Swain ranked so low, the state does provide data on different means of death that may offer some insight.

Robeson and Swain were ranked second and third for the highest rate of poisoning deaths, including drug overdoses, with 68 and 57.9 per 100,000 residents respectively. Pamlico had the highest total at 74.8. Wake County had the lowest rate of poisoning deaths at 17.4, and Orange was seventh with 19.1.

Robeson County has the highest reported rate of annual firearm deaths in the state at about 32.8 per 100,000 residents. Swain County's rate was not reported. Wake and Orange had the lowest with a rate of 7.8 and 8.2 respectively.

Swain is tied with Cherokee County for the highest suicide rate in the state at 29.7 deaths per 100,000 residents. Robeson was in the bottom third with 12.6. Orange had the seventh lowest, 10.2, and Wake had the fifth lowest, 9.5.

Robeson County had the fourth highest rate of alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes at 10.6 per 100,000 residents. Swain, however, had one of the lowest rates at 1.4, even lower than Wake's 1.9 and Orange's 2.4.

You can find even more data about demographics, education, health and more in the North Carolina Data Portal.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to CBS17.com.