commissiononhealth.org
METROPOLITAN PHILADELPHIA TRANSIT LINES
MERCER
COUNTY
77.1
34.6 miles =4.8-year
life span disparity
MONTGOMERY
COUNTY
PENNSYLVANIA
YEARS
BUCKS
COUNTY
21 miles=6.4-year
life span disparity
78.7
CHESTER
COUNTY
YEARS
8.4 miles =6.5-year
life span disparity
77.7
YEARS
78.8
14.7 miles =5.4-year
life span disparity
YEARS
PHILADELPHIA
COUNTY
76.9
Y E A RS
4.3 miles=4.6-year
life span disparity
72.3
YEARS
BURLINGTON
COUNTY
75.8
30TH
STREET
STATION
YEARS
5 miles =3.5-year
life span disparity
DELAWARE
COUNTY
NEW JERSEY
76.5
CAMDEN
COUNTY
YEARS
DELAWARE
NEW CASTLE
COUNTY
17.7 miles =4.2-year
life span disparity
GLOUCESTER
COUNTY
SALEM
COUNTY
ATLANTIC
COUNTY
Life Expectancy: Where You Live Matters
Where we live dramatically affects our health—for better or for worse. Community attributes—including
the availability of safe and healthy housing, access to nutritious food and safe places to exercise—can
have a direct impact on our opportunity to lead long and healthy lives.
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Building Healthier Lives Starts at Home
and in the Community
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America—
a national, independent, nonpartisan group of leaders—is examining factors outside
the health care system that affect our health and will issue recommendations to
improve the health of all Americans.
A large and growing body of research has shown that living conditions can have
a powerful influence on health. This can be seen by the life span disparities
across community residents. In Philadelphia, where the average life expectancy
is 72.3 years, people living a short rail ride away can expect to lead longer lives.
Traveling from 30th Street Station for 7 stops on the PATCO line to Camden City
Station, N.J., life expectancy increases by 3.5 years. Those numbers almost double
when you travel from 30th Street Station on the R-5 line to the Bryn Mawr Station in
Montgomery County, where residents can expect lives 6.5 years longer than
residents of Philadelphia.
Why Philadelphia?
Philadelphia is home to innovative programs that provide residents with access to
healthful foods, encourage physical activity and improve the built environment—all
factors that have been shown to strongly affect health. The Commission is holding
its second field hearing in Philadelphia to learn more about some of the city’s most
promising programs.
The Commission Wants to Hear From You
In 2009, the Commission will recommend specific, feasible steps that foundations,
corporations, organizations and governments at every level can take to improve
health.
Visit ideas.commissiononhealth.org to share innovative, specific policies and
programs of great promise with the Commission.
Find out more at commissiononhealth.org.
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