Last winter, the New York City Department of Health released
figures that told a surprising story: New Yorkers are living
longer than ever, and longer than most people in the country. A
New Yorker born in 2004 can now expect to live 78.6 years, nine
months longer than the average American will. What’s more, our
life expectancy is increasing at a rate faster than that of most
of the rest of the country. Since 1990, the average American has
added only about two and a half years to his life, while we in
New York have added 6.2 years to ours. In the year 2004 alone,
our life expectancy shot up by five months—a stunning leap,
because American life spans normally increase by only a month or
two each year. When these figures came out, urban-health experts
were impressed and slightly dazed. It turns out the conventional
wisdom is wrong: The city, it seems, won’t kill you. Quite the
opposite. Not only are we the safest big city in America, but we
are, by this measure at least, the healthiest. The “average life
expecta