Life Expectancy Calculator

This calculator reads the Social Security Administration's actuarial life table, labeled "Period Life Table, 2023, as used in the 2026 Trustees Report." SSA's Office of the Chief Actuary publishes two numbers for every age from 0 to 119, separately for males and females: the probability of dying within the next year (q) and the period life expectancy (e), the average number of years remaining.

Remaining years come straight from the e column. A 65-year-old woman has 20.66 years on average, so her typical age at death is about 85.7; a 65-year-old man has 18.12 years, or about 83.1. For ages between birthdays the calculator interpolates between the two whole-age rows.

The odds of reaching an age multiply the one-year survival chances (1 − q) for every year in between. From 65 to 90 that product is about 24% for men and 35% for women, which matches the table's own count of survivors (19,063 of 79,084 men alive at 65, and 30,504 of 87,399 women).

Many online calculators ask about smoking, exercise or diet and then add or subtract years with multipliers that are rarely sourced. We deliberately do not do that. Published research on individual risk factors measures relative risks in particular study groups, and stacking them into a single personal number produces false precision.

Use these figures as a population baseline for planning: how long retirement savings may need to last, when to claim Social Security, or how likely a spouse is to outlive you. For your personal outlook, your blood pressure, smoking history, weight, chronic conditions and family history matter far more than any online tool can capture, and a clinician is the right person to discuss them with.

The table covers the United States population as a whole. Life expectancy differs by income, region and race, so the national average can overstate or understate what is typical in a particular community.