Life expectancy varies by decades depending on where you live in metro Atlanta

WSB-TV

ATLANTA — Life expectancy has much more to do with your zip code than your DNA code, according to researchers.

And here in metro Atlanta, they found your life could be decades shorter than neighbors who live a few miles down the street.

According to researchers at New York University Langone Health, neighborhoods with lower life expectancy experience more stress. A longtime resident of a metro Atlanta neighborhood with one of the lowest life expectancies said she’s seen the impact of that stress firsthand.

"People do whatever they have to, to survive,” explained Jane Ridley, who survived in Atlanta’s Mechanicsville community for 30 years.