Alabama's age at death tracks half a year above what CDC tables predict

Drive the length of Alabama — from the Tennessee Valley down through the Black Belt to the Gulf — and the churches alone tell you something about how people here hold on to each other, and how they let go. Across 817 death records with confirmed ages, Alabamians who died in early 2026 reached an average age of 73.7, landing just above the CDC's life expectancy estimate of 73.2 for the state. That half-year margin may look modest on paper, but in a state that routinely ranks among the nation's lowest for longevity, it carries weight — it means the people actually appearing in obituaries right now are outlasting the actuarial forecast, even as they fall 0.8 years short of the national obituary average of 74.5. The gap between Alabama and the rest of the country remains real and stubborn. But the gap between Alabama and its own expectations deserves a closer look.