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How Many People Live Past 85? The Latest Numbers

Roughly four in ten people reach 85. Here are the latest U.S. numbers by age and sex, and why your odds improve as you get older.

Topics: Longevity Independence
Contents

About 43 out of every 100 people reach age 85, based on 2023 U.S. death rates. About 25 reach 90. About 10 reach 95. Women do better than men at every age.

How many people reach each age

The CDC builds a "life table" every year. It follows an imaginary group of 100,000 babies and asks how many are still alive at each age, using the death rates from one real year. This table uses 2023, the latest year published.

Out of 100 newborns, how many reach each age (U.S., 2023)
AgeEveryoneMenWomen
65837987
70777282
75696375
80585165
85433650
90251931
9510613
100213

Numbers are rounded to the nearest whole person. Source: CDC National Vital Statistics Reports, United States Life Tables, 2023.

The good news: your odds go up as you get older

The table above starts from birth. But if you have already made it to 70, you have already cleared the hard years. So your chance of reaching 85 is higher than 43 out of 100.

If you are already this age, how many out of 100 reach 85 and 90
Age nowTo 85, allTo 85, menTo 85, womenTo 90, all
6551455730
7055506032
7562576636
8074707743

We worked these out from the CDC table by dividing the number alive at 85 by the number alive at your age. They show an average across the whole country. Your own health, family history, and habits matter too.

How many more years does a person have?

This is the other way the CDC puts it. At each age, here is how many more years the average person has left:

  • At 65, about 19.5 more years (men 18.2, women 20.7)
  • At 70, about 15.9 more years (men 14.7, women 16.8)
  • At 75, about 12.4 more years (men 11.5, women 13.2)
  • At 85, about 6.7 more years (men 6.1, women 7.0)

At birth, the average in 2023 was 78.4 years: 75.8 for men and 81.1 for women. Averages include everyone, so plenty of people live well beyond them.

Why women live longer than men

Nobody has the whole answer. But the gap is not fixed, and it gets smaller as people get older. At birth, women are expected to live 5.3 years longer than men. By age 65 the gap is 2.5 years. By age 85 it is under one year. Plenty of men live well past 90.

What you can do with this

You cannot control the chart. But the part that is up to you is how the years feel. Staying strong, sleeping well, and keeping people close are the habits that most help you do what you want to do for as long as you can. Here are five simple habits to start with.

One thing you can do today

Plan one thing for next year

A trip, a class, a visit, a project. Write it on a calendar. It is a small way of telling yourself that the years ahead are worth planning for.

What deserves a call

Do not write these off as "just age"

  • A fall, or a new fear of falling
  • Weight loss you did not plan
  • Feeling sad or hopeless for more than two weeks
  • New trouble with memory or balance

Here is how to tell what can wait and what cannot.

Get help right away

Call 911 or your local emergency number for:

  • Chest pain or pressure
  • Trouble breathing
  • Sudden weakness or numbness on one side
  • Trouble speaking, or a drooping face

If you are thinking about hurting yourself, call or text 988 in the U.S. to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

Questions to ask your doctor

  • What is one thing that would help me most in the years ahead?
  • Which screenings and vaccines am I due for?
  • How is my strength and balance?
  • Could any of my medicines be affecting how I feel?

Keep going

Sources worth keeping

Remember: A chart tells you about a crowd. It cannot tell you about you. What you can do is make the years you have feel as good as they can.