The questions
people actually ask.

The calculator produces a personalized estimate grounded in actuarial data from four authoritative sources: the CDC National Vital Statistics System (2023), the Social Security Administration Actuarial Life Tables (2022), the National Vital Statistics Reports state life tables (2022), and the Society of Actuaries Valuation Basic Table (2015). These are the same data sources the life insurance and life settlement industries use to price mortality risk.

The estimate carries an inherent confidence range — typically plus or minus four to six years — because lifespan involves factors no model can fully capture. It is most accurately described as a well-grounded probabilistic estimate. Not a prediction. Not a diagnosis. A starting point that is considerably more personalized than a generic actuarial average.

Four sources, each weighted by authority and recency:

CDC/NVSS 2023 (35% weight) — The most current general population mortality data from the National Vital Statistics System.

SSA 2022 (30% weight) — The Social Security Administration's Actuarial Life Tables, used to price Social Security benefits.

NVSR 2022 (20% weight) — State-level life tables from the National Vital Statistics Reports, which capture geographic variation.

SOA VBT 2015 (12% weight) — The Valuation Basic Table from the Society of Actuaries, which incorporates clinical and insurance underwriting factors not captured in general population data.

PolicyAppraisal.com Proprietary LE Database (15% weight) — Twenty-five years of individual life expectancy determinations drawn from the life settlement industry. Unlike population actuarial tables, this data is built from actual medical records across full patient lifespans — capturing real comorbidity trajectories, medication histories, and clinical outcomes for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, COPD, obesity, and renal disease. It is continuously refreshed and represents the only source in our composite derived from end-of-life clinical reality rather than modeled population risk.

Your answers to 33 questions are used to adjust the baseline estimate drawn from each source, producing a weighted composite specific to your profile.

Most free calculators use a single data source — typically the SSA tables — and ask ten to fifteen basic questions. We use four independent actuarial sources weighted into a composite, ask 33 evidence-based questions, and produce a ranked action plan tied to your specific answers.

We are also the only consumer tool we are aware of that explicitly models the intersection of clinical factors (blood pressure, cholesterol, stroke history, kidney disease, COPD, disability) with lifestyle, demographic, and socioeconomic variables in a single composite estimate. The questions come from the same domains that actuaries and underwriters use — not from a general wellness questionnaire.

It is the fifth and most clinically distinctive source in our composite estimate. PolicyAppraisal.com has spent twenty-five years conducting life expectancy determinations for the life settlement industry — the market in which individuals sell their existing life insurance policies to institutional investors. Every determination is grounded in actual medical records.

What makes this data different from standard actuarial tables is what it captures: the full arc of a person’s medical history across their lifespan. Not modeled population risk. Real trajectories — the progression of diabetes from diagnosis through complications, the interaction of cardiovascular disease with obesity and hypertension, the cumulative effect of decades of medication changes. These are people in the final chapter of life, and their records contain a density of clinical truth that no population table can replicate.

This database is continuously refreshed with new determinations, making it the only source in our composite that reflects current clinical reality at the individual level rather than historical population averages. It carries a 15% weight in the composite — the same weight as the VBT, which is the insurance industry’s standard underwriting table — because we believe it is at least as authoritative for the conditions that most dramatically affect lifespan in the second half of life.

Yes, as many times as you like. No account required. Nothing stored between sessions. Many users retake it after meaningful lifestyle changes — quitting smoking, beginning treatment for a chronic condition, improving sleep, or losing weight — to see how those changes affect the estimate. The recalculate button on your results page lets you adjust individual answers and see the impact immediately.

Yes. The calculator runs entirely in your browser. Your answers are not stored on any server, not linked to your identity, and not sold or shared with any third party. If you choose to enter your email to receive your Longevity Report, that email is used solely to deliver your results.

We do not build profiles. We do not resell data. We have no commercial relationship with any insurance carrier, employer, or pharmaceutical company that would create an incentive to share your information. Your results exist only for the duration of your browser session.

No. The calculator does not share data with insurance companies, employers, or any third party. Your answers exist only in your browser session. No account is required, no identifying information is collected unless you voluntarily provide an email address, and even then, that email is used only to send your results. We have no commercial arrangement with any insurance carrier that would create an incentive to share your data.

Your results include three things: a composite estimate with a confidence range, a breakdown of the specific factors adding or subtracting years from your baseline, and a ranked action plan of the highest-impact interventions for your specific profile.

The action plan is where the value is. Each item is sourced, ranked by mortality impact, and specific enough to discuss with your doctor. We recommend treating your results as the starting point for a conversation with a primary care physician or specialist — not as a substitute for medical advice. Print it. Bring it. Ask what the numbers mean for you specifically.

Because honesty matters more than false precision. Lifespan is influenced by variables no model can fully capture — genetics, accidents, infections, future medical breakthroughs, and choices you haven't made yet. The confidence range reflects the real uncertainty in any longevity estimate, including the ones used by actuaries and underwriters. The center of the range is your best estimate given current data. The range itself tells you something important: the decisions you make from here can move that number meaningfully in either direction.

Yes — and arguably the calculator is most useful for people managing chronic conditions. The 33-question assessment includes specific questions about heart disease, diabetes, stroke, COPD, kidney disease, blood pressure, and cholesterol precisely because these are the factors with the largest mortality impact.

Your results will reflect the actuarial reality of your health status honestly, and the action plan will prioritize the interventions with the greatest potential benefit for your specific profile. The calculator does not provide medical advice, but it can help you understand which of your conditions carries the most weight — and where to focus your energy and your conversations with your care team.

The calculator accounts for the underlying conditions these medications treat — BMI, Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular risk, and blood pressure — rather than the drugs themselves. This is intentional. The long-term mortality data on GLP-1 drugs is still emerging, and we will not model effects we cannot yet reliably quantify.

What we do know is that the metabolic improvements GLP-1s can produce carry measurable longevity benefit. If you are on one of these medications and your metabolic markers have improved, retaking the calculator with your updated health profile will reflect that improvement in your estimate. The drug is the tool. The outcome is what we measure.

Because the mortality signal from untreated depression and chronic psychological stress is large, well-documented, and still dramatically underweighted in most longevity tools. Depression is associated with a ten to twenty year reduction in life expectancy when untreated. Chronic stress accelerates cellular aging at the level of telomere shortening. Social isolation carries mortality risk comparable to smoking fifteen cigarettes a day.

Mental health is not separate from physical health. It is physical health. If any of these questions surface something you haven't addressed, that is not incidental — it is exactly the kind of finding this calculator exists to surface. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available 24 hours a day if you need support.

Yes. The actuarial tables extend through age 99, and several of the clinical questions — cholesterol management, cardiovascular risk, chronic disease factors — are particularly relevant to adults over 65. The action plan generated for older users appropriately emphasizes preventive care, cardiovascular maintenance, and the clinical interventions with the highest evidence base for this age group.

The calculator does not assume any age is too late for meaningful intervention. The research on post-traumatic growth, resilience, and lifestyle change consistently shows benefit at every age studied.

Significantly. State of residence is one of the 33 factors in the calculator. The CDC documents a life expectancy gap of approximately nine years between the highest and lowest states — a difference driven by healthcare access, environmental quality, economic conditions, and population health behaviors. The calculator applies a state-level adjustment derived from NVSR state life table data.

Rural versus urban residence is assessed separately. Rural Americans face measurably higher mortality rates from the five leading causes of death, primarily because of healthcare access constraints. If you live in a rural area, the action plan will weight preventive screening and telehealth options accordingly.

The underlying actuarial data is U.S.-specific, so the state-level geographic adjustments apply only to U.S. residents. That said, the lifestyle, clinical, and behavioral factors — exercise, diet, sleep, smoking, social connection, mental health — carry mortality signals that are consistent across populations in the peer-reviewed literature. International users will receive a meaningful estimate, with the caveat that the geographic and healthcare access components are calibrated to U.S. data.