Measures of Mortality
Leading Causes of Death
The leading cause of death rankings present the most frequently occurring causes of death in San Diego County. These measures show the relative burden of a specific cause of death compared to other causes. Rankings vary by geography, age, gender, race/ethnicity, and even vary over time.

While heart disease is the #1 leading cause of death in the United States and in the state of California, Cancer is the leading cause of death in San Diego County.
Leading Causes of Death Workbook: This workbook presents the leading causes of death in alphabetical order. Each tab represents one condition and displays the cases and rates of deaths by age, race/ethnicity, and gender by each geography.


Life Expectancy
Life Expectancy in San Diego County, 2010-2018
Life expectancy is one of the Top 10 Indicators measured for the County of San Diego’s Live Well San Diego vision for healthier, safer, and thriving communities. This measure is a widely used indicator for the capability to live a long and healthy life and reflects the overall mortality of a population. This document includes life expectancy by gender, race/ethnicity, geography, and overall for San Diego County.


Smoking Attributable Mortality


Smoking Attributable Mortality: Get a breakdown of deaths due to smoking behaviors.
- 2017 Smoking Attributable Mortality Table Series
- 2016 Smoking Attributable Mortality Table Series
- 2015 Smoking Attributable Mortality Table Series
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Underlying Cause of Death 1999-2018 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released in 2020. Data are from the Multiple Cause of Death Files, 1999-2018, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. Accessed at http://wonder.cdc.gov/ucd-icd10.html on Jul 14, 2020 7:18:33 PM