Metro comparison

Lexington Park vs Pocatello

Lexington Park, MD and Pocatello, ID side by side, cost of living, rent, wages, crime, schools, childcare and environment, all from the same federal datasets so every number is directly comparable.

36.3
Lexington Park Life Score
D
Lexington Park grade
67.9
Pocatello Life Score
A+
Pocatello grade

Head-to-head verdict

Across the seven dimensions, Lexington Park scores higher on 1 (wages) and Pocatello on 6 (cost of living, rent, safety, schools, childcare, environment). The radar shows the full shape; the tables below break out every figure.

Lexington Park vs Pocatello across all seven dimensions (each scored 0–100 as a national percentile, bigger area = stronger overall) 7-axis radar comparing 2 series across Cost, Wages, Rent, Safety, Schools, Childcare, Environ.. CostWagesRentSafetySchoolsChildcareEnviron. Lexington ParkPocatello
Lexington Park vs Pocatello across all seven dimensions (each scored 0–100 as a national percentile, bigger area = stronger overall)

Source: BEA, HUD, BLS, FBI, NCES, DOL, EPA As of December 2024

Dimension scorecard

Where each metro wins, and by how much

Every dimension is a national percentile (0–100). Each bar leans toward the stronger metro, a long lean is a decisive edge, a near-even split is a toss-up. The radar shows the overall shape; this shows the per-dimension margins.

◖ Lexington Park Pocatello ◗
cost of living
19
81
wages
92
21
rent
7
69
safety
27
82
schools
40
70
childcare
17
87
environment
32
91

Lexington Park and Pocatello differ across eleven dimensions of livability. Lexington Park has a cost-of-living index of 100.8 vs Pocatello's 88.9 (national average = 100). Median salaries are $77,183 in Lexington Park and $59,267 in Pocatello. A 2-bedroom averages $2,083/mo vs $1,173/mo.

How to read this matchup

Reading the Lexington Park vs Pocatello Comparison

Lexington Park (MD) and Pocatello (ID) are assembled here from the same federal data pipeline, BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, FBI Uniform Crime Reports, NCES public-school counts, and EPA environmental indicators, so every number on this page is directly comparable. The overall cost index reads 100.8 for Lexington Park against 88.9 for Pocatello, a 11.9-point gap on a scale where 100 equals the U.S. average. HUD's 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent, the figure used to set housing-choice voucher payment standards, is $2,083/mo in Lexington Park and $1,173/mo in Pocatello, a $910/mo difference that compounds to $10,920 over a year.

On wages, BLS OES reports a median salary of $77,183 across 64,950 jobs in Lexington Park against $59,267 across 29,080 jobs in Pocatello. Adjusted through the BEA cost-of-living lens, $100,000 earned in Lexington Park carries the same local purchasing power as $88,235 in Pocatello - the most honest way to read the salary headline, because nominal wages and rents move together in tight metros. State-level violent crime, the most reliable geographic tier FBI UCR publishes, is 425.1 per 100,000 residents in MD vs 234.7 in ID, with property-crime rates of 2074.5 and 754.4 respectively.

Schools are reported at the state tier by NCES: MD lists 1,383 public schools at a 14.5:1 student-teacher ratio, while ID lists 778 schools at 17.1:1, a signal of class-size staffing, though individual district and school-level variation within each state is substantial. Department of Labor center-based infant care runs $14,631/yr in the Lexington Park area versus $7,315/yr in Pocatello - a line item that shifts the real cost-of-living picture for households with children under five far more than headline RPP does. When these pieces are read together rather than in isolation, Lexington Park and Pocatello are not simply "cheaper" or "more expensive" - they trade across dimensions, and which metro wins depends on whether your household optimizes for rent, wages, schools, childcare, safety, or environment. Treat the tables below as inputs to that trade-off, not as a single ranking.

Lexington Park composite

36.3 /100

Grade D · weighted across 7 dims

Pocatello composite

67.9 /100

Grade A+ · weighted across 7 dims

Cost-of-living gap

11.9 pts

Lexington Park vs Pocatello BEA RPP

2-bed rent delta

$910 /mo

Lexington Park priced higher

Composite life score on the national 0–100 scale

Lexington Park

Lexington Park composite (Grade D)

Pocatello

Pocatello composite (Grade A+)

Composite is a weighted roll-up of seven dimensions: cost (20%), wages (20%), rent (15%), safety (15%), schools (10%), childcare (10%), environment (10%). Each input normalized to a 0–100 percentile across all metros.

💰 Cost of Living BEA →

Category Lexington Park Pocatello
Overall RPP 100.8 88.9
Goods 99.7 96.2
Services 106.4 69.8
Rents 103.8 66.4

Salary Equivalent Calculator

What salary in Pocatello gives the same purchasing power as your salary in Lexington Park?

$
Equivalent in Pocatello: $88,235

Based on BEA Regional Price Parities (Lexington Park: 100.8, Pocatello: 88.9, national avg = 100).

🏠 Rent (Fair Market Rent) HUD →

Bedrooms Lexington Park Pocatello
Studio $1,811/mo $809/mo
1 Bedroom $1,851/mo $894/mo
2 Bedroom $2,083/mo $1,173/mo
3 Bedroom $2,639/mo $1,631/mo
4 Bedroom $3,106/mo $1,968/mo

💼 Wages & Employment BLS →

Metric Lexington Park Pocatello
Avg Median Salary $77,183 $59,267
Total Employment 64,950 29,080

🛡️ Crime Rates (state-level) FBI →

Crime Type (per 100K) Lexington Park (MD) Pocatello (ID)
Violent Crime 425.1 234.7
Property Crime 2074.5 754.4

🎓 Schools (state-level) NCES →

Metric MD ID
Total Schools 1,383 778
Student-Teacher Ratio 14.5:1 17.1:1
Charter Schools 3.5% 9.8%

👶 Childcare Costs (Annual Avg) (state-level) DOL →

Age Group MD ID
Infant (Center) $14,631/yr $7,315/yr
Toddler (Center) $10,631/yr $7,002/yr
Preschool (Center) $10,631/yr $6,437/yr

🌿 Environment (state-level) EPA →

Metric MD ID
EPA Facilities 210 135
Water Systems 481 773
Superfund Sites 26 12
Water Violations 556 2,331
Government-verified data - Air quality (EPA AQS), water safety (EPA SDWIS), healthcare access (HRSA), and disaster risk (FEMA NRI) are sourced directly from U.S. federal agencies. No crowdsourced estimates.

💨 Air Quality (EPA AQS) EPA AQS →

Metric Lexington Park Pocatello
Median AQI 39.6 36.0
Good Air Days 82.6% 88.8%
Unhealthy Air Days N/A 1 days

Lexington Park air quality shown at state level. Pocatello has metro-level data.

💧 Water Safety (EPA SDWIS, state-level) EPA SDWIS →

Metric MD ID
Water Safety Score 26/100 5/100
Total Violations 60,496 104,850
Health-Based Violations 18,132 19,965
Systems with Violations 79.9% 96.1%

🏥 Healthcare Access (HRSA, state-level) HRSA →

Metric MD ID
Healthcare Access Score 56/100 34/100
Population in Shortage Area 44.5% 65.8%
HPSA Designations 133 253

HPSA = Health Professional Shortage Area, designated by HRSA. Higher access score = better healthcare availability.

⚠️ Natural Disaster Risk (FEMA NRI, state-level) FEMA NRI →

Metric MD ID
Disaster Safety Score 50/100 78/100
NRI Risk Score (avg county) 60.2 38.5
Expected Annual Loss Score 65.7 41.3

FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) scores are county-level percentiles (0–100). Higher disaster safety score = lower relative risk. State-level values are county averages.

Crime, schools, childcare, and environment data shown at state level. Metro-specific data for these dimensions is not available.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Lexington Park more expensive than Pocatello?
Lexington Park has a cost of living index of 100.8 compared to Pocatello's 88.9 (national average = 100). Lexington Park is 11.9 points above Pocatello on the BEA Regional Price Parity scale.
What is the rent difference between Lexington Park and Pocatello?
A 2-bedroom apartment averages $2,083/mo in Lexington Park vs $1,173/mo in Pocatello, based on HUD Fair Market Rent data. Studios range from $1,811/mo to $809/mo.
How do salaries compare between Lexington Park and Pocatello?
The average median salary across all occupations is $77,183 in Lexington Park and $59,267 in Pocatello, according to BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. After adjusting for cost of living, $100,000 in Lexington Park has the same purchasing power as $88,235 in Pocatello.
Is Lexington Park or Pocatello safer?
At the state level, MD has a violent crime rate of 425.1 per 100,000 residents compared to ID's 234.7 per 100,000. Property crime rates are 2074.5 vs 754.4 per 100,000 respectively, based on FBI Uniform Crime Report data.
How do schools compare between Lexington Park and Pocatello?
MD has 1,383 public schools with an average student-teacher ratio of 14.5:1, while ID has 778 schools at 17.1:1. Charter schools make up 3.5% of MD schools vs 9.8% in ID. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Where does the comparison data come from?
All data comes from official U.S. government sources: Bureau of Economic Analysis (cost of living), HUD (fair market rents), BLS (wages), FBI UCR (crime), NCES (schools), Department of Labor (childcare), EPA (environment, air quality, water safety), HRSA (healthcare access), and FEMA NRI (disaster risk). No crowdsourced estimates or proprietary ratings are used.

Research Guides

Data from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OES, NCES, DOL, EPA AQS, EPA SDWIS, HRSA, and FEMA NRI. Not affiliated with the U.S. Government.

Disclaimer: This comparison is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or relocation advice. Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.

Data sourced from official public datasets, current as of 2026. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCompare