Paducah composite
70.0 /100
Grade C+ · weighted across 7 dims
2026 data Public-data reference. 11 dimensions compared
Paducah, KY-IL vs San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA
Side-by-side comparison across cost of living, rent, wages, crime, schools, childcare, and environment — sourced entirely from U.S. federal data, no crowdsourced estimates.
Paducah vs San Luis Obispo: composite livability scores
Paducah and San Luis Obispo differ across eleven dimensions of livability. Paducah has a cost-of-living index of 86.1 vs San Luis Obispo's 108.6 (national average = 100). A 2-bedroom averages $969/mo vs $2,512/mo.
Reading the Paducah vs San Luis Obispo Comparison
Paducah (KY) and San Luis Obispo (CA) 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 86.1 for Paducah against 108.6 for San Luis Obispo, a 22.5-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 $969/mo in Paducah and $2,512/mo in San Luis Obispo, a $1,543/mo difference that compounds to $18,516 over a year.
Wage data is reported by metro delineation, and one of these metros is missing a BLS record for the latest OES cycle; the salary columns below fall back to available years. State-level violent crime, the most reliable geographic tier FBI UCR publishes, is 225.5 per 100,000 residents in KY vs 476.8 in CA, with property-crime rates of 1397.1 and 1985.9 respectively.
Schools are reported at the state tier by NCES: KY lists 1,395 public schools at a 15.6:1 student-teacher ratio, while CA lists 10,006 schools at 21.6:1 — 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 $7,238/yr in the Paducah area versus $17,920/yr in San Luis Obispo — 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, Paducah and San Luis Obispo 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.
San Luis Obispo composite
38.9 /100
Grade F · weighted across 7 dims
Cost-of-living gap
-22.5 pts
Paducah vs San Luis Obispo BEA RPP
2-bed rent delta
$1,543 /mo
San Luis Obispo priced higher
Composite life score on the national 0–100 scale
Paducah
Paducah composite (Grade C+)
San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo composite (Grade F)
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 PlainCost →
| Category | Paducah | San Luis Obispo |
|---|---|---|
| Overall RPP | 86.1 | 108.6 |
| Goods | 96.0 | 105.2 |
| Services | 76.9 | 147.8 |
| Rents | 48.8 | 144.4 |
Salary Equivalent Calculator
What salary in San Luis Obispo gives the same purchasing power as your salary in Paducah?
$
Equivalent in San Luis Obispo:
$126,151
Based on BEA Regional Price Parities (Paducah: 86.1, San Luis Obispo: 108.6, national avg = 100).
🏠 Rent (Fair Market Rent) PlainRent →
| Bedrooms | Paducah | San Luis Obispo |
|---|---|---|
| Studio | $784/mo | $1,732/mo |
| 1 Bedroom | $789/mo | $1,914/mo |
| 2 Bedroom | $969/mo | $2,512/mo |
| 3 Bedroom | $1,348/mo | $3,370/mo |
| 4 Bedroom | $1,415/mo | $3,861/mo |
🛡️ Crime Rates (state-level) PlainCrime →
| Crime Type (per 100K) | Paducah (KY) | San Luis Obispo (CA) |
|---|---|---|
| Violent Crime | 225.5 | 476.8 |
| Property Crime | 1397.1 | 1985.9 |
🎓 Schools (state-level) PlainSchools →
| Metric | KY | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Total Schools | 1,395 | 10,006 |
| Student-Teacher Ratio | 15.6:1 | 21.6:1 |
| Charter Schools | 0.0% | 12.8% |
👶 Childcare Costs (Annual Avg) (state-level) PlainChildcare →
| Age Group | KY | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Infant (Center) | $7,238/yr | $17,920/yr |
| Toddler (Center) | $6,605/yr | $12,300/yr |
| Preschool (Center) | $6,605/yr | $11,385/yr |
🌿 Environment (state-level) PlainEnviro →
| Metric | KY | CA |
|---|---|---|
| EPA Facilities | 489 | 1,426 |
| Water Systems | 376 | 3,077 |
| Superfund Sites | 20 | 116 |
| Water Violations | 1,788 | 17,550 |
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) PlainAir →
| Metric | Paducah | San Luis Obispo |
|---|---|---|
| Median AQI | 43.0 | 49.0 |
| Good Air Days | 74.0% | 52.7% |
| Unhealthy Air Days | 1 days | 10 days |
💧 Water Safety (EPA SDWIS, state-level) PlainWater →
| Metric | KY | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Water Safety Score | 1/100 | 14/100 |
| Total Violations | 80,482 | 153,308 |
| Health-Based Violations | 12,554 | 63,983 |
| Systems with Violations | 99.1% | 89.2% |
🏥 Healthcare Access (HRSA, state-level) PlainHealthAccess →
| Metric | KY | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Healthcare Access Score | 0/100 | 0/100 |
| Population in Shortage Area | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| HPSA Designations | 687 | 1,574 |
HPSA = Health Professional Shortage Area, designated by HRSA. Higher access score = better healthcare availability.
⚠️ Natural Disaster Risk (FEMA NRI, state-level) PlainHazard →
| Metric | KY | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Disaster Safety Score | 71/100 | 12/100 |
| NRI Risk Score (avg county) | 44.2 | 88.7 |
| Expected Annual Loss Score | 41.4 | 87.9 |
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 Paducah more expensive than San Luis Obispo? ▼
Paducah has a cost of living index of 86.1 compared to San Luis Obispo's 108.6 (national average = 100). San Luis Obispo is 22.5 points above Paducah on the BEA Regional Price Parity scale.
What is the rent difference between Paducah and San Luis Obispo? ▼
A 2-bedroom apartment averages $969/mo in Paducah vs $2,512/mo in San Luis Obispo, based on HUD Fair Market Rent data. Studios range from $784/mo to $1,732/mo.
How do salaries compare between Paducah and San Luis Obispo? ▼
Wage data is not available for one or both metros.
Is Paducah or San Luis Obispo safer? ▼
At the state level, KY has a violent crime rate of 225.5 per 100,000 residents compared to CA's 476.8 per 100,000. Property crime rates are 1397.1 vs 1985.9 per 100,000 respectively, based on FBI Uniform Crime Report data.
How do schools compare between Paducah and San Luis Obispo? ▼
KY has 1,395 public schools with an average student-teacher ratio of 15.6:1, while CA has 10,006 schools at 21.6:1. Charter schools make up 0.0% of KY schools vs 12.8% in CA. 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
Explore Further
Paducah Cost of Living
BEA Regional Price Parity breakdown
San Luis Obispo Cost of Living
BEA Regional Price Parity breakdown
Paducah Rent Data
HUD Fair Market Rents by bedroom
San Luis Obispo Rent Data
HUD Fair Market Rents by bedroom
Paducah Schools
NCES school profiles and demographics
San Luis Obispo Schools
NCES school profiles and demographics
KY Crime Data
FBI UCR crime statistics
CA Crime Data
FBI UCR crime statistics
Relocate Paducah to San Luis Obispo
7-dimension relocation intelligence
Relocate San Luis Obispo to Paducah
7-dimension relocation intelligence
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.
Related
Data sourced from official U.S. government datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCompare Editorial