PlainCompare

National rankings

The best & worst places, ranked

Where US metros and states land on cost, safety, pay, schools, childcare and environment, every list built straight from official federal data.

387
Metros ranked
51
States ranked
7
Dimensions
6
Federal sources

The national picture

Across 387 US metros, only 69 earn an A-range grade and 12 land in the F tier, the field clusters in the middle because almost no place wins on every dimension at once.

69
metros graded A-range
147
graded B-range
12
in the F tier
387
metros, curved nationally
A range (top tier)69 metrosB range147 metrosC range132 metrosD range27 metrosF (bottom tier)12 metros
How the 387 US metros land on the curved Life-Score grade, grades are relative to the national field, so the distribution centers on the C–B range
💰

Cheapest Metros

Lowest cost of living by RPP

 🛡️

Safest States

Lowest violent crime rates

 💼

Highest-Paying States

Top median salaries

 🎓

Best Student-Teacher Ratios

Lowest student-teacher ratio by state

 👶

Cheapest Childcare

Lowest avg infant care costs by state

 🌿

Cleanest Environment

Fewest Superfund sites by state

Top 25 metros by Life Score

The highest-scoring metropolitan areas on the composite, graded on the national curve. Every score links to its full breakdown.

  1. 1 Wildwood-The Villages, FL A+ 71.6
  2. 2 Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA A+ 71.5
  3. 3 Paducah, KY-IL A+ 70.0
  4. 4 Winston-Salem, NC A+ 69.8
  5. 5 St. Cloud, MN A+ 69.5
  6. 6 Wheeling, WV-OH A+ 68.2
  7. 7 Sioux City, IA-NE-SD A+ 66.7
  8. 8 Greenville, NC A+ 66.6
  9. 9 Toledo, OH A+ 66.3
  10. 10 Tuscaloosa, AL A+ 66.3
  11. 11 Rocky Mount, NC A+ 65.8
  12. 12 Youngstown-Warren, OH A 65.8
  13. 13 Weirton-Steubenville, WV-OH A 65.7
  14. 14 Ames, IA A 65.2
  15. 15 Parkersburg-Vienna, WV A 65.2
  16. 16 Spartanburg, SC A 64.4
  17. 17 Cedar Rapids, IA A 64.2
  18. 18 Sioux Falls, SD-MN A 64.0
  19. 19 Peoria, IL A 63.9
  20. 20 Dubuque, IA A 63.5
  21. 21 Mankato, MN A 63.5
  22. 22 Monroe, LA A 63.5
  23. 23 Terre Haute, IN A 63.5
  24. 24 Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, NC A 63.4
  25. 25 Owensboro, KY A 63.4

Browse all 387 metros →

Reading these rankings

A ranking is a shortlist tool, not a verdict, the top of one list is rarely the top of another.

  • A metro can be cheap and still rank low overall if wages or safety drag it down, check the full Life Score, not just one list. See Life Scores
  • Once two or three places make your shortlist, compare them head-to-head on every dimension. Compare them
  • Read how each ranking is built before you lean on it. Methodology

Rankings are computed mechanically from federal data, no place pays to move up a list.

Frequently asked questions

How are PlainCompare’s rankings computed? ▼
Rankings are computed directly from the upstream federal datasets, not editorially curated and not influenced by advertisers. Each surfaces a clear, reproducible metric (the composite Life Score, a per-capita rate, or a category share), and the underlying numbers are visible on every linked metro or state page so you can verify them. We recompute whenever the source data refreshes.
Does a high ranking mean a place is “better”? ▼
No, a ranking is a starting lens, not a verdict on quality or reputation. A metro can top a cost-of-living ranking yet rank low overall if wages or safety drag it down, so always read the full Life Score, not a single list. The grade is curved relative to the national field, so it reflects standing among US metros, not an absolute bar.
How often are the rankings updated? ▼
Each ranking is recomputed whenever its upstream federal source refreshes, BEA, BLS, HUD, FBI, NCES, DOL and EPA publish on roughly annual cycles. The refresh cadence per series is documented on the methodology page, and the data vintage is shown on every page.
Can I verify or correct a ranking? ▼
Yes. Every ranking is derived from the source dataset linked on the methodology page, no proprietary signals, no editor opinion substituted for data, and the raw numbers are visible on each entity page. If you believe a ranking is miscomputed, contact us with the specific metro and the expected correction and we will investigate within the next refresh cycle.

Full detail on every series and refresh cadence is on the methodology page.

Every figure on PlainCompare is loaded directly from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OEWS, NCES, DOL, EPA, and the Census Bureau, no number is typed in by an editor. Rankings are computed directly from the federal source data cited above. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.