Metro Life Score
Amherst Town-Northampton, MA
Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade D, 3rd percentile of the national corpus.
- 35.9
- Life Score / 100
- D
- Grade (curved)
- #375
- of 387 metros
- 3%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog
The verdict
Amherst Town-Northampton is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #375 of 387 (35.9/100, grade D, 3rd percentile). Carried by wages at 91/100; held back most by childcare at 2/100.
- 3rd
- composite percentile
- #375
- of 387 peers
- 21st
- cost dimension percentile
- 91st
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · signature composite
Amherst Town-Northampton: bottom-third composite — where the drag concentrates
Amherst Town-Northampton sits in the bottom third of the metro corpus on composite (#375 of 387, 35.9/100, 3rd percentile). Stamps BOTTOM · WAGE-LED; Childcare at 2/100 is the main drag; Wages (91/100) keeps the floor. Cost/wage marks DEAR/PEAK. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Amherst Town-Northampton, MA ranks #375 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #304 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 100.2 (rent-RPP 97.5). BLS median salary $76,696, 59,110 jobs (Home Health and Personal Care Aides, Fast Food and Counter Workers, Retail Salespersons). HUD 2BR FMR $2,004/mo (studio $1,382).
FBI UCR (MA): 309 violent, 1101 property/100K. NCES: 12.3:1 ratio, 4.2% charter. DOL infant childcare $20,571/yr. EPA: 41 Superfund sites (MA).
Where Amherst Town-Northampton sits among all US metros
Composite Life Score vs the national field
36 3rd percentile higher than 3% of 387 US metros
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US metros. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source PlainCompare composite of BEA, BLS, HUD, FBI, NCES, DOL, EPA data · August 2026
Dimension detail
How Amherst Town-Northampton scores, dimension by dimension
Score Breakdown
Dimension Scores
Key Data Points
Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are MA state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.
Compare Amherst Town-Northampton With...
Ranking Context
Amherst Town-Northampton outranks 3% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #372 | Barnstable Town, MA | 36.2 | D |
| #373 | Lexington Park, MD | 36.3 | D |
| #374 | Worcester, MA | 36.4 | D |
| #375 | Amherst Town-Northampton, MA | 35.9 | D |
| #376 | Urban Honolulu, HI | 35.6 | F |
| #377 | Kahului-Wailuku, HI | 35.4 | F |
| #378 | New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | 35.4 | F |
MA Metro Scores
Read with Amherst Town-Northampton
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Amherst Town-Northampton (BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · DEAR/PEAK), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Urban Honolulu, HI
ABS(composite) peer at 35.6 (Δ 0.3 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade F vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · DEAR/PEAK.
Barnstable Town, MA
ABS(composite) peer at 36.2 (Δ 0.3 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · DEAR/PEAK.
Lexington Park, MD
ABS(composite) peer at 36.3 (Δ 0.4 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · DEAR/PEAK.
Kahului-Wailuku, HI
ABS(composite) peer at 35.4 (Δ 0.5 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade F vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · DEAR/PEAK.
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 21/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp DEAR vs this metro's DEAR.
Port St. Lucie, FL (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 22/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp DEAR vs this metro's DEAR.
Amherst Town-Northampton, MA relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · DEAR/PEAK - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.