Metro Life Score
Anniston-Oxford, AL
Top-quartile composite Life Score — grade B+, 80th percentile of the national corpus.
- 57.7
- Life Score / 100
- B+
- Grade (curved)
- #78
- of 387 metros
- 80%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog
The verdict
Anniston-Oxford is top-quartile composite Life Score — #78 of 387 (57.7/100, grade B+, 80th percentile). Carried by rent at 96/100; held back most by environment at 0/100.
- 80th
- composite percentile
- #78
- of 387 peers
- 94th
- cost dimension percentile
- 2nd
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · UPPER · BALANCED · signature wages
Anniston-Oxford: wage lag defines the peer set
Anniston-Oxford is a UPPER-band metro where wages sit at only the 2nd percentile (LOW) while cost is FLOOR (94th) and composite #78. Environment at 0/100 is the clearest drag; Rent (96/100) is the offset. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Anniston-Oxford, AL ranks #78 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #22 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 85.9 (rent-RPP 54.7). BLS median salary $53,291, 37,350 jobs (Retail Salespersons, Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators, Cashiers). HUD 2BR FMR $962/mo (studio $753).
FBI UCR (AL): 376 violent, 1622 property/100K. NCES: 17.2:1 ratio, 1.2% charter. DOL infant childcare $6,896/yr. EPA: 16 Superfund sites (AL).
Where Anniston-Oxford sits among all US metros
Composite Life Score vs the national field
58 Top 20% higher than 80% 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
How the 57.7 is built
Anniston-Oxford's Life Score, decomposed
Dimension detail
How Anniston-Oxford scores, dimension by dimension
Score Breakdown
Dimension Scores
Key Data Points
Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are AL state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.
Compare Anniston-Oxford With...
Ranking Context
Anniston-Oxford outranks 80% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #75 | Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX | 58.0 | B+ |
| #76 | Enid, OK * | 58.0 | B+ |
| #77 | Jackson, MS | 58.1 | B+ |
| #78 | Anniston-Oxford, AL | 57.7 | B+ |
| #79 | Bismarck, ND | 57.6 | B+ |
| #80 | Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford, VA | 57.6 | B+ |
| #81 | Coeur d'Alene, ID | 57.5 | B+ |
Quality vs. Affordability
Anniston-Oxford, AL's quality rank (top 20% highest-quality) and affordability rank (top 6% most affordable) sit close together -- an unusually proportionate metro where overall quality and cost-of-living move together.
AL Metro Scores
Read with Anniston-Oxford
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Anniston-Oxford (UPPER · BALANCED · FLOOR/LOW), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Bismarck, ND
ABS(composite) peer at 57.6 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade B+ vs this page's UPPER · BALANCED · FLOOR/LOW.
Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford, VA
ABS(composite) peer at 57.6 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade B+ vs this page's UPPER · BALANCED · FLOOR/LOW.
Coeur d'Alene, ID
ABS(composite) peer at 57.5 (Δ 0.2 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade B+ vs this page's UPPER · BALANCED · FLOOR/LOW.
Enid, OK *
ABS(composite) peer at 58.0 (Δ 0.3 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade B+ vs this page's UPPER · BALANCED · FLOOR/LOW.
Lawton, OK (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 95/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp FLOOR vs this metro's FLOOR.
Brownsville-Harlingen, TX (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 94/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp FLOOR vs this metro's FLOOR.
Anniston-Oxford, AL relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for UPPER · BALANCED · FLOOR/LOW - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.
Using Anniston-Oxford's top-third Life Score
Anniston-Oxford scores 57.7/100 overall, but Rent (96.4) and Environment (0.0) sit 96.4 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.
- Rent is the strongest of Anniston-Oxford's seven dimensions (weighted 15% in the composite); if it is your priority, this is where the metro earns its rank. See all seven dimensions
- Environment is the weakest (weighted 10% in the composite); if it is a dealbreaker, weigh it before the ranking does. Rank metros on the composite
- Decatur is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with Decatur
A high composite is a weighted blend; it does not mean every dimension is strong.