Metro Life Score
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD
Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade F, 2nd percentile of the national corpus.
- 35.2
- Life Score / 100
- F
- Grade (curved)
- #379
- of 387 metros
- 2%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
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The verdict
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #379 of 387 (35.2/100, grade F, 2nd percentile). Carried by wages at 94/100; held back most by cost of living at 8/100.
- 2nd
- composite percentile
- #379
- of 387 peers
- 8th
- cost dimension percentile
- 93rd
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · signature composite
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson: bottom-third composite — where the drag concentrates
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson sits in the bottom third of the metro corpus on composite (#379 of 387, 35.2/100, 2nd percentile). Stamps BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE; Cost of Living at 8/100 is the main drag; Wages (94/100) keeps the floor. Cost/wage marks CEILING/PEAK. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD ranks #379 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #355 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 104.5 (rent-RPP 118.2). BLS median salary $78,184, 1,317,590 jobs (General and Operations Managers, Retail Salespersons, Registered Nurses). HUD 2BR FMR $1,857/mo (studio $1,362).
FBI UCR (MD): 425 violent, 2074 property/100K. NCES: 14.0:1 ratio, 3.5% charter. DOL infant childcare $14,631/yr. EPA: 26 Superfund sites (MD).
Where Baltimore-Columbia-Towson sits among all US metros
Composite Life Score vs the national field
35 2nd percentile higher than 2% 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 35.2 is built
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson's Life Score, decomposed
Dimension detail
How Baltimore-Columbia-Towson scores, dimension by dimension
Score Breakdown
Dimension Scores
Key Data Points
Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are MD state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.
Compare Baltimore-Columbia-Towson With...
Ranking Context
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson outranks 2% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #376 | New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | 35.4 | F |
| #377 | Kahului-Wailuku, HI | 35.4 | F |
| #378 | Urban Honolulu, HI | 35.6 | F |
| #379 | Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD | 35.2 | F |
| #380 | Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY | 34.5 | F |
| #381 | Bozeman, MT | 33.5 | F |
| #382 | Kingston, NY | 33.3 | F |
Quality vs. Affordability
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD's quality rank (bottom 2% lowest-quality) and affordability rank (bottom 9% least affordable) sit close together -- an unusually proportionate metro where overall quality and cost-of-living move together.
MD Metro Scores
Read with Baltimore-Columbia-Towson
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Baltimore-Columbia-Towson (BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Kahului-Wailuku, HI
ABS(composite) peer at 35.4 (Δ 0.2 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade F vs this page's BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK.
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ
ABS(composite) peer at 35.4 (Δ 0.2 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade F vs this page's BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK.
Urban Honolulu, HI
ABS(composite) peer at 35.6 (Δ 0.4 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade F vs this page's BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK.
Amherst Town-Northampton, MA
ABS(composite) peer at 35.9 (Δ 0.7 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK.
Yuba City, CA (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 9/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.
New Haven, CT (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 8/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.
Using Baltimore-Columbia-Towson's bottom-third Life Score
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson scores 35.2/100 overall, but Wages (93.5) and Cost of Living (8.3) sit 85.2 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.
- Wages is the strongest of Baltimore-Columbia-Towson's seven dimensions (weighted 20% in the composite); if it is your priority, this is where the metro earns its rank. See all seven dimensions
- Cost of Living is the weakest (weighted 20% in the composite); if it is a dealbreaker, weigh it before the ranking does. Rank metros on the composite
- Salisbury is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with Salisbury
A low composite is a weighted blend; individual dimensions can still be strong.