Metro Life Score
Barnstable Town, MA
Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade D, 3rd percentile of the national corpus.
- 36.2
- Life Score / 100
- D
- Grade (curved)
- #374
- 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
Barnstable Town is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #374 of 387 (36.2/100, grade D, 3rd percentile). Carried by wages at 91/100; held back most by childcare at 1/100.
- 3rd
- composite percentile
- #374
- of 387 peers
- 27th
- cost dimension percentile
- 90th
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · signature composite
Barnstable Town: bottom-third composite — where the drag concentrates
Barnstable Town sits in the bottom third of the metro corpus on composite (#374 of 387, 36.2/100, 3rd percentile). Stamps BOTTOM · WAGE-LED; Childcare at 1/100 is the main drag; Wages (91/100) keeps the floor. Cost/wage marks DEAR/PEAK. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Barnstable Town, MA ranks #374 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #284 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 98.4 (rent-RPP 90.0). BLS median salary $76,307, 87,090 jobs (Retail Salespersons, General and Operations Managers, Waiters and Waitresses). HUD 2BR FMR $2,422/mo (studio $1,834).
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 Barnstable Town 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 Barnstable Town 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 Barnstable Town With...
Ranking Context
Barnstable Town outranks 3% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #371 | Lexington Park, MD | 36.3 | D |
| #372 | Worcester, MA | 36.4 | D |
| #373 | Great Falls, MT | 37.3 | D |
| #374 | Barnstable Town, MA | 36.2 | D |
| #375 | Amherst Town-Northampton, MA | 35.9 | D |
| #376 | Urban Honolulu, HI | 35.6 | F |
| #377 | Kahului-Wailuku, HI | 35.4 | F |
MA Metro Scores
Read with Barnstable Town
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Barnstable Town (BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · DEAR/PEAK), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Lexington Park, MD
ABS(composite) peer at 36.3 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · DEAR/PEAK.
Worcester, MA
ABS(composite) peer at 36.4 (Δ 0.2 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · DEAR/PEAK.
Amherst Town-Northampton, MA
ABS(composite) peer at 35.9 (Δ 0.3 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · DEAR/PEAK.
Urban Honolulu, HI
ABS(composite) peer at 35.6 (Δ 0.6 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade F vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · DEAR/PEAK.
Boise City, ID (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 26/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp DEAR vs this metro's DEAR.
Sebastian-Vero Beach-West Vero Corridor, FL (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 27/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp DEAR vs this metro's DEAR.
Barnstable Town, MA relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · DEAR/PEAK - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.