What is Bend's Life Score?

Bend scores 46.8/100 (grade C+), rank #241 of 387. Signature cost at the 10th percentile; stamps MID · RENT-SQUEEZE · cost CEILING · wages HIGH.

What pulls Bend up or down?

Strongest: schools (75/100). Weakest: cost of living (10/100). Profile mark RENT-SQUEEZE; dimension gap 65.

How current is this data?

Federal releases current as of August 2026 (BEA, BLS, HUD, FBI, NCES, DOL, EPA). Cadence varies by series; see methodology.

Metro Life Score

Bend, OR

Below-median composite Life Score — grade C+, 38th percentile of the national corpus.

Compiled by PlainCompare

46.8
Life Score / 100: C+
Grade (curved): #241
of 387 metros: 38%
composite percentile

View your shortlist

Data updated August 2026

Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog

The verdict

Bend is below-median composite Life Score — #241 of 387 (46.8/100, grade C+, 38th percentile). Carried by schools at 75/100; held back most by cost of living at 10/100.

38th
composite percentile: #241
of 387 peers: 10th
cost dimension percentile: 74th
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · MID · RENT-SQUEEZE · signature cost

Bend: cost pressure is the outlier

Bend is a MID-band metro where cost sits only at the 10th percentile (CEILING) — the clearest outlier vs wages at the 74th and composite #241. Cost of Living (10/100) is the main drag; Schools (75/100) keeps the floor. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Bend, OR ranks #241 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #348 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

BEA RPP 103.6 (rent-RPP 110.0). BLS median salary $69,802, 102,030 jobs (Fast Food and Counter Workers, Retail Salespersons, Registered Nurses). HUD 2BR FMR $1,385/mo (studio $1,049).

FBI UCR (OR): 335 violent, 2410 property/100K. NCES: 17.2:1 ratio, 9.8% charter. DOL infant childcare $12,639/yr. EPA: 21 Superfund sites (OR).

Where Bend sits among all US metros

Composite Life Score vs the national field

47 38th percentile higher than 38% 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 46.8 is built

Bend's Life Score, decomposed

Cost of Living 2.0 (4%) Wages 14.8 (32%) Rent 5.9 (13%) Safety 7.6 (16%) Schools 7.5 (16%) Childcare 2.6 (5%) Environment 6.4 (14%)

Dimension detail

How Bend scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 10/100 (20%) Below average

Wages 74/100 (20%) Average

Rent 40/100 (15%) Average

Safety 51/100 (15%) Average

Schools 75/100 (10%) Above average

Childcare 26/100 (10%) Average

Environment 64/100 (10%) Average

Key Data Points

103.6

Cost Index (RPP)

$69,802

Avg Median Salary

$1,385

2BR Fair Market Rent

335

Violent Crime/100K (OR)

17.2:1

Student-Teacher Ratio

$12,639

Infant Childcare/yr (OR)

Superfund Sites (OR)

102,030

Total Employment

Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are OR state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.

Compare Bend With...

Bend vs Grants Pass Compare → Bend vs Salem Compare → Bend vs Portland Compare → Bend vs Paducah Compare → Bend vs Pocatello Compare → Bend vs Wildwood Compare →

Ranking Context

Bend outranks 38% of U.S. metros.

Rank	Metro	Score	Grade
#238	Kansas City, MO-KS	46.9	C+
#239	Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL	47.0	C+
#240	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	47.0	C+
#241	Bend, OR	46.8	C+
#242	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	46.8	C+
#243	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	46.7	C+
#244	Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL	46.5	C+

Quality vs. Affordability

Bend, OR is bottom 38% lowest-quality nationally but only bottom 10% least affordable among its composite-quality peers -- its Life Score is earned mostly outside the cost dimension, not through being a budget option.

Bend, OR (highlighted) among its 12 nearest composite-Life-Score peers, out of 387 tracked metros nationally. Crosshairs mark this peer neighborhood's own median composite score and cost-of-living score. Cost-of-living score is already inverted so higher = more affordable.

OR Metro Scores

Grants Pass, OR C+ 47.6 Salem, OR C+ 47.3 Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA C+ 46.2 Albany, OR C 45.4 Eugene-Springfield, OR C 45.4 Medford, OR C 45.1

Read with Bend

Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Bend (MID · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/HIGH), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.

Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY

ABS(composite) peer at 46.8 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/HIGH.

Providence-Warwick, RI-MA

ABS(composite) peer at 46.7 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/HIGH.

Kansas City, MO-KS

ABS(composite) peer at 46.9 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/HIGH.

Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV

ABS(composite) peer at 47.0 (Δ 0.2 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/HIGH.

Salem, OR (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 10/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.

Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 10/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.

Bend, OR relocation guide

Stamp-branched guide for MID · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/HIGH - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.

Using Bend's middle-third Life Score

Bend scores 46.8/100 overall, but Schools (75.4) and Cost of Living (10.1) sit 65.3 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.

Schools is the strongest of Bend's seven dimensions (weighted 10% 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
Grants Pass is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with Grants Pass

A middle-third composite is a weighted blend; individual dimensions can sit well above or below it.

Data from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OES, NCES, DOL, and EPA. Not affiliated with the U.S. Government.

Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Bend Life Score 46.8/100 · signature cost · retrieved and formatted by PlainCompare

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

All federal data sources used on this page

U.S. Census Bureau ACS - multi-dimension demographic + housing + income aggregates for cross-area comparison. census.gov/programs-surveys/acs
BEA Regional Economic Accounts - GDP, personal income, employment by state and metro. bea.gov/data/regional
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) - wage estimates for comparable-area indexing. bls.gov/oes
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) - crime statistics for safety-score component. fbi.gov/ucr
NCES Common Core of Data - public-school quality indicators by area. nces.ed.gov/ccd
EPA AirNow + Air Quality System (AQS) - air-quality measurements by area. epa.gov/outdoor-air-quality-data
HUD Fair Market Rents (FMR) - county and metro housing-cost indicators. huduser.gov/datasets/fmr