Metro Life Score
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade F, 1st percentile of the national corpus.
- 33.0
- Life Score / 100
- F
- Grade (curved)
- #383
- of 387 metros
- 1%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog
The verdict
Boston-Cambridge-Newton is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #383 of 387 (33.0/100, grade F, 1st percentile). Carried by wages at 99/100; held back most by rent at 1/100.
- 1st
- composite percentile
- #383
- of 387 peers
- 5th
- cost dimension percentile
- 99th
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · signature composite
Boston-Cambridge-Newton: bottom-third composite — where the drag concentrates
Boston-Cambridge-Newton sits in the bottom third of the metro corpus on composite (#383 of 387, 33.0/100, 1st percentile). Stamps BOTTOM · WAGE-LED; Rent at 1/100 is the main drag; Wages (99/100) keeps the floor. Cost/wage marks CEILING/PEAK. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH ranks #383 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #369 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 108.3 (rent-RPP 148.4). BLS median salary $83,802, 2,639,240 jobs (Home Health and Personal Care Aides, General and Operations Managers, Registered Nurses). HUD 2BR FMR $2,941/mo (studio $2,359).
FBI UCR (MA): 309 violent, 1101 property/100K. NCES: 11.9:1 ratio, 4.2% charter. DOL infant childcare $20,571/yr. EPA: 41 Superfund sites (MA).
Where Boston-Cambridge-Newton sits among all US metros
Composite Life Score vs the national field
33 1st percentile higher than 1% 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 33.0 is built
Boston-Cambridge-Newton's Life Score, decomposed
Dimension detail
How Boston-Cambridge-Newton 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 Boston-Cambridge-Newton With...
Ranking Context
Boston-Cambridge-Newton outranks 1% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #380 | Kingston, NY | 33.3 | F |
| #381 | Bozeman, MT | 33.5 | F |
| #382 | Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY | 34.5 | F |
| #383 | Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | 33.0 | F |
| #384 | Charleston-North Charleston, SC | 33.0 | F |
| #385 | Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC | 32.8 | F |
| #386 | Hilton Head Island-Bluffton-Port Royal, SC | 30.0 | F |
Quality vs. Affordability
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH's quality rank (bottom 1% lowest-quality) and affordability rank (bottom 5% least affordable) sit close together -- an unusually proportionate metro where overall quality and cost-of-living move together.
MA Metro Scores
Read with Boston-Cambridge-Newton
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Boston-Cambridge-Newton (BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Charleston-North Charleston, SC
ABS(composite) peer at 33.0 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade F vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK.
Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC
ABS(composite) peer at 32.8 (Δ 0.2 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade F vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK.
Kingston, NY
ABS(composite) peer at 33.3 (Δ 0.3 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade F vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK.
Bozeman, MT
ABS(composite) peer at 33.5 (Δ 0.5 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade F vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK.
Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 5/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.
Vallejo, CA (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 4/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.
Using Boston-Cambridge-Newton's bottom-third Life Score
Boston-Cambridge-Newton scores 33.0/100 overall, but Wages (99.0) and Rent (0.8) sit 98.2 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.
- Wages is the strongest of Boston-Cambridge-Newton'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
- Rent is the weakest (weighted 15% in the composite); if it is a dealbreaker, weigh it before the ranking does. Rank metros on the composite
- Pittsfield is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with Pittsfield
A low composite is a weighted blend; individual dimensions can still be strong.