Metro Life Score
Brownsville-Harlingen, TX
Top-quartile composite Life Score — grade A-, 84th percentile of the national corpus.
- 58.9
- Life Score / 100
- A-
- Grade (curved)
- #60
- of 387 metros
- 84%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
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The verdict
Brownsville-Harlingen is top-quartile composite Life Score — #60 of 387 (58.9/100, grade A-, 84th percentile). Carried by cost of living at 94/100; held back most by wages at 4/100.
- 84th
- composite percentile
- #60
- of 387 peers
- 94th
- cost dimension percentile
- 4th
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · UPPER · COST-LED · signature wages
Brownsville-Harlingen: wage lag defines the peer set
Brownsville-Harlingen is a UPPER-band metro where wages sit at only the 4th percentile (LOW) while cost is FLOOR (94th) and composite #60. Wages at 4/100 is the clearest drag; Cost of Living (94/100) is the offset. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Brownsville-Harlingen, TX ranks #60 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #23 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 86.0 (rent-RPP 57.7). BLS median salary $55,295, 149,790 jobs (Home Health and Personal Care Aides, Fast Food and Counter Workers, Customer Service Representatives). HUD 2BR FMR $1,047/mo (studio $773).
FBI UCR (TX): 395 violent, 2058 property/100K. NCES: 14.7:1 ratio, 11.4% charter. DOL infant childcare $7,566/yr. EPA: 70 Superfund sites (TX).
Where Brownsville-Harlingen sits among all US metros
Composite Life Score vs the national field
59 Top 16% higher than 84% 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 Brownsville-Harlingen scores, dimension by dimension
Score Breakdown
Dimension Scores
Key Data Points
Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are TX state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.
Compare Brownsville-Harlingen With...
Ranking Context
Brownsville-Harlingen outranks 84% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #57 | Albany, GA | 59.1 | A- |
| #58 | Boise City, ID | 59.2 | A- |
| #59 | Peoria, IL | 59.5 | A- |
| #60 | Brownsville-Harlingen, TX | 58.9 | A- |
| #61 | Johnstown, PA | 58.9 | A- |
| #62 | McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX | 58.9 | A- |
| #63 | Cleveland, OH | 58.8 | A- |
TX Metro Scores
Read with Brownsville-Harlingen
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Brownsville-Harlingen (UPPER · COST-LED · FLOOR/LOW), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Johnstown, PA
ABS(composite) peer at 58.9 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade A- vs this page's UPPER · COST-LED · FLOOR/LOW.
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX
ABS(composite) peer at 58.9 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade A- vs this page's UPPER · COST-LED · FLOOR/LOW.
Cleveland, OH
ABS(composite) peer at 58.8 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade A- vs this page's UPPER · COST-LED · FLOOR/LOW.
Lawton, OK
ABS(composite) peer at 58.8 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade A- vs this page's UPPER · COST-LED · FLOOR/LOW.
Cape Girardeau, MO-IL (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 94/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp FLOOR vs this metro's FLOOR.
Anniston-Oxford, AL (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 95/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp FLOOR vs this metro's FLOOR.
Brownsville-Harlingen, TX relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for UPPER · COST-LED · FLOOR/LOW - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.