What is Cape Coral-Fort Myers's Life Score?

Cape Coral-Fort Myers scores 46.2/100 (grade C+), rank #247 of 387. Signature cost at the 14th percentile; stamps MID · SAFE-LED · cost CEILING · wages MID.

What pulls Cape Coral-Fort Myers up or down?

Strongest: safety (96/100). Weakest: rent (9/100). Profile mark SAFE-LED; dimension gap 87.

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

Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL

Below-median composite Life Score — grade C+, 36th percentile of the national corpus.

Compiled by PlainCompare

46.2
Life Score / 100: C+
Grade (curved): #247
of 387 metros: 36%
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

Cape Coral-Fort Myers is below-median composite Life Score — #247 of 387 (46.2/100, grade C+, 36th percentile). Carried by safety at 96/100; held back most by rent at 9/100.

36th
composite percentile: #247
of 387 peers: 14th
cost dimension percentile: 53rd
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · MID · SAFE-LED · signature cost

Cape Coral-Fort Myers: cost pressure is the outlier

Cape Coral-Fort Myers is a MID-band metro where cost sits only at the 14th percentile (CEILING) — the clearest outlier vs wages at the 53rd and composite #247. Rent (9/100) is the main drag; Safety (96/100) keeps the floor. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL ranks #247 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #333 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

BEA RPP 102.3 (rent-RPP 125.1). BLS median salary $64,691, 293,750 jobs (Retail Salespersons, Registered Nurses, Waiters and Waitresses). HUD 2BR FMR $1,961/mo (studio $1,629).

FBI UCR (FL): 210 violent, 1030 property/100K. NCES: 17.8:1 ratio, 18.0% charter. DOL infant childcare $10,505/yr. EPA: 81 Superfund sites (FL).

Where Cape Coral-Fort Myers sits among all US metros

Composite Life Score vs the national field

46 36th percentile higher than 36% 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 46.2 is built

Cape Coral-Fort Myers's Life Score, decomposed

Cost of Living 2.8 (6%) Wages 10.7 (23%) Rent 1.4 (3%) Safety 14.4 (31%) Schools 8.3 (18%) Childcare 5.2 (11%) Environment 3.3 (7%)

Dimension detail

How Cape Coral-Fort Myers scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 14/100 (20%) Below average

Wages 54/100 (20%) Average

Rent 9/100 (15%) Bottom 10%

Safety 96/100 (15%) Top 10%

Schools 83/100 (10%) Above average

Childcare 52/100 (10%) Average

Environment 33/100 (10%) Average

Key Data Points

102.3

Cost Index (RPP)

$64,691

Avg Median Salary

$1,961

2BR Fair Market Rent

210

Violent Crime/100K (FL)

17.8:1

Student-Teacher Ratio

$10,505

Infant Childcare/yr (FL)

Superfund Sites (FL)

293,750

Total Employment

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

Compare Cape Coral-Fort Myers With...

Cape Coral-Fort Myers vs Wildwood Compare → Cape Coral-Fort Myers vs Jacksonville Compare → Cape Coral-Fort Myers vs Homosassa Springs Compare → Cape Coral-Fort Myers vs Paducah Compare → Cape Coral-Fort Myers vs Pocatello Compare →

Ranking Context

Cape Coral-Fort Myers outranks 36% of U.S. metros.

Rank	Metro	Score	Grade
#244	Watertown-Fort Drum, NY	46.4	C+
#245	Savannah, GA	46.4	C+
#246	Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL	46.5	C+
#247	Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL	46.2	C+
#248	Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA	46.2	C+
#249	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	46.2	C+
#250	Sebastian-Vero Beach-West Vero Corridor, FL	46.2	C+

Quality vs. Affordability

Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL is bottom 36% lowest-quality nationally but only bottom 14% least affordable among its composite-quality peers -- its Life Score is earned mostly outside the cost dimension, not through being a budget option.

Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL (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.

FL Metro Scores

Wildwood-The Villages, FL A+ 67.0 Jacksonville, FL A 61.7 Homosassa Springs, FL B 53.0 Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL B 52.7 Sebring, FL B 51.6 Tallahassee, FL B 51.6

Read with Cape Coral-Fort Myers

Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Cape Coral-Fort Myers (MID · SAFE-LED · CEILING/MID), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.

Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA

ABS(composite) peer at 46.2 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · SAFE-LED · CEILING/MID.

Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA

ABS(composite) peer at 46.2 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · SAFE-LED · CEILING/MID.

Sebastian-Vero Beach-West Vero Corridor, FL

ABS(composite) peer at 46.2 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · SAFE-LED · CEILING/MID.

Muskegon-Norton Shores, MI

ABS(composite) peer at 46.1 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · SAFE-LED · CEILING/MID.

Fresno, CA (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 14/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.

North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 14/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.

Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL relocation guide

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

Using Cape Coral-Fort Myers's middle-third Life Score

Cape Coral-Fort Myers scores 46.2/100 overall, but Safety (96.1) and Rent (9.3) sit 86.8 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.

Safety is the strongest of Cape Coral-Fort Myers's seven dimensions (weighted 15% 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
Wildwood is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with Wildwood

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. Cape Coral-Fort Myers Life Score 46.2/100 · 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