Metro Life Score
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
Below-median composite Life Score — grade C+, 39th percentile of the national corpus.
- 47.1
- Life Score / 100
- C+
- Grade (curved)
- #237
- of 387 metros
- 39%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog
The verdict
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is below-median composite Life Score — #237 of 387 (47.1/100, grade C+, 39th percentile). Carried by wages at 86/100; held back most by rent at 10/100.
- 39th
- composite percentile
- #237
- of 387 peers
- 12th
- cost dimension percentile
- 86th
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · MID · WAGE-LED · signature cost
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington: cost pressure is the outlier
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington is a MID-band metro where cost sits only at the 12th percentile (CEILING) — the clearest outlier vs wages at the 86th and composite #237. Rent (10/100) is the main drag; Wages (86/100) keeps the floor. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX ranks #237 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #340 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 103.1 (rent-RPP 117.9). BLS median salary $73,476, 4,019,090 jobs (Fast Food and Counter Workers, General and Operations Managers, Stockers and Order Fillers). HUD 2BR FMR $1,931/mo (studio $1,582).
FBI UCR (TX): 395 violent, 2058 property/100K. NCES: 14.4:1 ratio, 11.1% charter. DOL infant childcare $7,566/yr. EPA: 70 Superfund sites (TX).
Where Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington sits among all US metros
Composite Life Score vs the national field
47 39th percentile higher than 39% 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 47.1 is built
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington's Life Score, decomposed
Dimension detail
How Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 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 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington With...
Ranking Context
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington outranks 39% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #234 | Carson City, NV | 47.2 | C+ |
| #235 | Tucson, AZ | 47.3 | C+ |
| #236 | South Bend-Mishawaka, IN-MI | 47.3 | C+ |
| #237 | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | 47.1 | C+ |
| #238 | Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV | 47.0 | C+ |
| #239 | Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL | 47.0 | C+ |
| #240 | Kansas City, MO-KS | 46.9 | C+ |
Quality vs. Affordability
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX is bottom 39% lowest-quality nationally but only bottom 12% least affordable among its composite-quality peers -- its Life Score is earned mostly outside the cost dimension, not through being a budget option.
TX Metro Scores
Read with Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington (MID · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Carson City, NV
ABS(composite) peer at 47.2 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK.
Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV
ABS(composite) peer at 47.0 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK.
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL
ABS(composite) peer at 47.0 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK.
Salem, OR
ABS(composite) peer at 47.3 (Δ 0.2 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK.
Trenton-Princeton, NJ (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 12/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.
Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 12/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for MID · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.
Using Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington's middle-third Life Score
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington scores 47.1/100 overall, but Wages (86.0) and Rent (10.4) sit 75.6 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.
- Wages is the strongest of Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington'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
- Beaumont is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with Beaumont
A middle-third composite is a weighted blend; individual dimensions can sit well above or below it.