Metro Life Score
Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO
Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade C-, 11th percentile of the national corpus.
- 40.0
- Life Score / 100
- C-
- Grade (curved)
- #343
- of 387 metros
- 11%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog
The verdict
Denver-Aurora-Centennial is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #343 of 387 (40.0/100, grade C-, 11th percentile). Carried by wages at 94/100; held back most by cost of living at 6/100.
- 11th
- composite percentile
- #343
- of 387 peers
- 6th
- cost dimension percentile
- 94th
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · signature cost
Denver-Aurora-Centennial: cost pressure is the outlier
Denver-Aurora-Centennial is a BOTTOM-band metro where cost sits only at the 6th percentile (CEILING) — the clearest outlier vs wages at the 94th and composite #343. Cost of Living (6/100) is the main drag; Wages (94/100) keeps the floor. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO ranks #343 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #364 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 105.8 (rent-RPP 146.9). BLS median salary $78,519, 1,580,940 jobs (Fast Food and Counter Workers, Retail Salespersons, Stockers and Order Fillers). HUD 2BR FMR $2,089/mo (studio $1,643).
FBI UCR (CO): 481 violent, 2641 property/100K. NCES: 16.6:1 ratio, 14.0% charter. DOL infant childcare $12,821/yr. EPA: 24 Superfund sites (CO).
Where Denver-Aurora-Centennial sits among all US metros
Composite Life Score vs the national field
40 11th percentile higher than 11% 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 Denver-Aurora-Centennial scores, dimension by dimension
Score Breakdown
Dimension Scores
Key Data Points
Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are CO state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.
Compare Denver-Aurora-Centennial With...
Ranking Context
Denver-Aurora-Centennial outranks 11% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #340 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | 40.1 | C- |
| #341 | Kankakee, IL | 40.3 | C- |
| #342 | Flagstaff, AZ | 40.3 | C- |
| #343 | Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO | 40.0 | C- |
| #344 | Gettysburg, PA | 40.0 | C- |
| #345 | Knoxville, TN | 40.0 | C- |
| #346 | Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY | 39.9 | C- |
CO Metro Scores
Read with Denver-Aurora-Centennial
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Denver-Aurora-Centennial (BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Gettysburg, PA
ABS(composite) peer at 40.0 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C- vs this page's BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK.
Knoxville, TN
ABS(composite) peer at 40.0 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C- vs this page's BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK.
Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY
ABS(composite) peer at 39.9 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade C- vs this page's BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK.
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
ABS(composite) peer at 40.1 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C- vs this page's BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK.
Manchester-Nashua, NH (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 6/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 6/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.
Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.