Metro Life Score
Farmington, NM
Above-median composite Life Score — grade B, 61st percentile of the national corpus.
- 52.4
- Life Score / 100
- B
- Grade (curved)
- #149
- of 387 metros
- 61%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog
The verdict
Farmington is above-median composite Life Score — #149 of 387 (52.4/100, grade B, 61st percentile). Carried by environment at 99/100; held back most by safety at 1/100.
- 61st
- composite percentile
- #149
- of 387 peers
- 88th
- cost dimension percentile
- 19th
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · MID · ENVIRO-LED · signature cost
Farmington: affordability leads the Life Score story
Farmington is a MID-band metro whose cost dimension sits at the 88th percentile of 387 US metros (FLOOR) while composite is #149 (52.4/100, grade B). Environment at 99/100 carries the upside; Safety at 1/100 is the residual drag. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Farmington, NM ranks #149 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #45 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 87.7 (rent-RPP 56.6). BLS median salary $59,097, 41,940 jobs (Home Health and Personal Care Aides, Fast Food and Counter Workers, Retail Salespersons). HUD 2BR FMR $1,085/mo (studio $882).
FBI UCR (NM): 697 violent, 2706 property/100K. NCES: 12.7:1 ratio, 11.6% charter. EPA: 21 Superfund sites (NM).
Where Farmington sits among all US metros
Composite Life Score vs the national field
52 61st percentile higher than 61% 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 52.4 is built
Farmington's Life Score, decomposed
Dimension detail
How Farmington scores, dimension by dimension
Score Breakdown
Dimension Scores
Key Data Points
Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are NM state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.
Compare Farmington With...
Ranking Context
Farmington outranks 61% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #146 | Slidell-Mandeville-Covington, LA | 52.5 | B |
| #147 | Fayetteville, NC | 52.5 | B |
| #148 | Joplin, MO-KS | 52.6 | B |
| #149 | Farmington, NM | 52.4 | B |
| #150 | Altoona, PA | 52.4 | B |
| #151 | Rockford, IL | 52.4 | B |
| #152 | Jackson, MI | 52.3 | B |
Quality vs. Affordability
Farmington, NM is top 39% highest-quality nationally and also top 12% most affordable -- a rarer combination among its composite-quality peers, where overall rank and affordability rank usually diverge more than this.
NM Metro Scores
Read with Farmington
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Farmington (MID · ENVIRO-LED · FLOOR/LOW), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Altoona, PA
ABS(composite) peer at 52.4 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade B vs this page's MID · ENVIRO-LED · FLOOR/LOW.
Rockford, IL
ABS(composite) peer at 52.4 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade B vs this page's MID · ENVIRO-LED · FLOOR/LOW.
Fayetteville, NC
ABS(composite) peer at 52.5 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade B vs this page's MID · ENVIRO-LED · FLOOR/LOW.
Jackson, MI
ABS(composite) peer at 52.3 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade B vs this page's MID · ENVIRO-LED · FLOOR/LOW.
Watertown-Fort Drum, NY (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 89/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp FLOOR vs this metro's FLOOR.
Brunswick-St. Simons, GA (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 88/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp FLOOR vs this metro's FLOOR.
Farmington, NM relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for MID · ENVIRO-LED · FLOOR/LOW - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.
Using Farmington's middle-third Life Score
Farmington scores 52.4/100 overall, but Environment (99.0) and Safety (1.3) sit 97.7 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.
- Environment is the strongest of Farmington's seven dimensions (weighted 10% in the composite); if it is your priority, this is where the metro earns its rank. See all seven dimensions
- Safety is the weakest (weighted 15% in the composite); if it is a dealbreaker, weigh it before the ranking does. Rank metros on the composite
- Las Cruces is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with Las Cruces
A middle-third composite is a weighted blend; individual dimensions can sit well above or below it.