Metro Life Score
Gettysburg, PA
Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade C-, 11th percentile of the national corpus.
- 40.0
- Life Score / 100
- C-
- Grade (curved)
- #344
- 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
Gettysburg is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #344 of 387 (40.0/100, grade C-, 11th percentile). Carried by safety at 76/100; held back most by wages at 16/100.
- 11th
- composite percentile
- #344
- of 387 peers
- 41st
- cost dimension percentile
- 16th
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · BOTTOM · SAFE-LED · signature composite
Gettysburg: bottom-third composite — where the drag concentrates
Gettysburg sits in the bottom third of the metro corpus on composite (#344 of 387, 40.0/100, 11th percentile). Stamps BOTTOM · SAFE-LED; Wages at 16/100 is the main drag; Safety (76/100) keeps the floor. Cost/wage marks MID/LOW. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Gettysburg, PA ranks #344 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #228 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 95.4 (rent-RPP 73.9). BLS median salary $58,476, 26,700 jobs (Fast Food and Counter Workers, General and Operations Managers, Retail Salespersons). HUD 2BR FMR $1,374/mo (studio $1,006).
FBI UCR (PA): 250 violent, 1457 property/100K. NCES: 13.0:1 ratio, 6.0% charter. EPA: 127 Superfund sites (PA).
Where Gettysburg 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
How the 40.0 is built
Gettysburg's Life Score, decomposed
Dimension detail
How Gettysburg scores, dimension by dimension
Score Breakdown
Dimension Scores
Key Data Points
Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are PA state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.
Compare Gettysburg With...
Ranking Context
Gettysburg outranks 11% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #341 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | 40.1 | C- |
| #342 | Kankakee, IL | 40.3 | C- |
| #343 | Flagstaff, AZ | 40.3 | C- |
| #344 | Gettysburg, PA | 40.0 | C- |
| #345 | Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO | 40.0 | C- |
| #346 | Knoxville, TN | 40.0 | C- |
| #347 | Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY | 39.9 | C- |
Quality vs. Affordability
Gettysburg, PA is bottom 11% lowest-quality nationally and also bottom 41% least affordable -- a rarer combination among its composite-quality peers, where overall rank and affordability rank usually diverge more than this.
PA Metro Scores
Read with Gettysburg
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Gettysburg (BOTTOM · SAFE-LED · MID/LOW), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO
ABS(composite) peer at 40.0 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C- vs this page's BOTTOM · SAFE-LED · MID/LOW.
Knoxville, TN
ABS(composite) peer at 40.0 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C- vs this page's BOTTOM · SAFE-LED · MID/LOW.
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 · SAFE-LED · MID/LOW.
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 · SAFE-LED · MID/LOW.
Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 41/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp MID vs this metro's MID.
Columbus, OH (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 41/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp MID vs this metro's MID.
Gettysburg, PA relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for BOTTOM · SAFE-LED · MID/LOW - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.
Using Gettysburg's bottom-third Life Score
Gettysburg scores 40.0/100 overall, but Safety (76.4) and Wages (16.1) sit 60.4 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.
- Safety is the strongest of Gettysburg'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
- Wages is the weakest (weighted 20% in the composite); if it is a dealbreaker, weigh it before the ranking does. Rank metros on the composite
- Johnstown is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with Johnstown
A low composite is a weighted blend; individual dimensions can still be strong.