Metro Life Score
Great Falls, MT
Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade D, 4th percentile of the national corpus.
- 37.3
- Life Score / 100
- D
- Grade (curved)
- #371
- of 387 metros
- 4%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog
The verdict
Great Falls is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #371 of 387 (37.3/100, grade D, 4th percentile). Carried by environment at 94/100; held back most by schools at 4/100.
- 4th
- composite percentile
- #371
- of 387 peers
- 34th
- cost dimension percentile
- 27th
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · BOTTOM · ENVIRO-LED · signature composite
Great Falls: bottom-third composite — where the drag concentrates
Great Falls sits in the bottom third of the metro corpus on composite (#371 of 387, 37.3/100, 4th percentile). Stamps BOTTOM · ENVIRO-LED; Schools at 4/100 is the main drag; Environment (94/100) keeps the floor. Cost/wage marks DEAR/LOW. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Great Falls, MT ranks #371 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #256 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 96.8 (rent-RPP 97.1). BLS median salary $60,566, 31,100 jobs (Fast Food and Counter Workers, Retail Salespersons, Home Health and Personal Care Aides). HUD 2BR FMR $1,284/mo (studio $960).
FBI UCR (MT): 426 violent, 1646 property/100K. NCES: 11.3:1 ratio, 0.0% charter. DOL infant childcare $11,466/yr. EPA: 19 Superfund sites (MT).
Where Great Falls sits among all US metros
Composite Life Score vs the national field
37 4th percentile higher than 4% 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 37.3 is built
Great Falls's Life Score, decomposed
Dimension detail
How Great Falls scores, dimension by dimension
Score Breakdown
Dimension Scores
Key Data Points
Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are MT state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.
Compare Great Falls With...
Ranking Context
Great Falls outranks 4% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #368 | Santa Fe, NM | 37.4 | D |
| #369 | Ithaca, NY | 37.4 | D |
| #370 | Dover, DE | 37.8 | D |
| #371 | Great Falls, MT | 37.3 | D |
| #372 | Worcester, MA | 36.4 | D |
| #373 | Lexington Park, MD | 36.3 | D |
| #374 | Barnstable Town, MA | 36.2 | D |
Quality vs. Affordability
Great Falls, MT is bottom 4% lowest-quality nationally and also bottom 34% least affordable -- a rarer combination among its composite-quality peers, where overall rank and affordability rank usually diverge more than this.
MT Metro Scores
Read with Great Falls
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Great Falls (BOTTOM · ENVIRO-LED · DEAR/LOW), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Ithaca, NY
ABS(composite) peer at 37.4 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · ENVIRO-LED · DEAR/LOW.
Santa Fe, NM
ABS(composite) peer at 37.4 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · ENVIRO-LED · DEAR/LOW.
Dover, DE
ABS(composite) peer at 37.8 (Δ 0.5 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · ENVIRO-LED · DEAR/LOW.
Worcester, MA
ABS(composite) peer at 36.4 (Δ 0.9 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · ENVIRO-LED · DEAR/LOW.
Gainesville, GA (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 34/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp DEAR vs this metro's DEAR.
Tucson, AZ (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 34/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp DEAR vs this metro's DEAR.
Great Falls, MT relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for BOTTOM · ENVIRO-LED · DEAR/LOW - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.
Using Great Falls's bottom-third Life Score
Great Falls scores 37.3/100 overall, but Environment (94.0) and Schools (4.4) sit 89.6 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.
- Environment is the strongest of Great Falls'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
- Schools is the weakest (weighted 10% in the composite); if it is a dealbreaker, weigh it before the ranking does. Rank metros on the composite
- Billings is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with Billings
A low composite is a weighted blend; individual dimensions can still be strong.