Metro Life Score
Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV
Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade C-, 13th percentile of the national corpus.
- 40.7
- Life Score / 100
- C-
- Grade (curved)
- #335
- of 387 metros
- 13%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog
The verdict
Hagerstown-Martinsburg is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #335 of 387 (40.7/100, grade C-, 13th percentile). Carried by rent at 56/100; held back most by childcare at 17/100.
- 13th
- composite percentile
- #335
- of 387 peers
- 46th
- cost dimension percentile
- 50th
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · LOWER · BALANCED · signature composite
Hagerstown-Martinsburg: bottom-third composite — where the drag concentrates
Hagerstown-Martinsburg sits in the bottom third of the metro corpus on composite (#335 of 387, 40.7/100, 13th percentile). Stamps LOWER · BALANCED; Childcare at 17/100 is the main drag; Rent (56/100) keeps the floor. Cost/wage marks MID/MID. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV ranks #335 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #209 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 94.2 (rent-RPP 75.7). BLS median salary $64,224, 100,850 jobs (Retail Salespersons, Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand, General and Operations Managers). HUD 2BR FMR $1,261/mo (studio $869).
FBI UCR (MD): 425 violent, 2074 property/100K. NCES: 14.0:1 ratio, 3.5% charter. DOL infant childcare $14,631/yr. EPA: 26 Superfund sites (MD).
Where Hagerstown-Martinsburg sits among all US metros
Composite Life Score vs the national field
41 13th percentile higher than 13% 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 40.7 is built
Hagerstown-Martinsburg's Life Score, decomposed
Dimension detail
How Hagerstown-Martinsburg scores, dimension by dimension
Score Breakdown
Dimension Scores
Key Data Points
Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are MD state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.
Compare Hagerstown-Martinsburg With...
Ranking Context
Hagerstown-Martinsburg outranks 13% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #332 | Yuba City, CA | 40.8 | C- |
| #333 | Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA | 40.8 | C- |
| #334 | Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ | 40.8 | C- |
| #335 | Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV | 40.7 | C- |
| #336 | Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT Metropolitan Statistical Area | 40.7 | C- |
| #337 | Helena, MT | 40.7 | C- |
| #338 | Modesto, CA | 40.5 | C- |
Quality vs. Affordability
Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV is bottom 14% lowest-quality nationally and also bottom 46% least affordable -- a rarer combination among its composite-quality peers, where overall rank and affordability rank usually diverge more than this.
MD Metro Scores
Read with Hagerstown-Martinsburg
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Hagerstown-Martinsburg (LOWER · BALANCED · MID/MID), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT Metropolitan Statistical Area
ABS(composite) peer at 40.7 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C- vs this page's LOWER · BALANCED · MID/MID.
Helena, MT
ABS(composite) peer at 40.7 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C- vs this page's LOWER · BALANCED · MID/MID.
Chattanooga, TN-GA
ABS(composite) peer at 40.8 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C- vs this page's LOWER · BALANCED · MID/MID.
Daphne-Fairhope-Foley, AL
ABS(composite) peer at 40.8 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C- vs this page's LOWER · BALANCED · MID/MID.
Elmira, NY (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 46/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp MID vs this metro's MID.
Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 46/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp MID vs this metro's MID.
Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for LOWER · BALANCED · MID/MID - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.
Using Hagerstown-Martinsburg's bottom-third Life Score
Hagerstown-Martinsburg scores 40.7/100 overall, but Rent (55.7) and Childcare (17.4) sit 38.3 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.
- Rent is the strongest of Hagerstown-Martinsburg'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
- Childcare is the weakest (weighted 10% in the composite); if it is a dealbreaker, weigh it before the ranking does. Rank metros on the composite
- Salisbury is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with Salisbury
A low composite is a weighted blend; individual dimensions can still be strong.