Metro Life Score

Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV

Compiled byPlainCompare Editorial, PlainCompare Editorial Team · Updated May 16, 2026

39.5
Life Score / 100: C-
Grade (curved): #334
of 387 metros: 14%
of metros outranked

Data updated May 2026

Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census

The verdict

Hagerstown ranks #334 of 387 US metros, ahead of 14% - carried by its rent (56/100) and held back most by childcare (17/100).

56
strongest: Rent: 49
then: Wages: 17
weakest: Childcare: 7
weighted dimensions

Where Hagerstown sits among all US metros

Composite Life Score vs the national field

40 14th percentile higher than 14% 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 · May 2026

How the score is built

Reading the Hagerstown Life Score

Hagerstown's composite score of 39.5 out of 100, a grade of C-, places the metro at rank #334 of 387, ahead of 14% of US metros. The strongest inputs are Rent (56/100) and Wages (49/100), which pull the composite upward, while Childcare (17/100) and Safety (25/100) drag it downward. (How the weighting works.)

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: 14.5:1 ratio, 3.5% charter. DOL infant childcare $14,631/yr. EPA: 26 Superfund sites (MD). Ranks #331-#337 below.

Dimension detail

How Hagerstown scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 46/100 (20%)

Wages 49/100 (20%)

Rent 56/100 (15%)

Safety 25/100 (15%)

Schools 29/100 (10%)

Childcare 17/100 (10%)

Environment 37/100 (10%)

Key Data Points

94.2

Cost Index (RPP)

$64,224

Avg Median Salary

$1,261

2BR Fair Market Rent

425

Violent Crime/100K (MD)

14.5:1

Student-Teacher Ratio

$14,631

Infant Childcare/yr (MD)

Superfund Sites (MD)

100,850

Total Employment

Crime, schools, childcare, and environment data shown at state level where metro-specific data is unavailable.

Compare Hagerstown With...

Hagerstown vs Salisbury Compare → Hagerstown vs Washington Compare → Hagerstown vs Philadelphia Compare → Hagerstown vs Wildwood Compare → Hagerstown vs Waterloo Compare → Hagerstown vs Paducah Compare →

Ranking Context

Hagerstown outranks 14% of U.S. metros.

Rank	Metro	Score	Grade
#331	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	39.6	C-
#332	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	39.6	C-
#333	Hanford-Corcoran, CA	39.6	C-
#334	Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV	39.5	C-
#335	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	39.5	C-
#336	Gettysburg, PA	39.4	C-
#337	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	39.3	C-

MD Metro Scores

Salisbury, MD C+ 46.1 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV C+ 46.1 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD C 45.4 Lexington Park, MD D 37.7 Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD F 30.5

Using Hagerstown's Life Score

Hagerstown is a regional baseline, not a neighborhood reading, use it to shortlist, then dig into the dimensions that matter to you.

Its strongest dimension is rent (56/100) and its weakest is childcare (17/100) - weigh those against your own priorities. How the score is built
Put Hagerstown head-to-head against another metro before you decide, every dimension, side by side. Compare metros
See where Hagerstown lands on the national rankings for cost, safety, pay and more. Browse rankings

Scores summarize federal data at the metro level; crime, schools and cost vary widely within a single metro.

Explore more

Frequently Asked Questions

What are Hagerstown's biggest strengths? ▼

Hagerstown's strongest dimensions are Rent (56/100), Wages (49/100), Cost of Living (46/100).

What are Hagerstown's weakest areas? ▼

Hagerstown's lowest-scoring dimensions are Childcare (17/100), Safety (25/100), Schools (29/100). Childcare weighs heavily on the composite.

How expensive is Hagerstown compared to the national average? ▼

Hagerstown's Regional Price Parity is 94.2 (5.8% less than national); rent RPP 75.7.

What is the average salary in Hagerstown? ▼

Hagerstown median salary: $64,224, 100,850 jobs. Top: Retail Salespersons, Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand, General and Operations Managers.

How is the life score calculated? ▼

Hagerstown's 39.5/100 blends 7 federal-data dimensions - see our methodology page for the weighting.

Research Guides

Data from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OES, NCES, DOL, and EPA. Not affiliated with the U.S. Government.

Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCompare Editorial

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

All federal data sources used on this page

U.S. Census Bureau ACS - multi-dimension demographic + housing + income aggregates for cross-area comparison. census.gov/programs-surveys/acs
BEA Regional Economic Accounts - GDP, personal income, employment by state and metro. bea.gov/data/regional
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) - wage estimates for comparable-area indexing. bls.gov/oes
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) - crime statistics for safety-score component. fbi.gov/ucr
NCES Common Core of Data - public-school quality indicators by area. nces.ed.gov/ccd
EPA AirNow + Air Quality System (AQS) - air-quality measurements by area. epa.gov/outdoor-air-quality-data
HUD Fair Market Rents (FMR) - county and metro housing-cost indicators. huduser.gov/datasets/fmr

Every figure on PlainCompare is loaded directly from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OEWS, NCES, DOL, EPA, and the Census Bureau, no number is typed in by an editor. This metro's Life Score is computed directly from the 7 federal sources cited above. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.