Metro Life Score
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA
Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade D, 10th percentile of the national corpus.
- 39.8
- Life Score / 100
- D
- Grade (curved)
- #349
- of 387 metros
- 10%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog
The verdict
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #349 of 387 (39.8/100, grade D, 10th percentile). Carried by wages at 98/100; held back most by cost of living at 1/100.
- 10th
- composite percentile
- #349
- of 387 peers
- 1st
- cost dimension percentile
- 98th
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · signature cost
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim: cost pressure is the outlier
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim is a BOTTOM-band metro where cost sits only at the 1st percentile (CEILING) — the clearest outlier vs wages at the 98th and composite #349. Cost of Living (1/100) is the main drag; Wages (98/100) keeps the floor. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA ranks #349 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #385 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 113.6 (rent-RPP 170.4). BLS median salary $82,276, 6,167,970 jobs (Home Health and Personal Care Aides, Fast Food and Counter Workers, Retail Salespersons). HUD 2BR FMR $2,601/mo (studio $1,863).
FBI UCR (CA): 477 violent, 1986 property/100K. NCES: 20.8:1 ratio, 12.8% charter. DOL infant childcare $17,920/yr. EPA: 116 Superfund sites (CA).
Where Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim sits among all US metros
Composite Life Score vs the national field
40 10th percentile higher than 10% 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 39.8 is built
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim's Life Score, decomposed
Dimension detail
How Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim scores, dimension by dimension
Score Breakdown
Dimension Scores
Key Data Points
Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are CA state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.
Compare Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim With...
Ranking Context
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim outranks 10% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #346 | Sumter, SC | 39.9 | C- |
| #347 | Stockton-Lodi, CA | 39.9 | C- |
| #348 | Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY | 39.9 | C- |
| #349 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 39.8 | D |
| #350 | Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA | 39.8 | D |
| #351 | Missoula, MT | 39.7 | D |
| #352 | Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | 39.7 | D |
Quality vs. Affordability
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA's quality rank (bottom 10% lowest-quality) and affordability rank (bottom 1% least affordable) sit close together -- an unusually proportionate metro where overall quality and cost-of-living move together.
CA Metro Scores
Read with Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA
ABS(composite) peer at 39.8 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK.
Missoula, MT
ABS(composite) peer at 39.7 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK.
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA
ABS(composite) peer at 39.7 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK.
Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY
ABS(composite) peer at 39.9 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C- vs this page's BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK.
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 0/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 1/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.
Using Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim's bottom-third Life Score
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim scores 39.8/100 overall, but Wages (98.2) and Cost of Living (0.5) sit 97.7 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.
- Wages is the strongest of Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim's seven dimensions (weighted 20% in the composite); if it is your priority, this is where the metro earns its rank. See all seven dimensions
- Cost of Living is the weakest (weighted 20% in the composite); if it is a dealbreaker, weigh it before the ranking does. Rank metros on the composite
- El Centro is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with El Centro
A low composite is a weighted blend; individual dimensions can still be strong.