Metro Life Score
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA
Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade D, 5th percentile of the national corpus.
- 38.2
- Life Score / 100
- D
- Grade (curved)
- #366
- of 387 metros
- 5%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
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The verdict
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #366 of 387 (38.2/100, grade D, 5th percentile). Carried by schools at 96/100; held back most by rent at 2/100.
- 5th
- composite percentile
- #366
- of 387 peers
- 2nd
- cost dimension percentile
- 89th
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · BOTTOM · SCHOOL-STRONG · signature cost
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura: cost pressure is the outlier
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura is a BOTTOM-band metro where cost sits only at the 2nd percentile (CEILING) — the clearest outlier vs wages at the 89th and composite #366. Rent (2/100) is the main drag; Schools (96/100) keeps the floor. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA ranks #366 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #379 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 110.5 (rent-RPP 171.1). BLS median salary $75,080, 310,050 jobs (Home Health and Personal Care Aides, Fast Food and Counter Workers, Retail Salespersons). HUD 2BR FMR $2,693/mo (studio $1,998).
FBI UCR (CA): 477 violent, 1986 property/100K. NCES: 21.5:1 ratio, 12.8% charter. DOL infant childcare $17,920/yr. EPA: 116 Superfund sites (CA).
Where Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura sits among all US metros
Composite Life Score vs the national field
38 5th percentile higher than 5% 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
Dimension detail
How Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura 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 Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura With...
Ranking Context
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura outranks 5% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #363 | Napa, CA | 38.4 | D |
| #364 | Clarksville, TN-KY | 38.5 | D |
| #365 | Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ | 38.7 | D |
| #366 | Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA | 38.2 | D |
| #367 | Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN | 38.2 | D |
| #368 | Salinas, CA | 38.2 | D |
| #369 | Dover, DE | 37.8 | D |
CA Metro Scores
Read with Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura (BOTTOM · SCHOOL-STRONG · CEILING/PEAK), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN
ABS(composite) peer at 38.2 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · SCHOOL-STRONG · CEILING/PEAK.
Salinas, CA
ABS(composite) peer at 38.2 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · SCHOOL-STRONG · CEILING/PEAK.
Napa, CA
ABS(composite) peer at 38.4 (Δ 0.2 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · SCHOOL-STRONG · CEILING/PEAK.
Clarksville, TN-KY
ABS(composite) peer at 38.5 (Δ 0.3 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · SCHOOL-STRONG · CEILING/PEAK.
Urban Honolulu, HI (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 2/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 2/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for BOTTOM · SCHOOL-STRONG · CEILING/PEAK - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.