Metro Life Score
Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL
Below-median composite Life Score — grade C+, 37th percentile of the national corpus.
- 46.5
- Life Score / 100
- C+
- Grade (curved)
- #244
- of 387 metros
- 37%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog
The verdict
Panama City-Panama City Beach is below-median composite Life Score — #244 of 387 (46.5/100, grade C+, 37th percentile). Carried by safety at 93/100; held back most by rent at 22/100.
- 37th
- composite percentile
- #244
- of 387 peers
- 32nd
- cost dimension percentile
- 29th
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · MID · SAFE-LED · signature wages
Panama City-Panama City Beach: wage lag defines the peer set
Panama City-Panama City Beach is a MID-band metro where wages sit at only the 29th percentile (LOW) while cost is DEAR (32nd) and composite #244. Rent at 22/100 is the clearest drag; Safety (93/100) is the offset. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL ranks #244 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #264 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 97.3 (rent-RPP 96.4). BLS median salary $60,913, 84,900 jobs (Retail Salespersons, Fast Food and Counter Workers, Cashiers). HUD 2BR FMR $1,682/mo (studio $1,426).
FBI UCR (FL): 210 violent, 1030 property/100K. NCES: 17.8:1 ratio, 18.0% charter. DOL infant childcare $10,505/yr. EPA: 81 Superfund sites (FL).
Where Panama City-Panama City Beach sits among all US metros
Composite Life Score vs the national field
47 37th percentile higher than 37% 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 46.5 is built
Panama City-Panama City Beach's Life Score, decomposed
Dimension detail
How Panama City-Panama City Beach scores, dimension by dimension
Score Breakdown
Dimension Scores
Key Data Points
Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are FL state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.
Compare Panama City-Panama City Beach With...
Ranking Context
Panama City-Panama City Beach outranks 37% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #241 | Providence-Warwick, RI-MA | 46.7 | C+ |
| #242 | Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY | 46.8 | C+ |
| #243 | Bend, OR | 46.8 | C+ |
| #244 | Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL | 46.5 | C+ |
| #245 | Savannah, GA | 46.4 | C+ |
| #246 | Watertown-Fort Drum, NY | 46.4 | C+ |
| #247 | Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL | 46.2 | C+ |
Quality vs. Affordability
Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL's quality rank (bottom 37% lowest-quality) and affordability rank (bottom 32% least affordable) sit close together -- an unusually proportionate metro where overall quality and cost-of-living move together.
FL Metro Scores
Read with Panama City-Panama City Beach
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Panama City-Panama City Beach (MID · SAFE-LED · DEAR/LOW), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Savannah, GA
ABS(composite) peer at 46.4 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · SAFE-LED · DEAR/LOW.
Watertown-Fort Drum, NY
ABS(composite) peer at 46.4 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · SAFE-LED · DEAR/LOW.
Providence-Warwick, RI-MA
ABS(composite) peer at 46.7 (Δ 0.2 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · SAFE-LED · DEAR/LOW.
Bend, OR
ABS(composite) peer at 46.8 (Δ 0.3 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · SAFE-LED · DEAR/LOW.
Madison, WI (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 32/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp DEAR vs this metro's DEAR.
St. George, UT (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 32/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp DEAR vs this metro's DEAR.
Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for MID · SAFE-LED · DEAR/LOW - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.
Using Panama City-Panama City Beach's middle-third Life Score
Panama City-Panama City Beach scores 46.5/100 overall, but Safety (92.7) and Rent (21.5) sit 71.2 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.
- Safety is the strongest of Panama City-Panama City Beach'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
- Rent is the weakest (weighted 15% in the composite); if it is a dealbreaker, weigh it before the ranking does. Rank metros on the composite
- Wildwood is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with Wildwood
A middle-third composite is a weighted blend; individual dimensions can sit well above or below it.