Metro Life Score

Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD

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

45.4
Life Score / 100: C
Grade (curved): #268
of 387 metros: 31%
of metros outranked

Data updated May 2026

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

The verdict

Philadelphia ranks #268 of 387 US metros, ahead of 31% - carried by its wages (86/100) and held back most by cost of living (13/100).

86
strongest: Wages: 70
then: Environment: 13
weakest: Cost of Living: 7
weighted dimensions

Where Philadelphia sits among all US metros

Composite Life Score vs the national field

45 31th percentile higher than 31% 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 Philadelphia Life Score

Philadelphia's composite score of 45.4 out of 100, a grade of C, places the metro at rank #268 of 387, ahead of 31% of US metros. The strongest inputs are Wages (86/100) and Environment (70/100), which pull the composite upward, while Cost of Living (13/100) and Rent (14/100) drag it downward. (How the weighting works.)

BEA RPP 102.6 (rent-RPP 113.1). BLS median salary $74,260, 2,874,190 jobs (Home Health and Personal Care Aides, Registered Nurses, Fast Food and Counter Workers). HUD 2BR FMR $1,810/mo (studio $1,397).

FBI UCR (PA): 250 violent, 1457 property/100K. NCES: 13.6:1 ratio, 6.0% charter. EPA: 127 Superfund sites (PA). Ranks #265-#271 below.

Dimension detail

How Philadelphia scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 13/100 (20%)

Wages 86/100 (20%)

Rent 14/100 (15%)

Safety 69/100 (15%)

Schools 17/100 (10%)

Childcare -/100 (10%)

Environment 70/100 (10%)

Key Data Points

102.6

Cost Index (RPP)

$74,260

Avg Median Salary

$1,810

2BR Fair Market Rent

250

Violent Crime/100K (PA)

13.6:1

Student-Teacher Ratio

127

Superfund Sites (PA)

2,874,190

Total Employment

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

Compare Philadelphia With...

Philadelphia vs Johnstown Compare → Philadelphia vs Williamsport Compare → Philadelphia vs Pittsburgh Compare → Philadelphia vs Wildwood Compare → Philadelphia vs Waterloo Compare → Philadelphia vs Paducah Compare →

Ranking Context

Philadelphia outranks 31% of U.S. metros.

Rank	Metro	Score	Grade
#265	Portland-South Portland, ME	45.5	C
#266	North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL	45.5	C
#267	Kansas City, MO-KS	45.5	C
#268	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	45.4	C
#269	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	45.4	C
#270	Visalia, CA	45.2	C
#271	Jonesboro, AR	45.1	C

PA Metro Scores

Johnstown, PA B+ 56.4 Williamsport, PA B 54.7 Pittsburgh, PA B 54.0 York-Hanover, PA B 52.7 Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA B- 51.9 State College, PA B- 49.9

Using Philadelphia's Life Score

Philadelphia 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 wages (86/100) and its weakest is cost of living (13/100) - weigh those against your own priorities. How the score is built
Put Philadelphia head-to-head against another metro before you decide, every dimension, side by side. Compare metros
See where Philadelphia 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 Philadelphia's biggest strengths? ▼

Philadelphia's strongest dimensions are Wages (86/100), Environment (70/100), Safety (69/100). Wages is top-tier nationally.

What are Philadelphia's weakest areas? ▼

Philadelphia's lowest-scoring dimensions are Cost of Living (13/100), Rent (14/100), Schools (17/100). Cost of Living weighs heavily on the composite.

How expensive is Philadelphia compared to the national average? ▼

Philadelphia's Regional Price Parity is 102.6 (2.6% more than national); rent RPP 113.1.

What is the average salary in Philadelphia? ▼

Philadelphia median salary: $74,260, 2,874,190 jobs. Top: Home Health and Personal Care Aides, Registered Nurses, Fast Food and Counter Workers.

How is the life score calculated? ▼

Philadelphia's 45.4/100 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.