Metro Life Score
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA
Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade D, 9th percentile of the national corpus.
- 39.7
- Life Score / 100
- D
- Grade (curved)
- #352
- of 387 metros
- 9%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog
The verdict
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #352 of 387 (39.7/100, grade D, 9th percentile). Carried by schools at 97/100; held back most by rent at 5/100.
- 9th
- composite percentile
- #352
- of 387 peers
- 6th
- cost dimension percentile
- 91st
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · BOTTOM · SCHOOL-STRONG · signature cost
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario: cost pressure is the outlier
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario is a BOTTOM-band metro where cost sits only at the 6th percentile (CEILING) — the clearest outlier vs wages at the 91st and composite #352. Rent (5/100) is the main drag; Schools (97/100) keeps the floor. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA ranks #352 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #365 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 106.4 (rent-RPP 129.3). BLS median salary $76,654, 1,694,510 jobs (Home Health and Personal Care Aides, Stockers and Order Fillers, Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand). HUD 2BR FMR $2,201/mo (studio $1,692).
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 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario sits among all US metros
Composite Life Score vs the national field
40 9th percentile higher than 9% 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 39.7 is built
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario's Life Score, decomposed
Dimension detail
How Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario 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 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario With...
Ranking Context
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario outranks 9% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #349 | Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA | 39.8 | D |
| #350 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 39.8 | D |
| #351 | Sumter, SC | 39.9 | C- |
| #352 | Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | 39.7 | D |
| #353 | Missoula, MT | 39.7 | D |
| #354 | San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | 39.6 | D |
| #355 | Fairbanks-College, AK | 39.4 | D |
Quality vs. Affordability
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA's quality rank (bottom 9% lowest-quality) and affordability rank (bottom 6% least affordable) sit close together -- an unusually proportionate metro where overall quality and cost-of-living move together.
CA Metro Scores
Read with Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario (BOTTOM · SCHOOL-STRONG · CEILING/PEAK), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Missoula, MT
ABS(composite) peer at 39.7 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · SCHOOL-STRONG · CEILING/PEAK.
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA
ABS(composite) peer at 39.8 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · SCHOOL-STRONG · CEILING/PEAK.
Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA
ABS(composite) peer at 39.8 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · SCHOOL-STRONG · CEILING/PEAK.
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA
ABS(composite) peer at 39.6 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · SCHOOL-STRONG · CEILING/PEAK.
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 5/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.
Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 6/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for BOTTOM · SCHOOL-STRONG · CEILING/PEAK - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.
Using Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario's bottom-third Life Score
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario scores 39.7/100 overall, but Schools (96.6) and Rent (5.4) sit 91.2 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.
- Schools is the strongest of Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario's seven dimensions (weighted 10% 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
- 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.