Metro Life Score

Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA

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

39.6
Life Score / 100: C-
Grade (curved): #332
of 387 metros: 14%
of metros outranked

Data updated May 2026

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

The verdict

Riverside ranks #332 of 387 US metros, ahead of 14% - carried by its schools (95/100) and held back most by rent (5/100).

95
strongest: Schools: 92
then: Wages: 5
weakest: Rent: 7
weighted dimensions

Where Riverside sits among all US metros

Composite Life Score vs the national field

40 14th percentile higher than 14% 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 Riverside Life Score

Riverside's composite score of 39.6 out of 100, a grade of C-, places the metro at rank #332 of 387, ahead of 14% of US metros. The strongest inputs are Schools (95/100) and Wages (92/100), which pull the composite upward, while Rent (5/100) and Cost of Living (6/100) drag it downward. (How the weighting works.)

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: 21.5:1 ratio, 12.8% charter. DOL infant childcare $17,920/yr. EPA: 116 Superfund sites (CA). Ranks #329-#335 below.

Dimension detail

How Riverside scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 6/100 (20%)

Wages 92/100 (20%)

Rent 5/100 (15%)

Safety 11/100 (15%)

Schools 95/100 (10%)

Childcare 6/100 (10%)

Environment 75/100 (10%)

Key Data Points

106.4

Cost Index (RPP)

$76,654

Avg Median Salary

$2,201

2BR Fair Market Rent

477

Violent Crime/100K (CA)

21.5:1

Student-Teacher Ratio

$17,920

Infant Childcare/yr (CA)

116

Superfund Sites (CA)

1,694,510

Total Employment

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

Compare Riverside With...

Riverside vs El Centro Compare → Riverside vs Visalia Compare → Riverside vs Redding Compare → Riverside vs Wildwood Compare → Riverside vs Waterloo Compare → Riverside vs Paducah Compare →

Ranking Context

Riverside outranks 14% of U.S. metros.

Rank	Metro	Score	Grade
#329	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	39.7	C-
#330	Manchester-Nashua, NH	39.8	C-
#331	Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, FL	39.8	C-
#332	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	39.6	C-
#333	Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL	39.6	C-
#334	Clarksville, TN-KY	39.6	C-
#335	Hanford-Corcoran, CA	39.6	C-

CA Metro Scores

El Centro, CA C+ 46.7 Visalia, CA C 45.2 Redding, CA C 43.7 Yuba City, CA C 43.3 Merced, CA C 42.8 Vallejo, CA C 41.9

Using Riverside's Life Score

Riverside 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 schools (95/100) and its weakest is rent (5/100) - weigh those against your own priorities. How the score is built
Put Riverside head-to-head against another metro before you decide, every dimension, side by side. Compare metros
See where Riverside 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 Riverside's biggest strengths? ▼

Riverside's strongest dimensions are Schools (95/100), Wages (92/100), Environment (75/100). Schools is top-tier nationally.

What are Riverside's weakest areas? ▼

Riverside's lowest-scoring dimensions are Rent (5/100), Cost of Living (6/100), Childcare (6/100). Rent weighs heavily on the composite.

How expensive is Riverside compared to the national average? ▼

Riverside's Regional Price Parity is 106.4 (6.4% more than national); rent RPP 129.3.

What is the average salary in Riverside? ▼

Riverside median salary: $76,654, 1,694,510 jobs. Top: Home Health and Personal Care Aides, Stockers and Order Fillers, Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand.

How is the life score calculated? ▼

Riverside's 39.6/100 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.