Metro Life Score
Salinas, CA
Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade D, 5th percentile of the national corpus.
- 38.2
- Life Score / 100
- D
- Grade (curved)
- #367
- of 387 metros
- 5%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
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The verdict
Salinas is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #367 of 387 (38.2/100, grade D, 5th percentile). Carried by schools at 97/100; held back most by rent at 2/100.
- 5th
- composite percentile
- #367
- of 387 peers
- 3rd
- cost dimension percentile
- 88th
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · BOTTOM · SCHOOL-STRONG · signature cost
Salinas: cost pressure is the outlier
Salinas is a BOTTOM-band metro where cost sits only at the 3rd percentile (CEILING) — the clearest outlier vs wages at the 88th and composite #367. Rent (2/100) is the main drag; Schools (97/100) keeps the floor. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Salinas, CA ranks #367 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #374 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 109.0 (rent-RPP 145.7). BLS median salary $74,412, 178,430 jobs (Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse, Home Health and Personal Care Aides, Fast Food and Counter Workers). HUD 2BR FMR $2,684/mo (studio $2,173).
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 Salinas 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 Salinas 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 Salinas With...
Ranking Context
Salinas outranks 5% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #364 | Napa, CA | 38.4 | D |
| #365 | Clarksville, TN-KY | 38.5 | D |
| #366 | Prescott Valley-Prescott, AZ | 38.7 | D |
| #367 | Salinas, CA | 38.2 | D |
| #368 | Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN | 38.2 | D |
| #369 | Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA | 38.2 | D |
| #370 | Dover, DE | 37.8 | D |
CA Metro Scores
Read with Salinas
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Salinas (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.
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, 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.
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 4/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.
Kahului-Wailuku, HI (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 3/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.
Salinas, CA relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for BOTTOM · SCHOOL-STRONG · CEILING/PEAK - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.