Metro Life Score

Salisbury, MD

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

46.1
Life Score / 100: C+
Grade (curved): #252
of 387 metros: 35%
of metros outranked

Data updated May 2026

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

The verdict

Salisbury ranks #252 of 387 US metros, ahead of 35% - carried by its environment (78/100) and held back most by childcare (17/100).

78
strongest: Environment: 70
then: Rent: 17
weakest: Childcare: 7
weighted dimensions

Where Salisbury sits among all US metros

Composite Life Score vs the national field

46 35th percentile higher than 35% 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 Salisbury Life Score

Salisbury's composite score of 46.1 out of 100, a grade of C+, places the metro at rank #252 of 387, ahead of 35% of US metros. The strongest inputs are Environment (78/100) and Rent (70/100), which pull the composite upward, while Childcare (17/100) and Safety (25/100) drag it downward. (How the weighting works.)

BEA RPP 95.6 (rent-RPP 87.2). BLS median salary $66,497, 46,370 jobs (Retail Salespersons, Registered Nurses, Fast Food and Counter Workers). HUD 2BR FMR $1,167/mo (studio $901).

FBI UCR (MD): 425 violent, 2074 property/100K. NCES: 14.5:1 ratio, 3.5% charter. DOL infant childcare $14,631/yr. EPA: 26 Superfund sites (MD). Ranks #249-#255 below.

Dimension detail

How Salisbury scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 40/100 (20%)

Wages 57/100 (20%)

Rent 70/100 (15%)

Safety 25/100 (15%)

Schools 30/100 (10%)

Childcare 17/100 (10%)

Environment 78/100 (10%)

Key Data Points

95.6

Cost Index (RPP)

$66,497

Avg Median Salary

$1,167

2BR Fair Market Rent

425

Violent Crime/100K (MD)

14.5:1

Student-Teacher Ratio

$14,631

Infant Childcare/yr (MD)

Superfund Sites (MD)

46,370

Total Employment

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

Compare Salisbury With...

Salisbury vs Washington Compare → Salisbury vs Philadelphia Compare → Salisbury vs Hagerstown Compare → Salisbury vs Wildwood Compare → Salisbury vs Waterloo Compare → Salisbury vs Paducah Compare →

Ranking Context

Salisbury outranks 35% of U.S. metros.

Rank	Metro	Score	Grade
#249	Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL	46.4	C+
#250	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	46.4	C+
#251	Jefferson City, MO	46.5	C+
#252	Salisbury, MD	46.1	C+
#253	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	46.1	C+
#254	Kenosha, WI	46.0	C+
#255	Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT	46.0	C+

MD Metro Scores

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV C+ 46.1 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD C 45.4 Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV C- 39.5 Lexington Park, MD D 37.7 Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD F 30.5

Using Salisbury's Life Score

Salisbury 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 environment (78/100) and its weakest is childcare (17/100) - weigh those against your own priorities. How the score is built
Put Salisbury head-to-head against another metro before you decide, every dimension, side by side. Compare metros
See where Salisbury 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 Salisbury's biggest strengths? ▼

Salisbury's strongest dimensions are Environment (78/100), Rent (70/100), Wages (57/100). Environment is top-tier nationally.

What are Salisbury's weakest areas? ▼

Salisbury's lowest-scoring dimensions are Childcare (17/100), Safety (25/100), Schools (30/100). Childcare weighs heavily on the composite.

How expensive is Salisbury compared to the national average? ▼

Salisbury's Regional Price Parity is 95.6 (4.4% less than national); rent RPP 87.2.

What is the average salary in Salisbury? ▼

Salisbury median salary: $66,497, 46,370 jobs. Top: Retail Salespersons, Registered Nurses, Fast Food and Counter Workers.

How is the life score calculated? ▼

Salisbury's 46.1/100 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.