Metro Life Score
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA
Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade D, 9th percentile of the national corpus.
- 39.6
- Life Score / 100
- D
- Grade (curved)
- #353
- of 387 metros
- 9%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
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The verdict
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #353 of 387 (39.6/100, grade D, 9th percentile). Carried by wages at 100/100; held back most by cost of living at 0/100.
- 9th
- composite percentile
- #353
- of 387 peers
- 0th
- cost dimension percentile
- 99th
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · signature cost
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont: cost pressure is the outlier
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont is a BOTTOM-band metro where cost sits only at the 0th percentile (CEILING) — the clearest outlier vs wages at the 99th and composite #353. Cost of Living (0/100) is the main drag; Wages (100/100) keeps the floor. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA ranks #353 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #387 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 115.6 (rent-RPP 194.7). BLS median salary $95,708, 2,339,300 jobs (Home Health and Personal Care Aides, Software Developers, Fast Food and Counter Workers). HUD 2BR FMR $2,912/mo (studio $2,142).
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 San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont 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 39.6 is built
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont's Life Score, decomposed
Dimension detail
How San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont 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 San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont With...
Ranking Context
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont outranks 9% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #350 | Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | 39.7 | D |
| #351 | Missoula, MT | 39.7 | D |
| #352 | Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA | 39.8 | D |
| #353 | San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | 39.6 | D |
| #354 | Fairbanks-College, AK | 39.4 | D |
| #355 | San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | 39.4 | D |
| #356 | Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR | 39.3 | D |
Quality vs. Affordability
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA's quality rank (bottom 9% lowest-quality) and affordability rank (bottom 1% least affordable) sit close together -- an unusually proportionate metro where overall quality and cost-of-living move together.
CA Metro Scores
Read with San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont (BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Missoula, MT
ABS(composite) peer at 39.7 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK.
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA
ABS(composite) peer at 39.7 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK.
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA
ABS(composite) peer at 39.8 (Δ 0.2 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK.
Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA
ABS(composite) peer at 39.8 (Δ 0.2 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK.
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 0/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 1/100 (Δ 1); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/PEAK - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.
Using San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont's bottom-third Life Score
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont scores 39.6/100 overall, but Wages (99.7) and Cost of Living (0.0) sit 99.7 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.
- Wages is the strongest of San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont's seven dimensions (weighted 20% in the composite); if it is your priority, this is where the metro earns its rank. See all seven dimensions
- Cost of Living is the weakest (weighted 20% 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.