Metro Life Score
Santa Fe, NM
Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade D, 4th percentile of the national corpus.
- 37.4
- Life Score / 100
- D
- Grade (curved)
- #370
- of 387 metros
- 4%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
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The verdict
Santa Fe is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #370 of 387 (37.4/100, grade D, 4th percentile). Carried by environment at 99/100; held back most by safety at 1/100.
- 4th
- composite percentile
- #370
- of 387 peers
- 25th
- cost dimension percentile
- 62nd
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · BOTTOM · ENVIRO-LED · signature composite
Santa Fe: bottom-third composite — where the drag concentrates
Santa Fe sits in the bottom third of the metro corpus on composite (#370 of 387, 37.4/100, 4th percentile). Stamps BOTTOM · ENVIRO-LED; Safety at 1/100 is the main drag; Environment (99/100) keeps the floor. Cost/wage marks DEAR/MID. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Santa Fe, NM ranks #370 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #289 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 98.8 (rent-RPP 108.0). BLS median salary $66,448, 55,730 jobs (Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive, Retail Salespersons, Fast Food and Counter Workers). HUD 2BR FMR $1,685/mo (studio $1,259).
FBI UCR (NM): 697 violent, 2706 property/100K. NCES: 12.7:1 ratio, 11.6% charter. EPA: 21 Superfund sites (NM).
Where Santa Fe sits among all US metros
Composite Life Score vs the national field
37 4th percentile higher than 4% 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 37.4 is built
Santa Fe's Life Score, decomposed
Dimension detail
How Santa Fe scores, dimension by dimension
Score Breakdown
Dimension Scores
Key Data Points
Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are NM state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.
Compare Santa Fe With...
Ranking Context
Santa Fe outranks 4% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #367 | Dover, DE | 37.8 | D |
| #368 | Salinas, CA | 38.2 | D |
| #369 | Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA | 38.2 | D |
| #370 | Santa Fe, NM | 37.4 | D |
| #371 | Ithaca, NY | 37.4 | D |
| #372 | Great Falls, MT | 37.3 | D |
| #373 | Worcester, MA | 36.4 | D |
Quality vs. Affordability
Santa Fe, NM is bottom 5% lowest-quality nationally and also bottom 26% least affordable -- a rarer combination among its composite-quality peers, where overall rank and affordability rank usually diverge more than this.
NM Metro Scores
Read with Santa Fe
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Santa Fe (BOTTOM · ENVIRO-LED · DEAR/MID), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Ithaca, NY
ABS(composite) peer at 37.4 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · ENVIRO-LED · DEAR/MID.
Great Falls, MT
ABS(composite) peer at 37.3 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · ENVIRO-LED · DEAR/MID.
Dover, DE
ABS(composite) peer at 37.8 (Δ 0.4 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · ENVIRO-LED · DEAR/MID.
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN
ABS(composite) peer at 38.2 (Δ 0.8 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · ENVIRO-LED · DEAR/MID.
Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 26/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp DEAR vs this metro's DEAR.
Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 25/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp DEAR vs this metro's DEAR.
Santa Fe, NM relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for BOTTOM · ENVIRO-LED · DEAR/MID - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.
Using Santa Fe's bottom-third Life Score
Santa Fe scores 37.4/100 overall, but Environment (99.5) and Safety (0.8) sit 98.7 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.
- Environment is the strongest of Santa Fe'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
- Safety is the weakest (weighted 15% in the composite); if it is a dealbreaker, weigh it before the ranking does. Rank metros on the composite
- Las Cruces is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with Las Cruces
A low composite is a weighted blend; individual dimensions can still be strong.