Metro Life Score

Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA

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

49.4
Life Score / 100: B-
Grade (curved): #201
of 387 metros: 48%
of metros outranked

Data updated May 2026

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

The verdict

Spokane ranks #201 of 387 US metros, ahead of 48% - carried by its wages (85/100) and held back most by childcare (12/100).

85
strongest: Wages: 85
then: Environment: 12
weakest: Childcare: 7
weighted dimensions

Where Spokane sits among all US metros

Composite Life Score vs the national field

49 48th percentile higher than 48% 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 Spokane Life Score

Spokane's composite score of 49.4 out of 100, a grade of B-, places the metro at rank #201 of 387, ahead of 48% of US metros. The strongest inputs are Wages (85/100) and Environment (85/100), which pull the composite upward, while Childcare (12/100) and Cost of Living (21/100) drag it downward. (How the weighting works.)

BEA RPP 100.3 (rent-RPP 97.1). BLS median salary $74,608, 246,430 jobs (Home Health and Personal Care Aides, Fast Food and Counter Workers, Retail Salespersons). HUD 2BR FMR $1,531/mo (studio $1,103).

FBI UCR (WA): 329 violent, 2498 property/100K. NCES: 17.6:1 ratio, 0.6% charter. DOL infant childcare $15,987/yr. EPA: 69 Superfund sites (WA). Ranks #198-#204 below.

Dimension detail

How Spokane scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 21/100 (20%)

Wages 85/100 (20%)

Rent 29/100 (15%)

Safety 46/100 (15%)

Schools 73/100 (10%)

Childcare 12/100 (10%)

Environment 85/100 (10%)

Key Data Points

100.3

Cost Index (RPP)

$74,608

Avg Median Salary

$1,531

2BR Fair Market Rent

329

Violent Crime/100K (WA)

17.6:1

Student-Teacher Ratio

$15,987

Infant Childcare/yr (WA)

Superfund Sites (WA)

246,430

Total Employment

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

Compare Spokane With...

Spokane vs Lewiston Compare → Spokane vs Yakima Compare → Spokane vs Longview Compare → Spokane vs Wildwood Compare → Spokane vs Waterloo Compare → Spokane vs Paducah Compare →

Ranking Context

Spokane outranks 48% of U.S. metros.

Rank	Metro	Score	Grade
#198	Lafayette-West Lafayette, IN	49.5	B-
#199	Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN	49.5	B-
#200	Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin, FL	49.5	B-
#201	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	49.4	B-
#202	Vineland, NJ	49.4	B-
#203	Killeen-Temple, TX	49.3	B-
#204	Morristown, TN	49.3	B-

WA Metro Scores

Lewiston, ID-WA A- 60.4 Yakima, WA B 54.4 Longview-Kelso, WA B- 50.0 Walla Walla, WA B- 49.6 Kennewick-Richland, WA B- 48.5 Wenatchee-East Wenatchee, WA C+ 48.1

Using Spokane's Life Score

Spokane 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 wages (85/100) and its weakest is childcare (12/100) - weigh those against your own priorities. How the score is built
Put Spokane head-to-head against another metro before you decide, every dimension, side by side. Compare metros
See where Spokane 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 Spokane's biggest strengths? ▼

Spokane's strongest dimensions are Wages (85/100), Environment (85/100), Schools (73/100). Wages is top-tier nationally.

What are Spokane's weakest areas? ▼

Spokane's lowest-scoring dimensions are Childcare (12/100), Cost of Living (21/100), Rent (29/100). Childcare weighs heavily on the composite.

How expensive is Spokane compared to the national average? ▼

Spokane's Regional Price Parity is 100.3 (0.3% more than national); rent RPP 97.1.

What is the average salary in Spokane? ▼

Spokane median salary: $74,608, 246,430 jobs. Top: Home Health and Personal Care Aides, Fast Food and Counter Workers, Retail Salespersons.

How is the life score calculated? ▼

Spokane's 49.4/100 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.