PlainCompare

State Life Score

Arizona

Below-median composite Life Score — grade C+, 37th percentile of the national corpus.

48.9
Life Score / 100
C+
Grade (curved)
#32
of 51 states
37%
composite percentile

Data updated August 2026

Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog

The verdict

Arizona is below-median composite Life Score — #32 of 51 (48.9/100, grade C+, 37th percentile). Carried by environment at 82/100; held back most by safety at 22/100.

37th
composite percentile
#32
of 51 peers
31st
cost dimension percentile
63rd
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · MID · ENVIRO-LED

Arizona at a glance

Arizona is a MID-band ENVIRO-LED state: environment leads at 82/100 while safety drags at 22/100 (DEAR cost · MID wages). According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Arizona ranks #32 of 51 states by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #35 of 51 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

Where Arizona sits among all US states

Composite Life Score vs the 50 states + DC

49 37th percentile higher than 37% of 51 US states

25–30: 1 US states (2%). Below this entry. 30–35: 2 US states (4%). Below this entry. 35–40: 4 US states (8%). Below this entry. 40–45: 6 US states (12%). Below this entry. 45–50: 10 US states (20%). This entry sits in this band. 50–55: 12 US states (24%). Above this entry. 55–60: 10 US states (20%). Above this entry. 60–65: 4 US states (8%). Above this entry. 65–70: 2 US states (4%). Above this entry. This state 25 70 every US state, bucketed by value

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US states. 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

Dimension detail

How Arizona scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Cost of Living Wages Rent Safety Schools Childcare Environment

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 32/100 (20%)
Wages 64/100 (20%)
Rent 38/100 (15%)
Safety 22/100 (15%)
Schools 80/100 (10%)
Childcare 45/100 (10%)
Environment 82/100 (10%)

Read with Arizona

Nearest composite peers and cost poles (MID · DEAR/MID).

Oregon

ABS(composite) peer at 49.2 (Δ 0.3 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · ENVIRO-LED · DEAR/MID.

New Mexico

ABS(composite) peer at 49.9 (Δ 1.0 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · ENVIRO-LED · DEAR/MID.

North Carolina

ABS(composite) peer at 49.9 (Δ 1.0 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · ENVIRO-LED · DEAR/MID.

Washington

ABS(composite) peer at 47.7 (Δ 1.2 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · ENVIRO-LED · DEAR/MID.

Nevada (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 34/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp DEAR vs this state's DEAR.

Virginia (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 30/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp DEAR vs this state's DEAR.
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Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from official public datasets, current as of 2026. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCompare