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State Life Score

District of Columbia

Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade F, 0th percentile of the national corpus.

26.8
Life Score / 100
F
Grade (curved)
#51
of 51 states
0%
composite percentile

Data updated August 2026

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The verdict

District of Columbia is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #51 of 51 (26.8/100, grade F, 0th percentile). Carried by wages at 100/100; held back most by childcare at 0/100.

0th
composite percentile
#51
of 51 peers
4th
cost dimension percentile
98th
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · BOTTOM · WAGE-LED

District of Columbia at a glance

District of Columbia is a BOTTOM-band WAGE-LED state: wages leads at 100/100 while childcare drags at 0/100 (CEILING cost · PEAK wages). According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, District of Columbia ranks #51 of 51 states by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #49 of 51 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

Where District of Columbia sits among all US states

Composite Life Score vs the 50 states + DC

27 0th percentile higher than 0% of 51 US states

25–30: 1 US states (2%). This entry sits in this band. 30–35: 2 US states (4%). Above this entry. 35–40: 4 US states (8%). Above this entry. 40–45: 6 US states (12%). Above this entry. 45–50: 10 US states (20%). Above this entry. 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 District of Columbia scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Cost of Living Wages Rent Safety Schools Childcare Environment

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 4/100 (20%)
Wages 100/100 (20%)
Rent 4/100 (15%)
Safety 0/100 (15%)
Schools 18/100 (10%)
Childcare 0/100 (10%)
Environment 36/100 (10%)

Read with District of Columbia

Nearest composite peers and cost poles (BOTTOM · CEILING/PEAK).

Hawaii

ABS(composite) peer at 31.5 (Δ 4.7 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade F vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK.

Massachusetts

ABS(composite) peer at 33.4 (Δ 6.6 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK.

Maryland

ABS(composite) peer at 37.3 (Δ 10.5 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK.

New York

ABS(composite) peer at 38.2 (Δ 11.4 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK.

New Jersey (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 6/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp CEILING vs this state's CEILING.

California (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 0/100 (Δ 4); cost stamp CEILING vs this state's CEILING.
State rankings → Compare states →

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