PlainCompare

State Life Score

Idaho

Top-quartile composite Life Score — grade A-, 88th percentile of the national corpus.

60.1
Life Score / 100
A-
Grade (curved)
#6
of 51 states
88%
composite percentile

Data updated August 2026

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

The verdict

Idaho is top-quartile composite Life Score — #6 of 51 (60.1/100, grade A-, 88th percentile). Carried by childcare at 86/100; held back most by wages at 26/100.

88th
composite percentile
#6
of 51 peers
55th
cost dimension percentile
25th
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · TOP · BALANCED

Idaho at a glance

Idaho is a TOP-band BALANCED state: childcare leads at 86/100 while wages drags at 26/100 (MID cost · LOW wages). According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Idaho ranks #6 of 51 states by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #23 of 51 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

Where Idaho sits among all US states

Composite Life Score vs the 50 states + DC

60 Top 12% higher than 88% 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%). Below this entry. 50–55: 12 US states (24%). Below this entry. 55–60: 10 US states (20%). Below this entry. 60–65: 4 US states (8%). This entry sits in this band. 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 Idaho scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Cost of Living Wages Rent Safety Schools Childcare Environment

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 56/100 (20%)
Wages 26/100 (20%)
Rent 50/100 (15%)
Safety 72/100 (15%)
Schools 82/100 (10%)
Childcare 86/100 (10%)
Environment 86/100 (10%)

Read with Idaho

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

North Dakota

ABS(composite) peer at 59.7 (Δ 0.4 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade A- vs this page's TOP · BALANCED · MID/LOW.

South Dakota

ABS(composite) peer at 59.4 (Δ 0.7 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade A- vs this page's TOP · BALANCED · MID/LOW.

Louisiana

ABS(composite) peer at 61.1 (Δ 1.0 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade A vs this page's TOP · BALANCED · MID/LOW.

West Virginia

ABS(composite) peer at 58.7 (Δ 1.4 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade A- vs this page's TOP · BALANCED · MID/LOW.

Michigan (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 54/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp MID vs this state's MID.

Montana (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 58/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp MID vs this state's MID.
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