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State Life Score

Illinois

Above-median composite Life Score — grade B-, 55th percentile of the national corpus.

52.0
Life Score / 100
B-
Grade (curved)
#23
of 51 states
55%
composite percentile

Data updated August 2026

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The verdict

Illinois is above-median composite Life Score — #23 of 51 (52.0/100, grade B-, 55th percentile). Carried by wages at 72/100; held back most by environment at 30/100.

55th
composite percentile
#23
of 51 peers
35th
cost dimension percentile
71st
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · MID · WAGE-LED

Illinois at a glance

Illinois is a MID-band WAGE-LED state: wages leads at 72/100 while environment drags at 30/100 (DEAR cost · HIGH wages). According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Illinois ranks #23 of 51 states by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #33 of 51 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

Where Illinois sits among all US states

Composite Life Score vs the 50 states + DC

52 55th percentile higher than 55% 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%). This entry sits in this band. 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 Illinois scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Cost of Living Wages Rent Safety Schools Childcare Environment

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 36/100 (20%)
Wages 72/100 (20%)
Rent 72/100 (15%)
Safety 60/100 (15%)
Schools 44/100 (10%)
Childcare 32/100 (10%)
Environment 30/100 (10%)

Read with Illinois

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

Arkansas

ABS(composite) peer at 52.2 (Δ 0.2 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade B- vs this page's MID · WAGE-LED · DEAR/HIGH.

Utah

ABS(composite) peer at 51.8 (Δ 0.2 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade B- vs this page's MID · WAGE-LED · DEAR/HIGH.

Virginia

ABS(composite) peer at 52.4 (Δ 0.4 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade B vs this page's MID · WAGE-LED · DEAR/HIGH.

Michigan

ABS(composite) peer at 51.2 (Δ 0.8 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade B- vs this page's MID · WAGE-LED · DEAR/HIGH.

Delaware (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 38/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp DEAR vs this state's DEAR.

Nevada (cost pole)

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