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State Life Score

Indiana

Above-median composite Life Score — grade B, 61st percentile of the national corpus.

52.9
Life Score / 100
B
Grade (curved)
#20
of 51 states
61%
composite percentile

Data updated August 2026

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The verdict

Indiana is above-median composite Life Score — #20 of 51 (52.9/100, grade B, 61st percentile). Carried by schools at 72/100; held back most by environment at 12/100.

61st
composite percentile
#20
of 51 peers
65th
cost dimension percentile
39th
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · MID · SCHOOL-STRONG

Indiana at a glance

Indiana is a MID-band SCHOOL-STRONG state: schools leads at 72/100 while environment drags at 12/100 (CHEAP cost · MID wages). According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Indiana ranks #20 of 51 states by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #18 of 51 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

Where Indiana sits among all US states

Composite Life Score vs the 50 states + DC

53 61st percentile higher than 61% 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 Indiana scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Cost of Living Wages Rent Safety Schools Childcare Environment

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 66/100 (20%)
Wages 40/100 (20%)
Rent 68/100 (15%)
Safety 52/100 (15%)
Schools 72/100 (10%)
Childcare -/100 (10%)
Environment 12/100 (10%)

Read with Indiana

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

Virginia

ABS(composite) peer at 52.4 (Δ 0.5 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade B vs this page's MID · SCHOOL-STRONG · CHEAP/MID.

Arkansas

ABS(composite) peer at 52.2 (Δ 0.7 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade B- vs this page's MID · SCHOOL-STRONG · CHEAP/MID.

Illinois

ABS(composite) peer at 52.0 (Δ 0.9 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade B- vs this page's MID · SCHOOL-STRONG · CHEAP/MID.

Georgia

ABS(composite) peer at 54.0 (Δ 1.1 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade B vs this page's MID · SCHOOL-STRONG · CHEAP/MID.

Ohio (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 68/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp CHEAP vs this state's CHEAP.

South Carolina (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 64/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp MID vs this state's CHEAP.
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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