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State Life Score

Kansas

Above-median composite Life Score — grade B, 69th percentile of the national corpus.

55.6
Life Score / 100
B
Grade (curved)
#16
of 51 states
69%
composite percentile

Data updated August 2026

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The verdict

Kansas is above-median composite Life Score — #16 of 51 (55.6/100, grade B, 69th percentile). Carried by childcare at 100/100; held back most by wages at 14/100.

69th
composite percentile
#16
of 51 peers
80th
cost dimension percentile
14th
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · UPPER · BALANCED

Kansas at a glance

Kansas is a UPPER-band BALANCED state: childcare leads at 100/100 while wages drags at 14/100 (CHEAP cost · LOW wages). According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Kansas ranks #16 of 51 states by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #10 of 51 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

Where Kansas sits among all US states

Composite Life Score vs the 50 states + DC

56 69th percentile higher than 69% 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%). This entry sits in this band. 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 Kansas scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Cost of Living Wages Rent Safety Schools Childcare Environment

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 82/100 (20%)
Wages 14/100 (20%)
Rent 92/100 (15%)
Safety 16/100 (15%)
Schools 36/100 (10%)
Childcare 100/100 (10%)
Environment 66/100 (10%)

Read with Kansas

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

Wisconsin

ABS(composite) peer at 55.8 (Δ 0.2 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade B+ vs this page's UPPER · BALANCED · CHEAP/LOW.

Ohio

ABS(composite) peer at 55.9 (Δ 0.3 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade B+ vs this page's UPPER · BALANCED · CHEAP/LOW.

Wyoming

ABS(composite) peer at 56.0 (Δ 0.4 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade B+ vs this page's UPPER · BALANCED · CHEAP/LOW.

Minnesota

ABS(composite) peer at 56.6 (Δ 1.0 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade B+ vs this page's UPPER · BALANCED · CHEAP/LOW.

Nebraska (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 80/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp CHEAP vs this state's CHEAP.

West Virginia (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 84/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp CHEAP 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