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State Life Score

Kentucky

Top-10% composite Life Score — grade A, 94th percentile of the national corpus.

64.1
Life Score / 100
A
Grade (curved)
#3
of 51 states
94%
composite percentile

Data updated August 2026

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The verdict

Kentucky is top-10% composite Life Score — #3 of 51 (64.1/100, grade A, 94th percentile). Carried by childcare at 89/100; held back most by wages at 20/100.

94th
composite percentile
#3
of 51 peers
76th
cost dimension percentile
20th
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · TOP · BALANCED

Kentucky at a glance

Kentucky is a TOP-band BALANCED state: childcare leads at 89/100 while wages drags at 20/100 (CHEAP cost · LOW wages). According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Kentucky ranks #3 of 51 states by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #12 of 51 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

Where Kentucky sits among all US states

Composite Life Score vs the 50 states + DC

64 Top 6% higher than 94% 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 Kentucky scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Cost of Living Wages Rent Safety Schools Childcare Environment

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 78/100 (20%)
Wages 20/100 (20%)
Rent 86/100 (15%)
Safety 78/100 (15%)
Schools 64/100 (10%)
Childcare 89/100 (10%)
Environment 46/100 (10%)

Read with Kentucky

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

Iowa

ABS(composite) peer at 63.8 (Δ 0.3 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade A vs this page's TOP · BALANCED · CHEAP/LOW.

Nebraska

ABS(composite) peer at 65.1 (Δ 1.0 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade A vs this page's TOP · BALANCED · CHEAP/LOW.

Mississippi

ABS(composite) peer at 66.3 (Δ 2.2 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade A+ vs this page's TOP · BALANCED · CHEAP/LOW.

Louisiana

ABS(composite) peer at 61.1 (Δ 3.0 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade A vs this page's TOP · BALANCED · CHEAP/LOW.

Missouri (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 76/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp CHEAP vs this state's CHEAP.

Kansas (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 82/100 (Δ 4); 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