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State Life Score

Maine

Below-median composite Life Score — grade B-, 49th percentile of the national corpus.

50.8
Life Score / 100
B-
Grade (curved)
#26
of 51 states
49%
composite percentile

Data updated August 2026

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The verdict

Maine is below-median composite Life Score — #26 of 51 (50.8/100, grade B-, 49th percentile). Carried by safety at 100/100; held back most by schools at 0/100.

49th
composite percentile
#26
of 51 peers
49th
cost dimension percentile
53rd
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · MID · SAFE-LED

Maine at a glance

Maine is a MID-band SAFE-LED state: safety leads at 100/100 while schools drags at 0/100 (MID cost · MID wages). According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Maine ranks #26 of 51 states by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #26 of 51 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

Where Maine sits among all US states

Composite Life Score vs the 50 states + DC

51 49th percentile higher than 49% 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 Maine scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Cost of Living Wages Rent Safety Schools Childcare Environment

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 50/100 (20%)
Wages 54/100 (20%)
Rent 30/100 (15%)
Safety 100/100 (15%)
Schools 0/100 (10%)
Childcare 43/100 (10%)
Environment 62/100 (10%)

Read with Maine

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

Missouri

ABS(composite) peer at 50.8 (Δ 0.0 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade B- vs this page's MID · SAFE-LED · MID/MID.

Pennsylvania

ABS(composite) peer at 50.7 (Δ 0.1 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade B- vs this page's MID · SAFE-LED · MID/MID.

Michigan

ABS(composite) peer at 51.2 (Δ 0.4 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade B- vs this page's MID · SAFE-LED · MID/MID.

New Mexico

ABS(composite) peer at 49.9 (Δ 0.9 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · SAFE-LED · MID/MID.

Georgia (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 52/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp MID vs this state's MID.

Texas (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 48/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp MID vs this state's MID.
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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