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State Life Score

Maryland

Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade D, 6th percentile of the national corpus.

37.3
Life Score / 100
D
Grade (curved)
#48
of 51 states
6%
composite percentile

Data updated August 2026

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The verdict

Maryland is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #48 of 51 (37.3/100, grade D, 6th percentile). Carried by wages at 84/100; held back most by cost of living at 14/100.

6th
composite percentile
#48
of 51 peers
14th
cost dimension percentile
82nd
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE

Maryland at a glance

Maryland is a BOTTOM-band RENT-SQUEEZE state: wages leads at 84/100 while cost of living drags at 14/100 (CEILING cost · HIGH wages). According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Maryland ranks #48 of 51 states by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #44 of 51 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

Where Maryland sits among all US states

Composite Life Score vs the 50 states + DC

37 6th percentile higher than 6% 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%). This entry sits in this band. 40–45: 6 US states (12%). Above this entry. 45–50: 10 US states (20%). Above this entry. 50–55: 12 US states (24%). Above this entry. 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 Maryland scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Cost of Living Wages Rent Safety Schools Childcare Environment

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 14/100 (20%)
Wages 84/100 (20%)
Rent 16/100 (15%)
Safety 28/100 (15%)
Schools 56/100 (10%)
Childcare 23/100 (10%)
Environment 32/100 (10%)

Read with Maryland

Nearest composite peers and cost poles (BOTTOM · CEILING/HIGH).

New York

ABS(composite) peer at 38.2 (Δ 0.9 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/HIGH.

New Jersey

ABS(composite) peer at 38.6 (Δ 1.3 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/HIGH.

Montana

ABS(composite) peer at 38.7 (Δ 1.4 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade C- vs this page's BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/HIGH.

Delaware

ABS(composite) peer at 40.0 (Δ 2.7 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade C- vs this page's BOTTOM · RENT-SQUEEZE · CEILING/HIGH.

Massachusetts (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 12/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp CEILING vs this state's CEILING.

New Hampshire (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 16/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp DEAR vs this state's CEILING.
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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