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State Life Score

Massachusetts

Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade D, 4th percentile of the national corpus.

33.4
Life Score / 100
D
Grade (curved)
#49
of 51 states
4%
composite percentile

Data updated August 2026

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The verdict

Massachusetts is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #49 of 51 (33.4/100, grade D, 4th percentile). Carried by wages at 92/100; held back most by rent at 2/100.

4th
composite percentile
#49
of 51 peers
12th
cost dimension percentile
90th
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · BOTTOM · WAGE-LED

Massachusetts at a glance

Massachusetts is a BOTTOM-band WAGE-LED state: wages leads at 92/100 while rent drags at 2/100 (CEILING cost · PEAK wages). According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Massachusetts ranks #49 of 51 states by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #45 of 51 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

Where Massachusetts sits among all US states

Composite Life Score vs the 50 states + DC

33 4th percentile higher than 4% of 51 US states

25–30: 1 US states (2%). Below this entry. 30–35: 2 US states (4%). This entry sits in this band. 35–40: 4 US states (8%). Above this entry. 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 Massachusetts scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Cost of Living Wages Rent Safety Schools Childcare Environment

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 12/100 (20%)
Wages 92/100 (20%)
Rent 2/100 (15%)
Safety 50/100 (15%)
Schools 20/100 (10%)
Childcare 2/100 (10%)
Environment 26/100 (10%)

Read with Massachusetts

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

Hawaii

ABS(composite) peer at 31.5 (Δ 1.9 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade F vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK.

Maryland

ABS(composite) peer at 37.3 (Δ 3.9 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK.

New York

ABS(composite) peer at 38.2 (Δ 4.8 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK.

New Jersey

ABS(composite) peer at 38.6 (Δ 5.2 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK.

Washington (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 10/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp CEILING vs this state's CEILING.

New Hampshire (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 16/100 (Δ 4); 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