State Life Score
Michigan
Above-median composite Life Score — grade B-, 51st percentile of the national corpus.
- 51.2
- Life Score / 100
- B-
- Grade (curved)
- #25
- of 51 states
- 51%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog
The verdict
Michigan is above-median composite Life Score — #25 of 51 (51.2/100, grade B-, 51st percentile). Carried by schools at 84/100; held back most by environment at 8/100.
- 51st
- composite percentile
- #25
- of 51 peers
- 53rd
- cost dimension percentile
- 51st
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · MID · SCHOOL-STRONG
Michigan at a glance
Michigan is a MID-band SCHOOL-STRONG state: schools leads at 84/100 while environment drags at 8/100 (MID cost · MID wages). According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Michigan ranks #25 of 51 states by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #24 of 51 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
Where Michigan sits among all US states
Composite Life Score vs the 50 states + DC
51 51st percentile higher than 51% of 51 US states
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
How the 51.2 is built
Michigan's Life Score, decomposed
Dimension detail
How Michigan scores, dimension by dimension
Score Breakdown
Dimension Scores
Read with Michigan
Nearest composite peers and cost poles (MID · MID/MID).
Maine
ABS(composite) peer at 50.8 (Δ 0.4 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade B- vs this page's MID · SCHOOL-STRONG · MID/MID.
Missouri
ABS(composite) peer at 50.8 (Δ 0.4 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade B- vs this page's MID · SCHOOL-STRONG · MID/MID.
Pennsylvania
ABS(composite) peer at 50.7 (Δ 0.5 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade B- vs this page's MID · SCHOOL-STRONG · MID/MID.
Utah
ABS(composite) peer at 51.8 (Δ 0.6 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade B- vs this page's MID · SCHOOL-STRONG · MID/MID.
Georgia (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 52/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp MID vs this state's MID.
Idaho (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 56/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp MID vs this state's MID.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Every figure on PlainCompare is loaded directly from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OEWS, NCES, DOL, EPA, and the Census Bureau, no number is typed in by an editor. This state's Life Score is computed directly from the same federal sources used across PlainCompare. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of August 2026.