PlainCompare

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

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 Michigan scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Cost of Living Wages Rent Safety Schools Childcare Environment

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 54/100 (20%)
Wages 52/100 (20%)
Rent 64/100 (15%)
Safety 20/100 (15%)
Schools 84/100 (10%)
Childcare 82/100 (10%)
Environment 8/100 (10%)

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.
State rankings → Compare states →

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