PlainCompare

State Life Score

Missouri

Below-median composite Life Score — grade B-, 47th percentile of the national corpus.

50.8
Life Score / 100
B-
Grade (curved)
#27
of 51 states
47%
composite percentile

Data updated August 2026

Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog

The verdict

Missouri is below-median composite Life Score — #27 of 51 (50.8/100, grade B-, 47th percentile). Carried by rent at 88/100; held back most by safety at 14/100.

47th
composite percentile
#27
of 51 peers
75th
cost dimension percentile
27th
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · MID · BALANCED

Missouri at a glance

Missouri is a MID-band BALANCED state: rent leads at 88/100 while safety drags at 14/100 (CHEAP cost · LOW wages). According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Missouri ranks #27 of 51 states by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #13 of 51 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

Where Missouri sits among all US states

Composite Life Score vs the 50 states + DC

51 47th percentile higher than 47% 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 Missouri scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Cost of Living Wages Rent Safety Schools Childcare Environment

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 76/100 (20%)
Wages 28/100 (20%)
Rent 88/100 (15%)
Safety 14/100 (15%)
Schools 22/100 (10%)
Childcare -/100 (10%)
Environment 74/100 (10%)

Read with Missouri

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

Maine

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

Pennsylvania

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

Michigan

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

New Mexico

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

Kentucky (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 78/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp CHEAP vs this state's CHEAP.

Tennessee (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 74/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp CHEAP vs this state's CHEAP.
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