PlainCompare

State Life Score

Ohio

Above-median composite Life Score — grade B+, 73rd percentile of the national corpus.

55.9
Life Score / 100
B+
Grade (curved)
#14
of 51 states
73%
composite percentile

Data updated August 2026

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

The verdict

Ohio is above-median composite Life Score — #14 of 51 (55.9/100, grade B+, 73rd percentile). Carried by schools at 94/100; held back most by environment at 4/100.

73rd
composite percentile
#14
of 51 peers
67th
cost dimension percentile
49th
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · UPPER · SCHOOL-STRONG

Ohio at a glance

Ohio is a UPPER-band SCHOOL-STRONG state: schools leads at 94/100 while environment drags at 4/100 (CHEAP cost · MID wages). According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Ohio ranks #14 of 51 states by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #17 of 51 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

Where Ohio sits among all US states

Composite Life Score vs the 50 states + DC

56 73rd percentile higher than 73% 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%). Below this entry. 55–60: 10 US states (20%). This entry sits in this band. 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 Ohio scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Cost of Living Wages Rent Safety Schools Childcare Environment

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 68/100 (20%)
Wages 50/100 (20%)
Rent 70/100 (15%)
Safety 56/100 (15%)
Schools 94/100 (10%)
Childcare 36/100 (10%)
Environment 4/100 (10%)

Read with Ohio

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

Wisconsin

ABS(composite) peer at 55.8 (Δ 0.1 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade B+ vs this page's UPPER · SCHOOL-STRONG · CHEAP/MID.

Wyoming

ABS(composite) peer at 56.0 (Δ 0.1 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade B+ vs this page's UPPER · SCHOOL-STRONG · CHEAP/MID.

Kansas

ABS(composite) peer at 55.6 (Δ 0.3 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade B vs this page's UPPER · SCHOOL-STRONG · CHEAP/MID.

Minnesota

ABS(composite) peer at 56.6 (Δ 0.7 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade B+ vs this page's UPPER · SCHOOL-STRONG · CHEAP/MID.

Indiana (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 66/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp CHEAP vs this state's CHEAP.

New Mexico (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 72/100 (Δ 4); cost stamp CHEAP vs this state's CHEAP.
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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