PlainCompare

State Life Score

Oregon

Below-median composite Life Score — grade C+, 39th percentile of the national corpus.

49.2
Life Score / 100
C+
Grade (curved)
#31
of 51 states
39%
composite percentile

Data updated August 2026

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

The verdict

Oregon is below-median composite Life Score — #31 of 51 (49.2/100, grade C+, 39th percentile). Carried by schools at 86/100; held back most by cost of living at 22/100.

39th
composite percentile
#31
of 51 peers
22nd
cost dimension percentile
75th
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · MID · RENT-SQUEEZE

Oregon at a glance

Oregon is a MID-band RENT-SQUEEZE state: schools leads at 86/100 while cost of living drags at 22/100 (DEAR cost · HIGH wages). According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Oregon ranks #31 of 51 states by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #40 of 51 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

Where Oregon sits among all US states

Composite Life Score vs the 50 states + DC

49 39th percentile higher than 39% 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%). This entry sits in this band. 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 Oregon scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Cost of Living Wages Rent Safety Schools Childcare Environment

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 22/100 (20%)
Wages 76/100 (20%)
Rent 36/100 (15%)
Safety 44/100 (15%)
Schools 86/100 (10%)
Childcare 30/100 (10%)
Environment 60/100 (10%)

Read with Oregon

Nearest composite peers and cost poles (MID · DEAR/HIGH).

Arizona

ABS(composite) peer at 48.9 (Δ 0.3 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · RENT-SQUEEZE · DEAR/HIGH.

New Mexico

ABS(composite) peer at 49.9 (Δ 0.7 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · RENT-SQUEEZE · DEAR/HIGH.

North Carolina

ABS(composite) peer at 49.9 (Δ 0.7 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · RENT-SQUEEZE · DEAR/HIGH.

Pennsylvania

ABS(composite) peer at 50.7 (Δ 1.5 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade B- vs this page's MID · RENT-SQUEEZE · DEAR/HIGH.

Colorado (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 24/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp DEAR vs this state's DEAR.

Florida (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 20/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp DEAR vs this state's DEAR.
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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