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State Life Score

Pennsylvania

Below-median composite Life Score — grade B-, 45th percentile of the national corpus.

50.7
Life Score / 100
B-
Grade (curved)
#28
of 51 states
45%
composite percentile

Data updated August 2026

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

The verdict

Pennsylvania is below-median composite Life Score — #28 of 51 (50.7/100, grade B-, 45th percentile). Carried by safety at 66/100; held back most by schools at 32/100.

45th
composite percentile
#28
of 51 peers
45th
cost dimension percentile
57th
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · MID · SAFE-LED

Pennsylvania at a glance

Pennsylvania is a MID-band SAFE-LED state: safety leads at 66/100 while schools drags at 32/100 (MID cost · MID wages). According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Pennsylvania ranks #28 of 51 states by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #28 of 51 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

Where Pennsylvania sits among all US states

Composite Life Score vs the 50 states + DC

51 45th percentile higher than 45% 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 Pennsylvania scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Cost of Living Wages Rent Safety Schools Childcare Environment

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 46/100 (20%)
Wages 58/100 (20%)
Rent 46/100 (15%)
Safety 66/100 (15%)
Schools 32/100 (10%)
Childcare -/100 (10%)
Environment 48/100 (10%)

Read with Pennsylvania

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

Maine

ABS(composite) peer at 50.8 (Δ 0.1 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade B- vs this page's MID · SAFE-LED · MID/MID.

Missouri

ABS(composite) peer at 50.8 (Δ 0.1 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade B- vs this page's MID · SAFE-LED · MID/MID.

Michigan

ABS(composite) peer at 51.2 (Δ 0.5 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade B- vs this page's MID · SAFE-LED · MID/MID.

New Mexico

ABS(composite) peer at 49.9 (Δ 0.8 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · SAFE-LED · MID/MID.

Texas (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 48/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp MID vs this state's MID.

Vermont (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 44/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp MID vs this state's MID.
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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