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State Life Score

Rhode Island

Below-median composite Life Score — grade C, 27th percentile of the national corpus.

45.3
Life Score / 100
C
Grade (curved)
#37
of 51 states
27%
composite percentile

Data updated August 2026

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The verdict

Rhode Island is below-median composite Life Score — #37 of 51 (45.3/100, grade C, 27th percentile). Carried by safety at 92/100; held back most by rent at 14/100.

27th
composite percentile
#37
of 51 peers
27th
cost dimension percentile
80th
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · LOWER · SAFE-LED

Rhode Island at a glance

Rhode Island is a LOWER-band SAFE-LED state: safety leads at 92/100 while rent drags at 14/100 (DEAR cost · HIGH wages). According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Rhode Island ranks #37 of 51 states by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #37 of 51 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

Where Rhode Island sits among all US states

Composite Life Score vs the 50 states + DC

45 27th percentile higher than 27% 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 Rhode Island scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Cost of Living Wages Rent Safety Schools Childcare Environment

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 28/100 (20%)
Wages 82/100 (20%)
Rent 14/100 (15%)
Safety 92/100 (15%)
Schools 38/100 (10%)
Childcare 16/100 (10%)
Environment 20/100 (10%)

Read with Rhode Island

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

Tennessee

ABS(composite) peer at 45.3 (Δ 0.0 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade C vs this page's LOWER · SAFE-LED · DEAR/HIGH.

Florida

ABS(composite) peer at 45.6 (Δ 0.3 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade C vs this page's LOWER · SAFE-LED · DEAR/HIGH.

Colorado

ABS(composite) peer at 45.8 (Δ 0.5 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade C vs this page's LOWER · SAFE-LED · DEAR/HIGH.

Alaska

ABS(composite) peer at 44.2 (Δ 1.1 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade C vs this page's LOWER · SAFE-LED · DEAR/HIGH.

Virginia (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 30/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp DEAR vs this state's DEAR.

Arizona (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 32/100 (Δ 4); 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