PlainCompare

State Life Score

South Carolina

Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade C-, 20th percentile of the national corpus.

41.3
Life Score / 100
C-
Grade (curved)
#41
of 51 states
20%
composite percentile

Data updated August 2026

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

The verdict

South Carolina is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #41 of 51 (41.3/100, grade C-, 20th percentile). Carried by childcare at 77/100; held back most by environment at 6/100.

20th
composite percentile
#41
of 51 peers
63rd
cost dimension percentile
22nd
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · LOWER · BALANCED

South Carolina at a glance

South Carolina is a LOWER-band BALANCED state: childcare leads at 77/100 while environment drags at 6/100 (MID cost · LOW wages). According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, South Carolina ranks #41 of 51 states by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #19 of 51 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

Where South Carolina sits among all US states

Composite Life Score vs the 50 states + DC

41 20th percentile higher than 20% 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%). This entry sits in this band. 45–50: 10 US states (20%). Above this entry. 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 South Carolina scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Cost of Living Wages Rent Safety Schools Childcare Environment

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 64/100 (20%)
Wages 22/100 (20%)
Rent 54/100 (15%)
Safety 18/100 (15%)
Schools 50/100 (10%)
Childcare 77/100 (10%)
Environment 6/100 (10%)

Read with South Carolina

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

Connecticut

ABS(composite) peer at 40.6 (Δ 0.7 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade C- vs this page's LOWER · BALANCED · MID/LOW.

California

ABS(composite) peer at 40.1 (Δ 1.2 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade C- vs this page's LOWER · BALANCED · MID/LOW.

Delaware

ABS(composite) peer at 40.0 (Δ 1.3 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade C- vs this page's LOWER · BALANCED · MID/LOW.

New Hampshire

ABS(composite) peer at 43.7 (Δ 2.4 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade C vs this page's LOWER · BALANCED · MID/LOW.

Indiana (cost pole)

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

Wisconsin (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 62/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp MID vs this state's MID.
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