PlainCompare

State Life Score

Texas

Above-median composite Life Score — grade B, 65th percentile of the national corpus.

54.1
Life Score / 100
B
Grade (curved)
#18
of 51 states
65%
composite percentile

Data updated August 2026

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The verdict

Texas is above-median composite Life Score — #18 of 51 (54.1/100, grade B, 65th percentile). Carried by environment at 84/100; held back most by safety at 34/100.

65th
composite percentile
#18
of 51 peers
47th
cost dimension percentile
43rd
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · UPPER · ENVIRO-LED

Texas at a glance

Texas is a UPPER-band ENVIRO-LED state: environment leads at 84/100 while safety drags at 34/100 (MID cost · MID wages). According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Texas ranks #18 of 51 states by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #27 of 51 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

Where Texas sits among all US states

Composite Life Score vs the 50 states + DC

54 65th percentile higher than 65% 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 Texas scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Cost of Living Wages Rent Safety Schools Childcare Environment

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 48/100 (20%)
Wages 44/100 (20%)
Rent 56/100 (15%)
Safety 34/100 (15%)
Schools 58/100 (10%)
Childcare 80/100 (10%)
Environment 84/100 (10%)

Read with Texas

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

Georgia

ABS(composite) peer at 54.0 (Δ 0.1 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade B vs this page's UPPER · ENVIRO-LED · MID/MID.

Vermont

ABS(composite) peer at 54.4 (Δ 0.3 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade B vs this page's UPPER · ENVIRO-LED · MID/MID.

Indiana

ABS(composite) peer at 52.9 (Δ 1.2 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade B vs this page's UPPER · ENVIRO-LED · MID/MID.

Kansas

ABS(composite) peer at 55.6 (Δ 1.5 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade B vs this page's UPPER · ENVIRO-LED · MID/MID.

Maine (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 50/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp MID vs this state's MID.

Pennsylvania (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 46/100 (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