State Life Score
Virginia
Above-median composite Life Score — grade B, 59th percentile of the national corpus.
- 52.4
- Life Score / 100
- B
- Grade (curved)
- #21
- of 51 states
- 59%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
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The verdict
Virginia is above-median composite Life Score — #21 of 51 (52.4/100, grade B, 59th percentile). Carried by safety at 82/100; held back most by cost of living at 30/100.
- 59th
- composite percentile
- #21
- of 51 peers
- 29th
- cost dimension percentile
- 67th
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · MID · RENT-SQUEEZE
Virginia at a glance
Virginia is a MID-band RENT-SQUEEZE state: safety leads at 82/100 while cost of living drags at 30/100 (DEAR cost · HIGH wages). According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Virginia ranks #21 of 51 states by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #36 of 51 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
Where Virginia sits among all US states
Composite Life Score vs the 50 states + DC
52 59th percentile higher than 59% of 51 US states
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
How the 52.4 is built
Virginia's Life Score, decomposed
Dimension detail
How Virginia scores, dimension by dimension
Score Breakdown
Dimension Scores
Read with Virginia
Nearest composite peers and cost poles (MID · DEAR/HIGH).
Arkansas
ABS(composite) peer at 52.2 (Δ 0.2 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade B- vs this page's MID · RENT-SQUEEZE · DEAR/HIGH.
Illinois
ABS(composite) peer at 52.0 (Δ 0.4 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade B- vs this page's MID · RENT-SQUEEZE · DEAR/HIGH.
Indiana
ABS(composite) peer at 52.9 (Δ 0.5 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade B vs this page's MID · RENT-SQUEEZE · DEAR/HIGH.
Utah
ABS(composite) peer at 51.8 (Δ 0.6 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade B- vs this page's MID · RENT-SQUEEZE · DEAR/HIGH.
Arizona (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 32/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp DEAR vs this state's DEAR.
Rhode Island (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 28/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp DEAR vs this state's DEAR.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Every figure on PlainCompare is loaded directly from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OEWS, NCES, DOL, EPA, and the Census Bureau, no number is typed in by an editor. This state's Life Score is computed directly from the same federal sources used across PlainCompare. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of August 2026.