PlainCompare

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

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

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

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 Virginia scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Cost of Living Wages Rent Safety Schools Childcare Environment

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 30/100 (20%)
Wages 68/100 (20%)
Rent 40/100 (15%)
Safety 82/100 (15%)
Schools 42/100 (10%)
Childcare 59/100 (10%)
Environment 44/100 (10%)

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.
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