PlainCompare

State Life Score

West Virginia

Top-quartile composite Life Score — grade A-, 82nd percentile of the national corpus.

58.7
Life Score / 100
A-
Grade (curved)
#9
of 51 states
82%
composite percentile

Data updated August 2026

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The verdict

West Virginia is top-quartile composite Life Score — #9 of 51 (58.7/100, grade A-, 82nd percentile). Carried by rent at 94/100; held back most by wages at 4/100.

82nd
composite percentile
#9
of 51 peers
82nd
cost dimension percentile
4th
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · UPPER · BALANCED

West Virginia at a glance

West Virginia is a UPPER-band BALANCED state: rent leads at 94/100 while wages drags at 4/100 (CHEAP cost · LOW wages). According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, West Virginia ranks #9 of 51 states by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #9 of 51 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

Where West Virginia sits among all US states

Composite Life Score vs the 50 states + DC

59 Top 18% higher than 82% 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%). Below this entry. 55–60: 10 US states (20%). This entry sits in this band. 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 West Virginia scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Cost of Living Wages Rent Safety Schools Childcare Environment

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 84/100 (20%)
Wages 4/100 (20%)
Rent 94/100 (15%)
Safety 68/100 (15%)
Schools 24/100 (10%)
Childcare 68/100 (10%)
Environment 76/100 (10%)

Read with West Virginia

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

Oklahoma

ABS(composite) peer at 58.5 (Δ 0.2 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade B+ vs this page's UPPER · BALANCED · CHEAP/LOW.

Alabama

ABS(composite) peer at 58.1 (Δ 0.6 vs this state); lower Life Score · grade B+ vs this page's UPPER · BALANCED · CHEAP/LOW.

South Dakota

ABS(composite) peer at 59.4 (Δ 0.7 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade A- vs this page's UPPER · BALANCED · CHEAP/LOW.

North Dakota

ABS(composite) peer at 59.7 (Δ 1.0 vs this state); higher Life Score · grade A- vs this page's UPPER · BALANCED · CHEAP/LOW.

Kansas (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 82/100 (Δ 2); cost stamp CHEAP vs this state's CHEAP.

Nebraska (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 80/100 (Δ 4); cost stamp CHEAP vs this state's CHEAP.
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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