Metro Life Score
Visalia, CA
Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade C, 22nd percentile of the national corpus.
- 43.2
- Life Score / 100
- C
- Grade (curved)
- #303
- of 387 metros
- 22%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog
The verdict
Visalia is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #303 of 387 (43.2/100, grade C, 22nd percentile). Carried by schools at 100/100; held back most by childcare at 2/100.
- 22nd
- composite percentile
- #303
- of 387 peers
- 24th
- cost dimension percentile
- 71st
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · LOWER · SCHOOL-STRONG · signature composite
Visalia: bottom-third composite — where the drag concentrates
Visalia sits in the bottom third of the metro corpus on composite (#303 of 387, 43.2/100, 22nd percentile). Stamps LOWER · SCHOOL-STRONG; Childcare at 2/100 is the main drag; Schools (100/100) keeps the floor. Cost/wage marks DEAR/HIGH. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Visalia, CA ranks #303 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #296 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 99.8 (rent-RPP 84.1). BLS median salary $68,839, 164,460 jobs (Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse, Home Health and Personal Care Aides, Fast Food and Counter Workers). HUD 2BR FMR $1,474/mo (studio $1,116).
FBI UCR (CA): 477 violent, 1986 property/100K. NCES: 21.5:1 ratio, 12.8% charter. DOL infant childcare $17,920/yr. EPA: 116 Superfund sites (CA).
Where Visalia sits among all US metros
Composite Life Score vs the national field
43 22nd percentile higher than 22% of 387 US metros
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US metros. 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 · August 2026
Dimension detail
How Visalia scores, dimension by dimension
Score Breakdown
Dimension Scores
Key Data Points
Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are CA state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.
Compare Visalia With...
Ranking Context
Visalia outranks 22% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #300 | Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR | 43.5 | C |
| #301 | Kenosha, WI | 43.5 | C |
| #302 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 43.6 | C |
| #303 | Visalia, CA | 43.2 | C |
| #304 | Albuquerque, NM | 43.2 | C |
| #305 | Fresno, CA | 43.2 | C |
| #306 | Waterbury-Shelton, CT | 43.0 | C |
CA Metro Scores
Read with Visalia
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Visalia (LOWER · SCHOOL-STRONG · DEAR/HIGH), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Albuquerque, NM
ABS(composite) peer at 43.2 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C vs this page's LOWER · SCHOOL-STRONG · DEAR/HIGH.
Fresno, CA
ABS(composite) peer at 43.2 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C vs this page's LOWER · SCHOOL-STRONG · DEAR/HIGH.
Waterbury-Shelton, CT
ABS(composite) peer at 43.0 (Δ 0.2 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade C vs this page's LOWER · SCHOOL-STRONG · DEAR/HIGH.
Kenosha, WI
ABS(composite) peer at 43.5 (Δ 0.3 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C vs this page's LOWER · SCHOOL-STRONG · DEAR/HIGH.
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 23/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp DEAR vs this metro's DEAR.
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 23/100 (Δ 1); cost stamp DEAR vs this metro's DEAR.
Visalia, CA relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for LOWER · SCHOOL-STRONG · DEAR/HIGH - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.