Metro Life Score
Waterbury-Shelton, CT
Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade C, 21st percentile of the national corpus.
- 43.0
- Life Score / 100
- C
- Grade (curved)
- #304
- of 387 metros
- 21%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog
The verdict
Waterbury-Shelton is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #304 of 387 (43.0/100, grade C, 21st percentile). Carried by safety at 98/100; held back most by schools at 9/100.
- 21st
- composite percentile
- #304
- of 387 peers
- 24th
- cost dimension percentile
- 82nd
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · LOWER · SAFE-LED · signature wages
Waterbury-Shelton: pay power is the signature
Waterbury-Shelton stamps LOWER · SAFE-LED with wages at the 82nd percentile of the metro corpus (HIGH) — ahead of its cost mark (DEAR, 24th) and composite #304. Safety (98/100) amplifies the lead; Schools (9/100) is the residual gap. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Waterbury-Shelton, CT ranks #304 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #295 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 99.8 (rent-RPP 89.1). BLS median salary $72,471, 153,560 jobs (Home Health and Personal Care Aides, Fast Food and Counter Workers, Cashiers). HUD 2BR FMR $1,788/mo (studio $1,246).
FBI UCR (CT): 139 violent, 1397 property/100K. NCES: 12.1:1 ratio, 2.1% charter. DOL infant childcare $17,127/yr. EPA: 17 Superfund sites (CT).
Where Waterbury-Shelton sits among all US metros
Composite Life Score vs the national field
43 21st percentile higher than 21% 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 Waterbury-Shelton scores, dimension by dimension
Score Breakdown
Dimension Scores
Key Data Points
Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are CT state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.
Compare Waterbury-Shelton With...
Ranking Context
Waterbury-Shelton outranks 21% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #301 | Visalia, CA | 43.2 | C |
| #302 | Fresno, CA | 43.2 | C |
| #303 | Albuquerque, NM | 43.2 | C |
| #304 | Waterbury-Shelton, CT | 43.0 | C |
| #305 | Billings, MT | 42.7 | C |
| #306 | Glens Falls, NY | 42.6 | C |
| #307 | Colorado Springs, CO | 42.5 | C |
CT Metro Scores
Read with Waterbury-Shelton
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Waterbury-Shelton (LOWER · SAFE-LED · DEAR/HIGH), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Albuquerque, NM
ABS(composite) peer at 43.2 (Δ 0.2 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C vs this page's LOWER · SAFE-LED · DEAR/HIGH.
Fresno, CA
ABS(composite) peer at 43.2 (Δ 0.2 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C vs this page's LOWER · SAFE-LED · DEAR/HIGH.
Visalia, CA
ABS(composite) peer at 43.2 (Δ 0.2 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C vs this page's LOWER · SAFE-LED · DEAR/HIGH.
Billings, MT
ABS(composite) peer at 42.7 (Δ 0.3 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade C vs this page's LOWER · SAFE-LED · DEAR/HIGH.
Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 24/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp DEAR vs this metro's DEAR.
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 23/100 (Δ 1); cost stamp DEAR vs this metro's DEAR.
Waterbury-Shelton, CT relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for LOWER · SAFE-LED · DEAR/HIGH - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.