Metro Life Score
Watertown-Fort Drum, NY
Below-median composite Life Score — grade C+, 36th percentile of the national corpus.
- 46.4
- Life Score / 100
- C+
- Grade (curved)
- #246
- of 387 metros
- 36%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog
The verdict
Watertown-Fort Drum is below-median composite Life Score — #246 of 387 (46.4/100, grade C+, 36th percentile). Carried by cost of living at 89/100; held back most by schools at 8/100.
- 36th
- composite percentile
- #246
- of 387 peers
- 89th
- cost dimension percentile
- 41st
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · MID · COST-LED · signature cost
Watertown-Fort Drum: affordability leads the Life Score story
Watertown-Fort Drum is a MID-band metro whose cost dimension sits at the 89th percentile of 387 US metros (FLOOR) while composite is #246 (46.4/100, grade C+). Cost of Living at 89/100 carries the upside; Schools at 8/100 is the residual drag. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Watertown-Fort Drum, NY ranks #246 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #44 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 87.7 (rent-RPP 53.2). BLS median salary $62,801, 34,160 jobs (Retail Salespersons, Fast Food and Counter Workers, Cashiers). HUD 2BR FMR $1,405/mo (studio $969).
FBI UCR (NY): 380 violent, 1661 property/100K. NCES: 11.4:1 ratio, 7.1% charter. DOL infant childcare $13,869/yr. EPA: 122 Superfund sites (NY).
Where Watertown-Fort Drum sits among all US metros
Composite Life Score vs the national field
46 36th percentile higher than 36% 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
How the 46.4 is built
Watertown-Fort Drum's Life Score, decomposed
Dimension detail
How Watertown-Fort Drum scores, dimension by dimension
Score Breakdown
Dimension Scores
Key Data Points
Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are NY state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.
Compare Watertown-Fort Drum With...
Ranking Context
Watertown-Fort Drum outranks 36% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #243 | Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL | 46.5 | C+ |
| #244 | Providence-Warwick, RI-MA | 46.7 | C+ |
| #245 | Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY | 46.8 | C+ |
| #246 | Watertown-Fort Drum, NY | 46.4 | C+ |
| #247 | Savannah, GA | 46.4 | C+ |
| #248 | Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL | 46.2 | C+ |
| #249 | Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA | 46.2 | C+ |
Quality vs. Affordability
Watertown-Fort Drum, NY is bottom 37% lowest-quality nationally and also top 11% most affordable -- a rarer combination among its composite-quality peers, where overall rank and affordability rank usually diverge more than this.
NY Metro Scores
Read with Watertown-Fort Drum
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Watertown-Fort Drum (MID · COST-LED · FLOOR/MID), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Savannah, GA
ABS(composite) peer at 46.4 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · COST-LED · FLOOR/MID.
Panama City-Panama City Beach, FL
ABS(composite) peer at 46.5 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · COST-LED · FLOOR/MID.
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL
ABS(composite) peer at 46.2 (Δ 0.2 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · COST-LED · FLOOR/MID.
Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA
ABS(composite) peer at 46.2 (Δ 0.2 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · COST-LED · FLOOR/MID.
Farmington, NM (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 89/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp FLOOR vs this metro's FLOOR.
Albany, GA (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 89/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp FLOOR vs this metro's FLOOR.
Watertown-Fort Drum, NY relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for MID · COST-LED · FLOOR/MID - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.
Using Watertown-Fort Drum's middle-third Life Score
Watertown-Fort Drum scores 46.4/100 overall, but Cost of Living (88.9) and Schools (7.8) sit 81.1 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.
- Cost of Living is the strongest of Watertown-Fort Drum's seven dimensions (weighted 20% in the composite); if it is your priority, this is where the metro earns its rank. See all seven dimensions
- Schools is the weakest (weighted 10% in the composite); if it is a dealbreaker, weigh it before the ranking does. Rank metros on the composite
- Binghamton is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with Binghamton
A middle-third composite is a weighted blend; individual dimensions can sit well above or below it.