What is Winchester's Life Score?

Winchester scores 47.8/100 (grade C+), rank #227 of 387. Signature cost at the 36th percentile; stamps MID · SAFE-LED · cost DEAR · wages MID.

What pulls Winchester up or down?

Strongest: safety (87/100). Weakest: schools (26/100). Profile mark SAFE-LED; dimension gap 60.

How current is this data?

Federal releases current as of August 2026 (BEA, BLS, HUD, FBI, NCES, DOL, EPA). Cadence varies by series; see methodology.

Metro Life Score

Winchester, VA-WV

Below-median composite Life Score — grade C+, 41st percentile of the national corpus.

Compiled by PlainCompare

47.8
Life Score / 100: C+
Grade (curved): #227
of 387 metros: 41%
composite percentile

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Data updated August 2026

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

The verdict

Winchester is below-median composite Life Score — #227 of 387 (47.8/100, grade C+, 41st percentile). Carried by safety at 87/100; held back most by schools at 26/100.

41st
composite percentile: #227
of 387 peers: 36th
cost dimension percentile: 54th
wages dimension percentile

Life Score shape · MID · SAFE-LED · signature cost

Winchester: mid-pack cost with a distinct Life Score shape

Winchester sits mid-pack on cost (≈36th percentile, DEAR) with composite #227 of 387 (47.8/100). Profile SAFE-LED; wages mark MID. Strongest safety 87/100; weakest schools 26/100. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Winchester, VA-WV ranks #227 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #249 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.

BEA RPP 96.5 (rent-RPP 90.0). BLS median salary $64,897, 60,660 jobs (Retail Salespersons, Stockers and Order Fillers, Fast Food and Counter Workers). HUD 2BR FMR $1,573/mo (studio $1,133).

FBI UCR (VA): 223 violent, 1590 property/100K. NCES: 13.7:1 ratio, 0.4% charter. DOL infant childcare $10,445/yr. EPA: 35 Superfund sites (VA).

Where Winchester sits among all US metros

Composite Life Score vs the national field

48 41st percentile higher than 41% 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 47.8 is built

Winchester's Life Score, decomposed

Cost of Living 7.2 (15%) Wages 10.9 (23%) Rent 4.0 (8%) Safety 13.0 (27%) Schools 2.6 (6%) Childcare 5.2 (11%) Environment 4.9 (10%)

Dimension detail

How Winchester scores, dimension by dimension

Score Breakdown

Dimension Scores

Cost of Living 36/100 (20%) Average

Wages 54/100 (20%) Average

Rent 27/100 (15%) Average

Safety 87/100 (15%) Above average

Schools 26/100 (10%) Average

Childcare 52/100 (10%) Average

Environment 49/100 (10%) Average

Key Data Points

96.5

Cost Index (RPP)

$64,897

Avg Median Salary

$1,573

2BR Fair Market Rent

223

Violent Crime/100K (VA)

13.7:1

Student-Teacher Ratio

$10,445

Infant Childcare/yr (VA)

Superfund Sites (VA)

60,660

Total Employment

Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are VA state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.

Compare Winchester With...

Winchester vs Blacksburg Compare → Winchester vs Lynchburg Compare → Winchester vs Staunton Compare → Winchester vs Paducah Compare → Winchester vs Pocatello Compare → Winchester vs Wildwood Compare →

Ranking Context

Winchester outranks 41% of U.S. metros.

Rank	Metro	Score	Grade
#224	Tyler, TX	47.9	C+
#225	Walla Walla, WA	48.0	C+
#226	Victoria, TX	48.0	C+
#227	Winchester, VA-WV	47.8	C+
#228	Janesville-Beloit, WI	47.8	C+
#229	Naples-Marco Island, FL	47.8	C+
#230	Grants Pass, OR	47.6	C+

Quality vs. Affordability

Winchester, VA-WV's quality rank (bottom 42% lowest-quality) and affordability rank (bottom 36% least affordable) sit close together -- an unusually proportionate metro where overall quality and cost-of-living move together.

Winchester, VA-WV (highlighted) among its 12 nearest composite-Life-Score peers, out of 387 tracked metros nationally. Crosshairs mark this peer neighborhood's own median composite score and cost-of-living score. Cost-of-living score is already inverted so higher = more affordable.

VA Metro Scores

Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford, VA B+ 57.6 Lynchburg, VA B+ 56.9 Staunton-Stuarts Draft, VA B+ 56.7 Roanoke, VA B+ 55.2 Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC B 53.9 Richmond, VA B- 51.2

Read with Winchester

Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Winchester (MID · SAFE-LED · DEAR/MID), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.

Janesville-Beloit, WI

ABS(composite) peer at 47.8 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · SAFE-LED · DEAR/MID.

Naples-Marco Island, FL

ABS(composite) peer at 47.8 (Δ 0.0 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · SAFE-LED · DEAR/MID.

Tyler, TX

ABS(composite) peer at 47.9 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · SAFE-LED · DEAR/MID.

Grants Pass, OR

ABS(composite) peer at 47.6 (Δ 0.2 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade C+ vs this page's MID · SAFE-LED · DEAR/MID.

Cheyenne, WY (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 35/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp DEAR vs this metro's DEAR.

Missoula, MT (cost pole)

ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 36/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp DEAR vs this metro's DEAR.

Winchester, VA-WV relocation guide

Stamp-branched guide for MID · SAFE-LED · DEAR/MID - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.

Using Winchester's middle-third Life Score

Winchester scores 47.8/100 overall, but Safety (86.8) and Schools (26.4) sit 60.4 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.

Safety is the strongest of Winchester's seven dimensions (weighted 15% 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
Blacksburg is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with Blacksburg

A middle-third composite is a weighted blend; individual dimensions can sit well above or below it.

Data from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OES, NCES, DOL, and EPA. Not affiliated with the U.S. Government.

Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Winchester Life Score 47.8/100 · signature cost · retrieved and formatted by PlainCompare

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

All federal data sources used on this page

U.S. Census Bureau ACS - multi-dimension demographic + housing + income aggregates for cross-area comparison. census.gov/programs-surveys/acs
BEA Regional Economic Accounts - GDP, personal income, employment by state and metro. bea.gov/data/regional
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) - wage estimates for comparable-area indexing. bls.gov/oes
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) - crime statistics for safety-score component. fbi.gov/ucr
NCES Common Core of Data - public-school quality indicators by area. nces.ed.gov/ccd
EPA AirNow + Air Quality System (AQS) - air-quality measurements by area. epa.gov/outdoor-air-quality-data
HUD Fair Market Rents (FMR) - county and metro housing-cost indicators. huduser.gov/datasets/fmr