Metro Life Score
Worcester, MA
Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade D, 4th percentile of the national corpus.
- 36.4
- Life Score / 100
- D
- Grade (curved)
- #372
- of 387 metros
- 4%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog
The verdict
Worcester is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #372 of 387 (36.4/100, grade D, 4th percentile). Carried by wages at 95/100; held back most by childcare at 0/100.
- 4th
- composite percentile
- #372
- of 387 peers
- 13th
- cost dimension percentile
- 95th
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · signature composite
Worcester: bottom-third composite — where the drag concentrates
Worcester sits in the bottom third of the metro corpus on composite (#372 of 387, 36.4/100, 4th percentile). Stamps BOTTOM · WAGE-LED; Childcare at 0/100 is the main drag; Wages (95/100) keeps the floor. Cost/wage marks CEILING/PEAK. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Worcester, MA ranks #372 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #337 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 102.5 (rent-RPP 113.0). BLS median salary $79,342, 337,180 jobs (Home Health and Personal Care Aides, Registered Nurses, Retail Salespersons). HUD 2BR FMR $1,749/mo (studio $1,206).
FBI UCR (MA): 309 violent, 1101 property/100K. NCES: 11.9:1 ratio, 4.2% charter. DOL infant childcare $20,571/yr. EPA: 41 Superfund sites (MA).
Where Worcester sits among all US metros
Composite Life Score vs the national field
36 4th percentile higher than 4% 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 36.4 is built
Worcester's Life Score, decomposed
Dimension detail
How Worcester scores, dimension by dimension
Score Breakdown
Dimension Scores
Key Data Points
Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are MA state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.
Compare Worcester With...
Ranking Context
Worcester outranks 4% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #369 | Great Falls, MT | 37.3 | D |
| #370 | Santa Fe, NM | 37.4 | D |
| #371 | Ithaca, NY | 37.4 | D |
| #372 | Worcester, MA | 36.4 | D |
| #373 | Lexington Park, MD | 36.3 | D |
| #374 | Barnstable Town, MA | 36.2 | D |
| #375 | Amherst Town-Northampton, MA | 35.9 | D |
Quality vs. Affordability
Worcester, MA's quality rank (bottom 4% lowest-quality) and affordability rank (bottom 13% least affordable) sit close together -- an unusually proportionate metro where overall quality and cost-of-living move together.
MA Metro Scores
Read with Worcester
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Worcester (BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Lexington Park, MD
ABS(composite) peer at 36.3 (Δ 0.1 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK.
Barnstable Town, MA
ABS(composite) peer at 36.2 (Δ 0.2 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK.
Amherst Town-Northampton, MA
ABS(composite) peer at 35.9 (Δ 0.5 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK.
Urban Honolulu, HI
ABS(composite) peer at 35.6 (Δ 0.8 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade F vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK.
Bozeman, MT (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 13/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 13/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp CEILING vs this metro's CEILING.
Worcester, MA relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · CEILING/PEAK - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.
Using Worcester's bottom-third Life Score
Worcester scores 36.4/100 overall, but Wages (95.3) and Childcare (0.3) sit 95.0 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.
- Wages is the strongest of Worcester'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
- Childcare is the weakest (weighted 10% in the composite); if it is a dealbreaker, weigh it before the ranking does. Rank metros on the composite
- Pittsfield is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with Pittsfield
A low composite is a weighted blend; individual dimensions can still be strong.