Cheyenne, the state capital · Photo: Vasiliymeshko · CC BY-SA 4.0How Wyoming stacks up
Only two states have shorter commutes than Wyoming: the average trip to work takes 18.8 minutes. Its weak spot is slow growth (+2.3% from 2010 to 2020). Weighed together, that earns a B+ (74 of 100), 14th among the states.
Each subject puts the official state figure beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
19th of 51B64/100 Safer statewide than in its larger towns. The statewide figure flatters its larger towns; smaller places and the countryside lift it. Violent crime runs at 188 per 100,000 residents, about half the national figure (5th lowest among the states). Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Jackson ranks highest, at #749.
Counting property crime too (property + 4 × violent, the weighting our town grades use): 6th lowest.
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, state estimate 2025.
Measure: reported crime per resident over the engine’s three crime years (property + 4 × violent), as in our Safety grades. 11 Wyoming towns of 10,000+ against 3,410 nationally.
Quiet towns, busier cities
Its safest larger towns are Sheridan (#1,021), Cody (#1,042) and Green River (#1,211), ranked against every U.S. town of 10,000+. At the other end are Cheyenne and Riverton, in the quarter of U.S. towns reporting the most crime per resident. The statewide rate ranks 5th lowest, but town by town it places 32nd of 48.
| State | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | 42% | 0% | |
| Rhode Island | 37% | 0% | |
| New Jersey | 35% | 20% | |
| Pennsylvania | 29% | 37% | |
| Maine | 29% | 15% | |
| Wyoming | 4% | 27% |
Almost complete coverage
Here the towns counted hold 100% of residents of towns of 10,000+. Next door, coverage runs from 55% in Nebraska to 96% in South Dakota.
Schools
30th of 51C+42/100 Below-average results. Wyoming’s students rank 9th highest on the Nation’s Report Card: 35% reach Proficient. Town by town it lands near the middle, with Jackson its best at #1,201 of 5,230.
Graduation: 81.4% finish high school on time (class of 2023), 9th lowest. The grade weighs test results and graduation equally.
Per-pupil spending, $20,645 (15th highest), is shown for context and not graded.
Source: NCES, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2024, public schools; EDFacts graduation rates; Census school finance.
Measure: graduation rate and test results, averaged; each district’s state-test proficiency is put on the NAEP yardstick (its result ÷ the state average × the state’s NAEP proficiency) so districts compare across states. 11 Wyoming towns of 10,000+ against 5,230 nationally.
Cost of living
5th of 51A92/100 Affordable nearly everywhere. At $1,767, the typical property-tax bill is the 12th lowest among the states. 52% of residents live in top-quarter towns such as Evanston and Gillette, and almost none at the bottom. Taxes and prices disagree: 12th lowest tax bills, but home prices 20th highest against income.
Home values run 4.1 times the median household income, 20th highest.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: our cost-of-living score: home value, rent and tax bill against area income, plus the share paying 30%+ for housing. 11 Wyoming towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Health
34th of 51C34/100 Health a notch below average. Every neighbor scores higher, Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska among them. 18% of adults describe their health as fair or poor, against 19% nationally. Town by town it lands near the middle, with Jackson its best at #249 of 5,218.
Source: CDC PLACES 2025 release (BRFSS model estimates).
Measure: our health score: seven CDC PLACES measures (general, physical and mental health, obesity, diabetes, smoking, inactivity). 11 Wyoming towns of 10,000+ against 5,218 nationally.
Housing
32nd of 51C+38/100 Owners statewide, renters in its towns. Even its best town, Green River, ranks #1,543 of 5,235 nationally. 72% of homes are lived in by their owners, against 65% nationally (10th highest). Its larger towns trail the statewide figure, which also counts rural areas.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: share of occupied homes that are owner-occupied. 11 Wyoming towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Natural hazards
21st of 51B60/100 Slightly lower risk than average. Wyoming ranks 26th lowest for expected hazard damage: $136 a year per $100,000 of buildings. Inland flooding and wildfires account for 82% of the expected damage. Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Laramie ranks highest, at #367.
Federal major-disaster declarations, 2015–2025: 5, 10th fewest.
Share of expected building damage: inland flooding 71%, wildfire 11%, earthquake 10%.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (Dec. 2025): expected annual building loss over building value, all census tracts; FEMA disaster declarations.
Measure: FEMA National Risk Index: expected yearly building loss from 18 natural hazards, as a share of building value. 11 Wyoming towns of 10,000+ against 5,239 nationally.
Commute
5th of 51A92/100 Short commutes, town after town. Wyoming workers average 18.8 minutes to work, against 26.4 nationally. Nearly every larger town does well here, Jackson and Sheridan among them. Cody is among the ten best towns in the country for commute times (#2).
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: average one-way commute of the town’s workers. 11 Wyoming towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Growth
45th of 51D12/100 Growing slower than most states. Builders are catching up: 25th most new homes per resident last year. Between 2010 and 2020 it grew 2.3%, the 7th slowest change among the states. Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska all do better on growth.
Builders took out permits for 4.3 homes per 1,000 residents in 2025, 25th most.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 and 2020 decennial counts; Census building permits.
Measure: population change between the 2010 and 2020 censuses. 11 Wyoming towns of 10,000+ against 5,079 nationally.
How Wyoming compares to its neighbors
Next to Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado and Utah, it comes out ahead on cost of living and behind on health and growth.
| Wyoming | Montana | South Dakota | Nebraska | Colorado | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | B+ 7414th of 51 | C− 2041st of 51 | B 5623rd of 51 | C+ 4429th of 51 | B− 5424th of 51 |
| Safety | B 645th official · 4% in top towns | D 840th official · 0% in top towns | C− 2229th official · 0% in top towns | B 6212th official · 6% in top towns | C 2644th official · 6% in top towns |
| Schools | C+ 429th official · 4% in top towns | C 2814th official · 0% in top towns | C+ 3617th official · 2% in top towns | B− 5422nd official · 7% in top towns | B− 525th official · 7% in top towns |
| Cost of living | A 9212th official · 52% in top towns | C 2624th official · 0% in top towns | A− 7825th official · 68% in top towns | C+ 3635th official · 14% in top towns | C 3023rd official · 1% in top towns |
| Health | C 3422nd official · 4% in top towns | B− 5222nd official · 15% in top towns | B− 4813th official · 4% in top towns | B− 507th official · 2% in top towns | A+ 964th official · 59% in top towns |
| Housing | C+ 3810th official · 0% in top towns | C 2618th official · 0% in top towns | C 2819th official · 2% in top towns | D 1034th official · 0% in top towns | C+ 4237th official · 10% in top towns |
| Natural hazards | B 6026th official · 23% in top towns | B 6227th official · 44% in top towns | C+ 4221st official · 0% in top towns | D 1233rd official · 0% in top towns | B− 5228th official · 11% in top towns |
| Commute | A 923rd official · 88% in top towns | A 944th official · 97% in top towns | A+ 981st official · 98% in top towns | A+ 965th official · 98% in top towns | C+ 4026th official · 13% in top towns |
| Growth | D 1245th official · 12% in top towns | B+ 6815th official · 32% in top towns | A− 7617th official · 53% in top towns | B+ 7021st official · 49% in top towns | A+ 966th official · 70% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the state’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of residents of 10,000+ towns living in a nationally top-quarter town. Neighbor names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is the figure a state agency or federal survey publishes for the whole state, ranked against the other 49 states and D.C. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the state’s towns and cities of 10,000+, the share whose town falls in the national top quarter of 10,000+ towns. A state can do well on one and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the state’s standing among the 50 states and D.C.: the two measures’ percentiles averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. 100 is the best state, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, commute 10, housing 8, natural hazards 8, growth 8 (out of 100). D.C., a single city, is left out of the town measure and graded on official figures alone.
What it is not. A state figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a state is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out towns under 10,000 and towns missing data. Neither says anything about any one neighborhood.
Schools use the Nation’s Report Card because each state’s own tests are set to different bars. Hazards use FEMA’s expected building damage, the same loss rate behind our town hazard grades. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work