LivingCostFacts / state

Louisiana cost of living

Louisiana has an all-items price parity of 88.2 on the U.S. = 100 scale. Compare the statewide picture with county rents and metro price levels.

BEA 2024 · HUD FY2027 · ACS 2020–2024 · CPI through 2026-10

88.2
All-items price level

BEA 2024; U.S. = 100

$60,756
Median household income

ACS 2020–2024

$216,500
Median home value

Owner-occupied homes, ACS 2020–2024

$1,161
Typical 2BR benchmark

Population-weighted county FMR, FY2027

Read the local picture

Regional Price Parities (RPPs) compare prices across places in the same year. An index of 110 means prices are 10% above the U.S. level; 90 means 10% below. RPP measures relative price levels, while CPI measures price change over time.

Louisiana: RPP components

BEA 2024 regional context; each category is compared with its own U.S. = 100 benchmark. These are not county price estimates or spending shares.

  1. All items88.2
  2. Goods93.7
  3. Housing rents63.1
  4. Utilities71.5
  5. Other services95.7
0100.0

Black marker: U.S. benchmark = 100 in each row.

Put the benchmark in context

Fair Market Rent (FMR) is HUD’s estimate of the 40th percentile gross rent for standard-quality rental homes occupied by recent movers. It includes rent and most tenant-paid utilities. A household’s actual rent can differ substantially by neighborhood, lease and property.

Monthly rent by bedroom

HUD FY2027 gross monthly FMR; includes most tenant-paid utilities. Dollars per month.

  1. Studio$895
  2. 1 bedroom$973
  3. 2 bedrooms$1,161
  4. 3 bedrooms$1,485
  5. 4 bedrooms$1,723
0$1,723

Income after benchmark rent is $46,826 a year: ACS median household income minus 12 months of the population-weighted 2BR FMR. This is a comparison between separate datasets and periods, before taxes and all other expenses; it is not disposable income.

The data in view

Price levels relative to the U.S.

BEA RPP, U.S. = 100 each year. This is not an inflation index.

View chart data
Period or categoryValue
200891.5
200990.2
201092.2
201192.7
201292.9
201392.9
201493.4
201592.8
201693.6
201792.4
201890.8
201991.2
202091.1
202191.4
202290.5
202388.7
202488.2

Price levels by category

Each category has its own U.S. benchmark of 100. Components are indexes, not spending shares.

Category2024 RPP
All items88.2
Goods93.7
Housing rents63.1
Utilities71.5
Other services95.7

Monthly Fair Market Rent by bedroom

HUD 40th percentile gross rent for standard-quality units; includes tenant-paid utilities except telephone, cable and internet. These are benchmarks, not asking-rent medians.

Home sizeFY2027 monthly gross rent
Studio$895
1 bedroom$973
2 bedrooms$1,161
3 bedrooms$1,485
4 bedrooms$1,723

County cost comparison

Income: ACS 2020–2024. Rent: HUD FY2027. Rent / income = 12 × 2BR FMR ÷ median household income; it does not measure actual renter burden.

County or equivalent2BR rent / monthMedian household incomeRent / income
Acadia Parish$902$45,56223.8%
Allen Parish$910$46,46923.5%
Ascension Parish$1,149$91,54915.1%
Assumption Parish$932$51,42321.7%
Avoyelles Parish$902$39,32527.5%
Beauregard Parish$1,023$65,94418.6%
Bienville Parish$892$35,01130.6%
Bossier Parish$1,045$69,61718.0%
Caddo Parish$1,045$50,70524.7%
Calcasieu Parish$1,231$67,56421.9%
Caldwell Parish$892$47,02822.8%
Cameron Parish$1,231$75,27819.6%
Catahoula Parish$892$50,27521.3%
Claiborne Parish$892$32,83132.6%
Concordia Parish$893$39,94326.8%
De Soto Parish$1,045$48,57825.8%
East Baton Rouge Parish$1,149$63,07121.9%
East Carroll Parish$892$33,34132.1%
East Feliciana Parish$1,149$73,08518.9%
Evangeline Parish$892$41,91525.5%
Franklin Parish$892$47,02022.8%
Grant Parish$995$64,01618.7%
Iberia Parish$981$56,96120.7%
Iberville Parish$892$54,00019.8%
Jackson Parish$892$44,92523.8%
Jefferson Davis Parish$921$57,34119.3%
Jefferson Parish$1,480$65,25227.2%
LaSalle Parish$892$68,49715.6%
Lafayette Parish$1,092$67,45119.4%
Lafourche Parish$1,098$63,13520.9%
Lincoln Parish$892$39,17227.3%
Livingston Parish$1,149$80,12217.2%
Madison Parish$892$35,45630.2%
Morehouse Parish$892$39,45427.1%
Natchitoches Parish$892$46,29223.1%
Orleans Parish$1,480$56,63131.4%
Ouachita Parish$1,017$54,68822.3%
Plaquemines Parish$1,480$86,31520.6%
Pointe Coupee Parish$1,149$65,96120.9%
Rapides Parish$995$54,96721.7%
Red River Parish$929$49,16722.7%
Richland Parish$975$53,54421.9%
Sabine Parish$892$50,32921.3%
St. Bernard Parish$1,480$58,65130.3%
St. Charles Parish$1,480$80,89722.0%
St. Helena Parish$1,149$41,93432.9%
St. James Parish$1,165$65,53121.3%
St. John the Baptist Parish$1,480$66,63026.7%
St. Landry Parish$892$44,46224.1%
St. Martin Parish$1,092$55,96023.4%
St. Mary Parish$997$52,57622.8%
St. Tammany Parish$1,354$81,20220.0%
Tangipahoa Parish$1,097$56,76023.2%
Tensas Parish$892$36,61529.2%
Terrebonne Parish$1,098$64,83620.3%
Union Parish$1,017$42,88528.5%
Vermilion Parish$899$55,70719.4%
Vernon Parish$1,102$57,27023.1%
Washington Parish$892$45,38023.6%
Webster Parish$922$41,18226.9%
West Baton Rouge Parish$1,149$87,29915.8%
West Carroll Parish$892$49,13421.8%
West Feliciana Parish$1,149$77,45217.8%
Winn Parish$892$48,87121.9%

Metros with member counties in Louisiana

BEA 2024, U.S. = 100. Rent is a population-weighted mean of member-county benchmarks where available.

Metro areaAll-items RPPHousing RPP2BR rent / month
Alexandria, LA85.753.7$995
Baton Rouge, LA90.874.2$1,135
Hammond, LA84.548.2$1,097
Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA85.151.3$1,098
Lafayette, LA87.258.8$1,039
Lake Charles, LA85.951.8$1,190
Monroe, LA83.642.8$1,000
New Orleans-Metairie, LA92.686.0$1,474
Shreveport-Bossier City, LA84.852.3$1,045
Slidell-Mandeville-Covington, LA92.785.4$1,354