LA metros
Cost of living across major LA metropolitan areas.
What living in LA costs
Across the 4 LA metros we track, the typical cost-of-living index is 91.2 against a national metro median of 95.7 — about 5% cheaper than the typical US metro. That ranks LA 9 of the 48 states we cover, counting from the cheapest.
The state is not uniform: Shreveport, LA is the cheapest metro at 87.4, while Baton Rouge, LA runs 91.2 — a spread of 4% between them.
A typical LA home costs $248,176, or about 4× median household income, and typical rent is $1,393/mo.
Taxes in LA
LA levies a state income tax on top of the federal one. Effective property tax runs about 0.6% of home value in a typical LA metro, and combined state and local sales tax is around 9.6%.
Property tax is the one that scales with housing, so it bites hardest in the pricier metros above. Per-metro figures are on each metro page.
| Metro | COL index | Median home | Median rent |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Orleans, LA | 91.2 | $261,414 | $1,622 |
| Baton Rouge, LA | 91.2 | $248,176 | $1,393 |
| Lafayette, LA | 87.6 | $202,312 | $1,371 |
| Shreveport, LA | 87.4 | $186,193 | $1,348 |
Cities & towns in LA (35)
Local property tax, home values and school scores for each place.