Alexandria, LA
Alexandria, LA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Alexandria, LA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Alexandria ranks 290th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 294th for income. A household earns $55,909 a year while median rent runs $899/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 14% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is cost of living (9th of 300), while household income is the soft spot (294th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 14th and home prices 13th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Alexandria, your take-home is worth about $69,368 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 294th of 300↑10.6%$55,909
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 9th of 30086 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $65,249
- Per-capita income
- $31,950
- Full-time pay
- $40,547
Housing
- Median rent
- 14th of 300↑6.9%$899/mo
- Home value
- 13th of 300↑20.1%$165,800
- Property tax
- $832/yr · 0.5%
- Sales tax
- 10.12%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 151st of 3004.5%
- Bachelor's+
- 266th of 30024.1%
- Avg commute
- 80th of 30022.3 min
People
- Population
- 148,008
- Population change
- -2.7%
- Median age
- 37.6 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 3.2%
- Broadband
- 88.6%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 52nd of 30039
- Natural-hazard loss
- 81st of 300$10/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 282nd of 30025.2%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 9.4%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Cost of living
- + Rent
- + Home prices
- + Commute
- + Air quality
- + Hazard safety
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
- – Education
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — alexandria intl ap.
What jobs pay in Alexandria
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Pharmacists
- $134,340
- IT managers
- $121,750
- Lawyers
- $108,720
- Financial managers
- $107,030
- General & operations managers
- $98,360
- Software developers
- $95,510
- Civil engineers
- $92,290
- Registered nurses
- $81,680
- Accountants & auditors
- $64,530
- Plumbers
- $57,470
- Electricians
- $50,200
- Secondary school teachers
- $48,740
- Elementary school teachers
- $47,950
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $47,370
- Carpenters
- $46,760
- Police officers
- $43,980
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $42,940
- Customer service reps
- $37,070
- Construction laborers
- $36,940
- Janitors
- $28,750
- Retail salespersons
- $28,660
- Cashiers
- $26,250
- Waiters & waitresses
- $15,080
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Alexandria metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Louisiana are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- Texas1,241
- Missouri203
- Nevada185
- Alabama182
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Alexandria
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Alexandria metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Alexandria metro?
- Median gross rent across the Alexandria, LA Metro Area is $899 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Alexandria.
- What is the median household income in the Alexandria metro?
- A typical household in the Alexandria, LA Metro Area earns $55,909 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Alexandria expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Alexandria, LA Metro Area runs about 14% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Alexandria metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $65,249 (versus its face value of $55,909). CityLedger rates the Alexandria, LA Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Alexandria metro?
- The median home value across the Alexandria, LA Metro Area is $165,800 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Alexandria metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Alexandria, LA Metro Area is 4.5% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).