Houma, LA
Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Houma ranks 218th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 259th for income. A household earns $62,338 a year while median rent runs $980/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 15% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is cost of living (6th of 300), while hazard safety is the soft spot (295th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 35th and home prices 24th 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 Houma, your take-home is worth about $69,843 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
- 259th of 300↑25%$62,338
- 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.
- 6th of 30085 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $73,250
- Per-capita income
- $36,192
- Full-time pay
- $41,725
Housing
- Median rent
- 35th of 300↑21.4%$980/mo
- Home value
- 24th of 300↑18.1%$192,000
- Property tax
- $822/yr · 0.4%
- Sales tax
- 10.12%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 63rd of 3003.5%
- Bachelor's+
- 289th of 30020.3%
- Avg commute
- 231st of 30027.2 min
People
- Population
- 199,206
- Population change
- -4.3%
- Median age
- 40.7 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 3.4%
- Broadband
- 91.2%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 177th of 30048
- Natural-hazard loss
- 295th of 300$45/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 272nd of 30023.9%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 9.7%
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
- + Job market
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
- – Education
- – Commute
- – Hazard safety
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — salt pt.
What jobs pay in Houma
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Pharmacists
- $134,050
- IT managers
- $121,970
- Financial managers
- $121,000
- Civil engineers
- $107,400
- General & operations managers
- $107,200
- Software developers
- $102,970
- Lawyers
- $93,840
- Registered nurses
- $75,740
- Accountants & auditors
- $74,620
- Secondary school teachers
- $61,180
- Elementary school teachers
- $58,780
- Electricians
- $57,650
- Plumbers
- $55,240
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $49,300
- Carpenters
- $48,210
- Police officers
- $44,320
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $43,790
- Construction laborers
- $36,890
- Customer service reps
- $35,930
- Retail salespersons
- $29,220
- Janitors
- $28,810
- Cashiers
- $25,990
- 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 Houma 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.
- Texas254
- Georgia239
- Florida173
- Oklahoma126
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Houma
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Houma metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Houma metro?
- Median gross rent across the Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA Metro Area is $980 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Houma.
- What is the median household income in the Houma metro?
- A typical household in the Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA Metro Area earns $62,338 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Houma expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA Metro Area runs about 15% 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 Houma metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $73,250 (versus its face value of $62,338). CityLedger rates the Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Houma metro?
- The median home value across the Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA Metro Area is $192,000 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Houma metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA Metro Area is 3.5% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).