Lafayette, LA
Lafayette, LA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Lafayette, LA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Lafayette ranks 262nd for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 275th for income. A household earns $60,527 a year while median rent runs $968/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 13% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is cost of living (19th of 300), while household income is the soft spot (275th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 28th and home prices 57th 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 Lafayette, your take-home is worth about $68,156 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
- 275th of 300↑13.1%$60,527
- 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.
- 19th of 30087 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $69,405
- Per-capita income
- $35,427
- Full-time pay
- $40,086
Housing
- Median rent
- 28th of 300↑18.3%$968/mo
- Home value
- 57th of 300↑33.6%$222,100
- Property tax
- $1,054/yr · 0.5%
- Sales tax
- 10.12%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 208th of 3005%
- Bachelor's+
- 207th of 30029.5%
- Avg commute
- 225th of 30026.6 min
People
- Population
- 419,704
- Population change
- -14.2%
- Median age
- 38.1 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 4.3%
- Broadband
- 91.4%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 234th of 30051
- Natural-hazard loss
- 269th of 300$32/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 261st of 30022.8%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 8.9%
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
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
- – Job market
- – Education
- – Commute
- – Air quality
- – Hazard safety
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — new iberia ap - acadiana rgnl.
What jobs pay in Lafayette
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- IT managers
- $132,790
- Pharmacists
- $132,130
- Financial managers
- $120,450
- Lawyers
- $111,160
- Software developers
- $109,010
- General & operations managers
- $99,510
- Civil engineers
- $97,410
- Registered nurses
- $81,960
- Accountants & auditors
- $67,630
- Electricians
- $59,820
- Plumbers
- $57,930
- Police officers
- $49,900
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $49,450
- Elementary school teachers
- $47,770
- Secondary school teachers
- $47,750
- Carpenters
- $47,440
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $40,930
- Construction laborers
- $38,620
- Customer service reps
- $36,820
- Retail salespersons
- $28,600
- Janitors
- $28,460
- Cashiers
- $24,920
- 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 Lafayette 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.
- Texas2,800
- Nebraska378
- Kansas309
- Florida305
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Lafayette
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Lafayette metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Lafayette metro?
- Median gross rent across the Lafayette, LA Metro Area is $968 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Lafayette.
- What is the median household income in the Lafayette metro?
- A typical household in the Lafayette, LA Metro Area earns $60,527 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Lafayette expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Lafayette, LA Metro Area runs about 13% 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 Lafayette metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $69,405 (versus its face value of $60,527). CityLedger rates the Lafayette, LA Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Lafayette metro?
- The median home value across the Lafayette, LA Metro Area is $222,100 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Lafayette metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Lafayette, LA Metro Area is 5% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).