Lake Charles, LA
Lake Charles, LA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Lake Charles, LA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Lake Charles ranks 196th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 243rd for income. A household earns $65,144 a year while median rent runs $977/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 (11th of 300), while education is the soft spot (276th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 33rd and home prices 45th 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 Lake Charles, your take-home is worth about $69,234 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
- 243rd of 300↑26.4%$65,144
- 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.
- 11th of 30086 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $75,879
- Per-capita income
- $37,329
- Full-time pay
- $40,985
Housing
- Median rent
- 33rd of 300↑12.6%$977/mo
- Home value
- 45th of 300↑29.4%$213,100
- Property tax
- $1,029/yr · 0.5%
- Sales tax
- 10.12%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 270th of 3006.4%
- Bachelor's+
- 276th of 30022.2%
- Avg commute
- 109th of 30023.2 min
People
- Population
- 243,719
- Population change
- +16.6%
- Median age
- 38.9 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 3.4%
- Broadband
- 91%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 185th of 30049
- Natural-hazard loss
- 262nd of 300$30/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 263rd of 30022.9%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 8.7%
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
Watch-outs
- – Household income
- – Job market
- – Education
- – Hazard safety
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — lake charles.
What jobs pay in Lake Charles
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Pharmacists
- $133,720
- Financial managers
- $123,450
- Software developers
- $120,940
- IT managers
- $112,460
- Lawyers
- $101,690
- General & operations managers
- $101,370
- Civil engineers
- $97,490
- Registered nurses
- $90,690
- Accountants & auditors
- $70,050
- Plumbers
- $67,990
- Electricians
- $63,620
- Police officers
- $56,290
- Secondary school teachers
- $52,140
- Elementary school teachers
- $51,520
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $49,960
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $46,170
- Carpenters
- $45,930
- Construction laborers
- $45,240
- Customer service reps
- $35,080
- Retail salespersons
- $28,780
- Janitors
- $28,580
- Cashiers
- $27,480
- 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 Lake Charles 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.
- Texas1,446
- Mississippi315
- Kentucky217
- Nevada134
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Lake Charles
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Lake Charles metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Lake Charles metro?
- Median gross rent across the Lake Charles, LA Metro Area is $977 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Lake Charles.
- What is the median household income in the Lake Charles metro?
- A typical household in the Lake Charles, LA Metro Area earns $65,144 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Lake Charles expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Lake Charles, 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 Lake Charles metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $75,879 (versus its face value of $65,144). CityLedger rates the Lake Charles, LA Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Lake Charles metro?
- The median home value across the Lake Charles, LA Metro Area is $213,100 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Lake Charles metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Lake Charles, LA Metro Area is 6.4% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).