Monroe, LA
Monroe, LA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Monroe, LA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Monroe ranks 278th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 293rd for income. A household earns $56,468 a year while median rent runs $928/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 16% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is cost of living (1st of 300), while household income is the soft spot (293rd). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 20th and home prices 16th 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 Monroe, your take-home is worth about $71,101 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
- 293rd of 300↑40.7%$56,468
- 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.
- 1st of 30084 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $67,548
- Per-capita income
- $32,748
- Full-time pay
- $37,193
Housing
- Median rent
- 20th of 300↑27.1%$928/mo
- Home value
- 16th of 300↑38%$176,900
- Property tax
- $746/yr · 0.4%
- Sales tax
- 10.12%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 176th of 3004.7%
- Bachelor's+
- 243rd of 30025.7%
- Avg commute
- 104th of 30023.1 min
People
- Population
- 222,072
- Population change
- +10.9%
- Median age
- 38.2 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 2.8%
- Broadband
- 89.9%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 80th of 30041
- Natural-hazard loss
- 63rd of 300$9/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 285th of 30025.5%
- 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
- + Air quality
- + Hazard safety
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
- – Education
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — monroe rgnl ap.
What jobs pay in Monroe
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $255,330
- Pharmacists
- $131,990
- Financial managers
- $118,420
- IT managers
- $110,510
- Civil engineers
- $99,180
- Lawyers
- $94,720
- Software developers
- $94,580
- General & operations managers
- $94,240
- Registered nurses
- $78,270
- Accountants & auditors
- $73,840
- Electricians
- $60,940
- Secondary school teachers
- $58,590
- Plumbers
- $55,670
- Police officers
- $50,670
- Elementary school teachers
- $50,300
- Carpenters
- $48,400
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $47,300
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $46,140
- Construction laborers
- $35,850
- Customer service reps
- $34,520
- Janitors
- $28,120
- Retail salespersons
- $27,710
- Cashiers
- $24,490
- 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 Monroe 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.
- Texas720
- Arkansas282
- Mississippi243
- Virginia158
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Monroe
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Monroe metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Monroe metro?
- Median gross rent across the Monroe, LA Metro Area is $928 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Monroe.
- What is the median household income in the Monroe metro?
- A typical household in the Monroe, LA Metro Area earns $56,468 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Monroe expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Monroe, LA Metro Area runs about 16% 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 Monroe metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $67,548 (versus its face value of $56,468). CityLedger rates the Monroe, LA Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Monroe metro?
- The median home value across the Monroe, LA Metro Area is $176,900 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Monroe metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Monroe, LA Metro Area is 4.7% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).