New Orleans, LA
New Orleans-Metairie, LA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole New Orleans-Metairie, LA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, New Orleans ranks 278th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 258th for income. A household earns $62,373 a year while median rent runs $1,262/mo, making it expensive relative to what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 7% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is cost of living (102nd of 300), while hazard safety is the soft spot (287th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 154th and home prices 108th 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 New Orleans, your take-home is worth about $64,191 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
- 258th of 300↑12%$62,373
- 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.
- 102nd of 30093 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $67,360
- Per-capita income
- $38,890
- Full-time pay
- $42,127
Housing
- Median rent
- 154th of 300↑28.4%$1,262/mo
- Home value
- 108th of 300↑26.4%$267,900
- Property tax
- $1,636/yr · 0.6%
- Sales tax
- 10.12%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 208th of 3005%
- Bachelor's+
- 139th of 30034.2%
- Avg commute
- 182nd of 30024.9 min
People
- Population
- 966,230
- Population change
- -24%
- Median age
- 39.8 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 10.3%
- Broadband
- 91.9%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 177th of 30048
- Natural-hazard loss
- 287th of 300$42/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 246th of 30022.3%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 9.5%
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
- —
Watch-outs
- – Affordability
- – Household income
- – Job market
- – Hazard safety
- – Health
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — boothville asos.
What jobs pay in New Orleans
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $332,690
- Financial managers
- $134,110
- IT managers
- $131,570
- Pharmacists
- $128,100
- Lawyers
- $121,290
- Civil engineers
- $108,240
- Software developers
- $106,950
- General & operations managers
- $105,110
- Registered nurses
- $81,850
- Accountants & auditors
- $77,940
- Web developers
- $75,340
- Electricians
- $62,490
- Plumbers
- $62,450
- Secondary school teachers
- $60,750
- Elementary school teachers
- $60,350
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $51,540
- Carpenters
- $50,130
- Police officers
- $48,970
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $45,260
- Construction laborers
- $39,480
- Customer service reps
- $39,300
- Retail salespersons
- $30,400
- Janitors
- $30,020
- Cashiers
- $28,370
- Waiters & waitresses
- $16,640
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 New Orleans 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.
- Texas3,368
- California1,472
- Mississippi1,436
- Florida1,417
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like New Orleans
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
New Orleans metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the New Orleans metro?
- Median gross rent across the New Orleans-Metairie, LA Metro Area is $1,262 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of New Orleans.
- What is the median household income in the New Orleans metro?
- A typical household in the New Orleans-Metairie, LA Metro Area earns $62,373 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is New Orleans expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the New Orleans-Metairie, LA Metro Area runs about 7% 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 New Orleans metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $67,360 (versus its face value of $62,373). CityLedger rates the New Orleans-Metairie, LA Metro Area expensive for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the New Orleans metro?
- The median home value across the New Orleans-Metairie, LA Metro Area is $267,900 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the New Orleans metro?
- The unemployment rate in the New Orleans-Metairie, LA Metro Area is 5% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).