Overall
- Abilene
- 90.4
- Baton Rouge
- 90.8
Diff +0.4 RPP
Abilene vs Baton Rouge
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Baton Rouge is 0.5% more expensive than Abilene.
0.5% more expensive
Baton Rouge, LA is 0.5% more expensive than Abilene, TX on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 90.8 vs 90.4). A $100,000 salary in Abilene buys about the same as $100,460 in Baton Rouge; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 90.4 (Abilene) vs 90.8 (Baton Rouge)
- $100k in Abilene ≈ $100,460 purchasing power in Baton Rouge
- Services drives the gap (-10.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair TX:LA 90.4→90.8
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE TX × LA
- SPLIT-BUDGET Split budget
- BOTH-BELOW Both below 100
- PP-PAR PP near-par
Instrument codes from this pair's BEA Regional Price Parities (overall · goods · services · rents · national benchmark 100 · purchasing-power conversion), not a ranking or recommendation.
Abilene
90.4
Cost Index
Baton Rouge
90.8
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Abilene, TX and Baton Rouge, LA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.4 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Baton Rouge is 10.0 points lower. But services and goods move against the overall direction, so this is a split budget rather than a clean across-the-board winner.
Comparable population context is incomplete for this pair, so no market-scale explanation is inferred from the price indexes.
Both metros remain below the U.S. benchmark of 100. This comparison chooses between two below-average price levels; “more expensive” here does not mean nationally expensive.
For a service-heavy household, test childcare, health, and other locally supplied costs before relying on rent alone. The BEA ratio converts $100,000 in Abilene to $100,460 in Baton Rouge, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Abilene
- 93.8
- Baton Rouge
- 93.7
Diff -0.1 RPP
Services
- Abilene
- 81.2
- Baton Rouge
- 71.2
Diff -10.0 RPP
Rents
- Abilene
- 73.8
- Baton Rouge
- 74.2
Diff +0.4 RPP
| Category | Abilene | Baton Rouge | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 90.4 | 90.8 | +0.4 |
| Goods | 93.8 | 93.7 | -0.1 |
| Services | 81.2 | 71.2 | -10.0 |
| Rents | 73.8 | 74.2 | +0.4 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Abilene 90.4
Baton Rouge 90.8
Goods
Abilene 93.8
Baton Rouge 93.7
Services
Abilene 81.2
Baton Rouge 71.2
Rents
Abilene 73.8
Baton Rouge 74.2
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Abilene and Baton Rouge share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 1.0 to 0.4 RPP points. Baton Rouge remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Rents changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 4.5 points between the first and latest shared releases (4.9 to 0.4 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Abilene RPP | Baton Rouge RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 92.2 | 93.1 | 1.0 points Baton Rouge higher |
| 2012 | 94.1 | 94.2 | 0.1 points Baton Rouge higher |
| 2016 | 93.3 | 95.6 | 2.3 points Baton Rouge higher |
| 2020 | 90.3 | 93.1 | 2.8 points Baton Rouge higher |
| 2024 | 90.4 | 90.8 | 0.4 points Baton Rouge higher |
Annual BEA Regional Price Parity releases; a higher index means a higher price level relative to the national average of 100. Selected years shown from the full shared series.
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Abilene would need to be in Baton Rouge for the same purchasing power:
| In Abilene | In Baton Rouge | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,230 | +$230 |
| $75,000 | $75,345 | +$345 |
| $100,000 | $100,460 | +$460 |
| $150,000 | $150,691 | +$691 |
$ in Abilene = in Baton Rouge
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (90.4 → 90.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Baton Rouge more expensive than Abilene?
Baton Rouge is 0.5% more expensive than Abilene. The overall cost index is 90.8 vs 90.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Baton Rouge equals $100K in Abilene?
A $100,000 salary in Abilene has the same purchasing power as $100,460 in Baton Rouge. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Abilene and Baton Rouge?
Rents in Abilene are indexed at 73.8 while Baton Rouge is at 74.2 (national average = 100). Baton Rouge has higher rents.
Data sources
- BEA Regional Price Parities (RPP), the cost-of-living indices shown on this page
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS), gross-rent observations behind the rents component
- BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI), goods and services price relatives
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), labor-driven services component
- HUD Fair Market Rents (FMR), 40th-percentile rent cross-reference
Every figure on PlainCost is rendered directly from BEA Regional Price Parity source data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, our changelog, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-08-11. Rankings measure the published cost-of-living index only; we don't recommend where to live or rate any metro's quality of life.