Overall
- Cape Girardeau
- 86.1
- Lake Charles
- 85.9
Diff -0.2 RPP
Cape Girardeau vs Lake Charles
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lake Charles is 0.3% less expensive than Cape Girardeau.
0.3% less expensive
Lake Charles, LA is 0.3% less expensive than Cape Girardeau, MO-IL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 85.9 vs 86.1). A $100,000 salary in Cape Girardeau buys about the same as $99,737 in Lake Charles; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 86.1 (Cape Girardeau) vs 85.9 (Lake Charles)
- $100k in Cape Girardeau ≈ $99,737 purchasing power in Lake Charles
- Services drives the gap (-13.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MO:LA 86.1→85.9
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE MO × LA
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- 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.
Cape Girardeau
86.1
Cost Index
Lake Charles
85.9
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Cape Girardeau, MO-IL and Lake Charles, LA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.2 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services leads the difference, with Lake Charles 13.9 points lower than Cape Girardeau. Goods, services, and rents all point in the same broad direction, making the headline comparison more transferable across household types.
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 Cape Girardeau to $99,737 in Lake Charles, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Cape Girardeau
- 94.2
- Lake Charles
- 93.7
Diff -0.5 RPP
Services
- Cape Girardeau
- 85.6
- Lake Charles
- 71.7
Diff -13.9 RPP
Rents
- Cape Girardeau
- 56.4
- Lake Charles
- 51.8
Diff -4.7 RPP
| Category | Cape Girardeau | Lake Charles | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 86.1 | 85.9 | -0.2 |
| Goods | 94.2 | 93.7 | -0.5 |
| Services | 85.6 | 71.7 | -13.9 |
| Rents | 56.4 | 51.8 | -4.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Cape Girardeau 86.1
Lake Charles 85.9
Goods
Cape Girardeau 94.2
Lake Charles 93.7
Services
Cape Girardeau 85.6
Lake Charles 71.7
Rents
Cape Girardeau 56.4
Lake Charles 51.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Cape Girardeau would need to be in Lake Charles for the same purchasing power:
| In Cape Girardeau | In Lake Charles | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,869 | $-131 |
| $75,000 | $74,803 | $-197 |
| $100,000 | $99,737 | $-263 |
| $150,000 | $149,606 | $-394 |
$ in Cape Girardeau = in Lake Charles
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (86.1 → 85.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lake Charles more expensive than Cape Girardeau?
Lake Charles is 0.3% less expensive than Cape Girardeau. The overall cost index is 85.9 vs 86.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Lake Charles equals $100K in Cape Girardeau?
A $100,000 salary in Cape Girardeau has the same purchasing power as $99,737 in Lake Charles. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Cape Girardeau and Lake Charles?
Rents in Cape Girardeau are indexed at 56.4 while Lake Charles is at 51.8 (national average = 100). Cape Girardeau 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.