Overall
- Fairbanks-College
- 103.2
- Lake Charles
- 85.9
Diff -17.4 RPP
Fairbanks-College vs Lake Charles
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lake Charles is 16.8% less expensive than Fairbanks-College.
16.8% less expensive
Lake Charles, LA is 16.8% less expensive than Fairbanks-College, AK on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 85.9 vs 103.2). A $100,000 salary in Fairbanks-College buys about the same as $83,183 in Lake Charles; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 103.2 (Fairbanks-College) vs 85.9 (Lake Charles)
- $100k in Fairbanks-College ≈ $83,183 purchasing power in Lake Charles
- Services drives the gap (-48.0 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair AK:LA 103.2→85.9
TIER-GAP · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BENCH-CROSS · PP-STEEP
- TIER-GAP Clear tier gap
- CROSS-STATE AK × LA
- SERVICES-LED Services-led gap
- BENCH-CROSS Benchmark cross
- PP-STEEP Steep PP convert
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.
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Fairbanks-College, AK and Lake Charles, LA sit in clearly different price tiers, separated by 17.4 RPP points. At this distance, treating the same nominal salary as equivalent would materially change purchasing power.
This route crosses the national benchmark: Fairbanks-College is above 100 while Lake Charles is below it. That makes the move a change of price regime, not merely a rank swap.
Services leads the difference, with Lake Charles 48.0 points lower than Fairbanks-College. 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.
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 Fairbanks-College to $83,183 in Lake Charles, but it is not a personal spending weight.
How the Price Gap Changed
Fairbanks-College and Lake Charles share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 14.2 to 17.4 RPP points. Fairbanks-College remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 39.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (8.8 to 48.0 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Fairbanks-College RPP | Lake Charles RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 104.7 | 90.5 | 14.2 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2012 | 97.9 | 90.6 | 7.3 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2016 | 100.4 | 91.2 | 9.2 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2020 | 99.4 | 91.2 | 8.1 points Fairbanks-College higher |
| 2024 | 103.2 | 85.9 | 17.4 points Fairbanks-College 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.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Fairbanks-College
- 107.3
- Lake Charles
- 93.7
Diff -13.6 RPP
Services
- Fairbanks-College
- 119.8
- Lake Charles
- 71.7
Diff -48.0 RPP
Rents
- Fairbanks-College
- 92.6
- Lake Charles
- 51.8
Diff -40.8 RPP
| Category | Fairbanks-College | Lake Charles | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 103.2 | 85.9 | -17.4 |
| Goods | 107.3 | 93.7 | -13.6 |
| Services | 119.8 | 71.7 | -48.0 |
| Rents | 92.6 | 51.8 | -40.8 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Fairbanks-College 103.2
Lake Charles 85.9
Goods
Fairbanks-College 107.3
Lake Charles 93.7
Services
Fairbanks-College 119.8
Lake Charles 71.7
Rents
Fairbanks-College 92.6
Lake Charles 51.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Fairbanks-College would need to be in Lake Charles for the same purchasing power:
| In Fairbanks-College | In Lake Charles | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $41,592 | $-8,408 |
| $75,000 | $62,388 | $-12,612 |
| $100,000 | $83,183 | $-16,817 |
| $150,000 | $124,775 | $-25,225 |
$ in Fairbanks-College = in Lake Charles
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (103.2 → 85.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Fairbanks-College
103.2
Cost Index
Lake Charles
85.9
Cost Index
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lake Charles more expensive than Fairbanks-College?
Lake Charles is 16.8% less expensive than Fairbanks-College. The overall cost index is 85.9 vs 103.2 (national average = 100).
What salary in Lake Charles equals $100K in Fairbanks-College?
A $100,000 salary in Fairbanks-College has the same purchasing power as $83,183 in Lake Charles. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Fairbanks-College and Lake Charles?
Rents in Fairbanks-College are indexed at 92.6 while Lake Charles is at 51.8 (national average = 100). Fairbanks-College 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.