Overall
- Fort Smith
- 85.9
Diff +0.8 RPP
Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux vs Fort Smith
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Fort Smith is 0.9% more expensive than Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux.
0.9% more expensive
Fort Smith, AR-OK is 0.9% more expensive than Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 85.9 vs 85.1). A $100,000 salary in Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux buys about the same as $100,922 in Fort Smith; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 85.1 (Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux) vs 85.9 (Fort Smith)
- $100k in Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux ≈ $100,922 purchasing power in Fort Smith
- Services drives the gap (+2.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair LA:AR 85.1→85.9
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE LA × AR
- 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.
Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux
85.1
Cost Index
Fort Smith
85.9
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA and Fort Smith, AR-OK are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.8 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Fort Smith is 2.5 points higher. But 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 Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux to $100,922 in Fort Smith, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Fort Smith
- 93.6
Diff -0.1 RPP
Services
- Fort Smith
- 73.8
Diff +2.5 RPP
Rents
- Fort Smith
- 53.4
Diff +2.1 RPP
| Category | Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux | Fort Smith | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 85.1 | 85.9 | +0.8 |
| Goods | 93.7 | 93.6 | -0.1 |
| Services | 71.3 | 73.8 | +2.5 |
| Rents | 51.3 | 53.4 | +2.1 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux 85.1
Fort Smith 85.9
Goods
Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux 93.7
Fort Smith 93.6
Services
Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux 71.3
Fort Smith 73.8
Rents
Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux 51.3
Fort Smith 53.4
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux and Fort Smith share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 0.2 to 0.8 RPP points. Fort Smith remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 8.0 points between the first and latest shared releases (5.5 to 2.5 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux RPP | Fort Smith RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 90.5 | 90.7 | 0.2 points Fort Smith higher |
| 2012 | 95.2 | 89.8 | 5.3 points Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux higher |
| 2016 | 95.1 | 89.3 | 5.8 points Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux higher |
| 2020 | 92.2 | 87.1 | 5.1 points Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux higher |
| 2024 | 85.1 | 85.9 | 0.8 points Fort Smith 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 Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux would need to be in Fort Smith for the same purchasing power:
| In Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux | In Fort Smith | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,461 | +$461 |
| $75,000 | $75,692 | +$692 |
| $100,000 | $100,922 | +$922 |
| $150,000 | $151,384 | +$1,384 |
$ in Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux = in Fort Smith
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (85.1 → 85.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Fort Smith more expensive than Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux?
Fort Smith is 0.9% more expensive than Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux. The overall cost index is 85.9 vs 85.1 (national average = 100).
What salary in Fort Smith equals $100K in Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux?
A $100,000 salary in Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux has the same purchasing power as $100,922 in Fort Smith. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux and Fort Smith?
Rents in Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux are indexed at 51.3 while Fort Smith is at 53.4 (national average = 100). Fort Smith 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.