Overall
- Joplin
- 85.7
- Lake Charles
- 85.9
Diff +0.1 RPP
Joplin vs Lake Charles
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lake Charles is 0.2% more expensive than Joplin.
0.2% more expensive
Lake Charles, LA is 0.2% more expensive than Joplin, MO-KS on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 85.9 vs 85.7). A $100,000 salary in Joplin buys about the same as $100,156 in Lake Charles; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 85.7 (Joplin) vs 85.9 (Lake Charles)
- $100k in Joplin ≈ $100,156 purchasing power in Lake Charles
- Services drives the gap (-14.1 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MO:LA 85.7→85.9
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE MO × 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.
Joplin
85.7
Cost Index
Lake Charles
85.9
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Joplin, MO-KS and Lake Charles, LA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.1 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Lake Charles is 14.1 points lower. But services and rents 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 Joplin to $100,156 in Lake Charles, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Joplin
- 94.2
- Lake Charles
- 93.7
Diff -0.5 RPP
Services
- Joplin
- 85.9
- Lake Charles
- 71.7
Diff -14.1 RPP
Rents
- Joplin
- 54.0
- Lake Charles
- 51.8
Diff -2.2 RPP
| Category | Joplin | Lake Charles | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 85.7 | 85.9 | +0.1 |
| Goods | 94.2 | 93.7 | -0.5 |
| Services | 85.9 | 71.7 | -14.1 |
| Rents | 54.0 | 51.8 | -2.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Joplin 85.7
Lake Charles 85.9
Goods
Joplin 94.2
Lake Charles 93.7
Services
Joplin 85.9
Lake Charles 71.7
Rents
Joplin 54.0
Lake Charles 51.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Joplin and Lake Charles share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap held broadly steady, moving from 0.4 to 0.1 RPP points. Lake Charles remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 20.2 points between the first and latest shared releases (6.0 to 14.1 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Joplin RPP | Lake Charles RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 90.0 | 90.5 | 0.4 points Lake Charles higher |
| 2012 | 90.0 | 90.6 | 0.6 points Lake Charles higher |
| 2016 | 88.4 | 91.2 | 2.8 points Lake Charles higher |
| 2020 | 87.9 | 91.2 | 3.4 points Lake Charles higher |
| 2024 | 85.7 | 85.9 | 0.1 points Lake Charles 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 Joplin would need to be in Lake Charles for the same purchasing power:
| In Joplin | In Lake Charles | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,078 | +$78 |
| $75,000 | $75,117 | +$117 |
| $100,000 | $100,156 | +$156 |
| $150,000 | $150,234 | +$234 |
$ in Joplin = in Lake Charles
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (85.7 → 85.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lake Charles more expensive than Joplin?
Lake Charles is 0.2% more expensive than Joplin. The overall cost index is 85.9 vs 85.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Lake Charles equals $100K in Joplin?
A $100,000 salary in Joplin has the same purchasing power as $100,156 in Lake Charles. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Joplin and Lake Charles?
Rents in Joplin are indexed at 54.0 while Lake Charles is at 51.8 (national average = 100). Joplin 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.