Overall
- Joplin
- 85.7
Diff -1.0 RPP
Joplin vs Shreveport-Bossier City
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Shreveport-Bossier City is 1.1% less expensive than Joplin.
1.1% less expensive
Shreveport-Bossier City, LA is 1.1% less expensive than Joplin, MO-KS on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 84.8 vs 85.7). A $100,000 salary in Joplin buys about the same as $98,889 in Shreveport-Bossier City; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 85.7 (Joplin) vs 84.8 (Shreveport-Bossier City)
- $100k in Joplin ≈ $98,889 purchasing power in Shreveport-Bossier City
- Services drives the gap (-13.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MO:LA 85.7→84.8
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.
Joplin
85.7
Cost Index
Shreveport-Bossier City
84.8
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Joplin, MO-KS and Shreveport-Bossier City, LA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.0 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services leads the difference, with Shreveport-Bossier City 13.3 points lower than Joplin. 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 Joplin to $98,889 in Shreveport-Bossier City, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Joplin
- 94.2
Diff -0.5 RPP
Services
- Joplin
- 85.9
Diff -13.3 RPP
Rents
- Joplin
- 54.0
Diff -1.7 RPP
| Category | Joplin | Shreveport-Bossier City | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 85.7 | 84.8 | -1.0 |
| Goods | 94.2 | 93.7 | -0.5 |
| Services | 85.9 | 72.6 | -13.3 |
| Rents | 54.0 | 52.3 | -1.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Joplin 85.7
Shreveport-Bossier City 84.8
Goods
Joplin 94.2
Shreveport-Bossier City 93.7
Services
Joplin 85.9
Shreveport-Bossier City 72.6
Rents
Joplin 54.0
Shreveport-Bossier City 52.3
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Joplin and Shreveport-Bossier City share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 0.9 to 1.0 RPP points. Joplin remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 20.4 points between the first and latest shared releases (7.1 to 13.3 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Joplin RPP | Shreveport-Bossier City RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 90.0 | 90.9 | 0.9 points Shreveport-Bossier City higher |
| 2012 | 90.0 | 93.4 | 3.4 points Shreveport-Bossier City higher |
| 2016 | 88.4 | 92.8 | 4.3 points Shreveport-Bossier City higher |
| 2020 | 87.9 | 88.9 | 1.0 points Shreveport-Bossier City higher |
| 2024 | 85.7 | 84.8 | 1.0 points Joplin 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 Shreveport-Bossier City for the same purchasing power:
| In Joplin | In Shreveport-Bossier City | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,445 | $-555 |
| $75,000 | $74,167 | $-833 |
| $100,000 | $98,889 | $-1,111 |
| $150,000 | $148,334 | $-1,666 |
$ in Joplin = in Shreveport-Bossier City
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (85.7 → 84.8), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Shreveport-Bossier City more expensive than Joplin?
Shreveport-Bossier City is 1.1% less expensive than Joplin. The overall cost index is 84.8 vs 85.7 (national average = 100).
What salary in Shreveport-Bossier City equals $100K in Joplin?
A $100,000 salary in Joplin has the same purchasing power as $98,889 in Shreveport-Bossier City. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Joplin and Shreveport-Bossier City?
Rents in Joplin are indexed at 54.0 while Shreveport-Bossier City is at 52.3 (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.