Overall
- Lake Charles
- 85.9
- Cape Girardeau
- 86.1
Diff +0.2 RPP
Lake Charles vs Cape Girardeau
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Cape Girardeau is 0.3% more expensive than Lake Charles.
0.3% more expensive
Cape Girardeau, MO-IL is 0.3% more expensive than Lake Charles, LA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 86.1 vs 85.9). A $100,000 salary in Lake Charles buys about the same as $100,263 in Cape Girardeau; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 85.9 (Lake Charles) vs 86.1 (Cape Girardeau)
- $100k in Lake Charles ≈ $100,263 purchasing power in Cape Girardeau
- Services drives the gap (+13.9 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair LA:MO 85.9→86.1
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE LA × MO
- 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.
Lake Charles
85.9
Cost Index
Cape Girardeau
86.1
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Lake Charles, LA and Cape Girardeau, MO-IL 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 Cape Girardeau 13.9 points higher than Lake Charles. 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 Lake Charles to $100,263 in Cape Girardeau, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Lake Charles
- 93.7
- Cape Girardeau
- 94.2
Diff +0.5 RPP
Services
- Lake Charles
- 71.7
- Cape Girardeau
- 85.6
Diff +13.9 RPP
Rents
- Lake Charles
- 51.8
- Cape Girardeau
- 56.4
Diff +4.7 RPP
| Category | Lake Charles | Cape Girardeau | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 85.9 | 86.1 | +0.2 |
| Goods | 93.7 | 94.2 | +0.5 |
| Services | 71.7 | 85.6 | +13.9 |
| Rents | 51.8 | 56.4 | +4.7 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Lake Charles 85.9
Cape Girardeau 86.1
Goods
Lake Charles 93.7
Cape Girardeau 94.2
Services
Lake Charles 71.7
Cape Girardeau 85.6
Rents
Lake Charles 51.8
Cape Girardeau 56.4
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Lake Charles would need to be in Cape Girardeau for the same purchasing power:
| In Lake Charles | In Cape Girardeau | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,132 | +$132 |
| $75,000 | $75,197 | +$197 |
| $100,000 | $100,263 | +$263 |
| $150,000 | $150,395 | +$395 |
$ in Lake Charles = in Cape Girardeau
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (85.9 → 86.1), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Cape Girardeau more expensive than Lake Charles?
Cape Girardeau is 0.3% more expensive than Lake Charles. The overall cost index is 86.1 vs 85.9 (national average = 100).
What salary in Cape Girardeau equals $100K in Lake Charles?
A $100,000 salary in Lake Charles has the same purchasing power as $100,263 in Cape Girardeau. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Lake Charles and Cape Girardeau?
Rents in Lake Charles are indexed at 51.8 while Cape Girardeau is at 56.4 (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.