Overall
- Fort Smith
- 85.9
Diff +1.1 RPP
Shreveport-Bossier City vs Fort Smith
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Fort Smith is 1.3% more expensive than Shreveport-Bossier City.
1.3% more expensive
Fort Smith, AR-OK is 1.3% more expensive than Shreveport-Bossier City, LA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 85.9 vs 84.8). A $100,000 salary in Shreveport-Bossier City buys about the same as $101,324 in Fort Smith; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 84.8 (Shreveport-Bossier City) vs 85.9 (Fort Smith)
- $100k in Shreveport-Bossier City ≈ $101,324 purchasing power in Fort Smith
- Services drives the gap (+1.2 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair LA:AR 84.8→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.
Shreveport-Bossier City
84.8
Cost Index
Fort Smith
85.9
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Shreveport-Bossier City, LA and Fort Smith, AR-OK are a photo finish on overall price level, only 1.1 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services creates the largest separation: Fort Smith is 1.2 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 Shreveport-Bossier City to $101,324 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 +1.2 RPP
Rents
- Fort Smith
- 53.4
Diff +1.2 RPP
| Category | Shreveport-Bossier City | Fort Smith | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 84.8 | 85.9 | +1.1 |
| Goods | 93.7 | 93.6 | -0.1 |
| Services | 72.6 | 73.8 | +1.2 |
| Rents | 52.3 | 53.4 | +1.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Shreveport-Bossier City 84.8
Fort Smith 85.9
Goods
Shreveport-Bossier City 93.7
Fort Smith 93.6
Services
Shreveport-Bossier City 72.6
Fort Smith 73.8
Rents
Shreveport-Bossier City 52.3
Fort Smith 53.4
Vertical line = national average (100)
How the Price Gap Changed
Shreveport-Bossier City and Fort Smith share 17 published annual releases from 2008 through 2024. Their overall gap widened, moving from 0.2 to 1.1 RPP points. Fort Smith remained the higher-index metro in the latest release.
Services changed the most within this pair: its gap moved 7.6 points between the first and latest shared releases (6.3 to 1.2 points). This describes a relative price-index history, not a forecast or a household budget.
| Release Year | Shreveport-Bossier City RPP | Fort Smith RPP | Relative Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 90.9 | 90.7 | 0.2 points Shreveport-Bossier City higher |
| 2012 | 93.4 | 89.8 | 3.6 points Shreveport-Bossier City higher |
| 2016 | 92.8 | 89.3 | 3.5 points Shreveport-Bossier City higher |
| 2020 | 88.9 | 87.1 | 1.8 points Shreveport-Bossier City higher |
| 2024 | 84.8 | 85.9 | 1.1 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 Shreveport-Bossier City would need to be in Fort Smith for the same purchasing power:
| In Shreveport-Bossier City | In Fort Smith | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,662 | +$662 |
| $75,000 | $75,993 | +$993 |
| $100,000 | $101,324 | +$1,324 |
| $150,000 | $151,985 | +$1,985 |
$ in Shreveport-Bossier City = in Fort Smith
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (84.8 → 85.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Fort Smith more expensive than Shreveport-Bossier City?
Fort Smith is 1.3% more expensive than Shreveport-Bossier City. The overall cost index is 85.9 vs 84.8 (national average = 100).
What salary in Fort Smith equals $100K in Shreveport-Bossier City?
A $100,000 salary in Shreveport-Bossier City has the same purchasing power as $101,324 in Fort Smith. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Shreveport-Bossier City and Fort Smith?
Rents in Shreveport-Bossier City are indexed at 52.3 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.