Overall
- Hot Springs
- 85.7
Diff +1.0 RPP
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Hot Springs is 1.1% more expensive than Shreveport-Bossier City.
Hot Springs, AR is 1.1% more expensive than Shreveport-Bossier City, LA on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 85.7 vs 84.8). A $100,000 salary in Shreveport-Bossier City buys about the same as $101,137 in Hot Springs; the largest component gap is rents.
RPP parity plate
Pair LA:AR 84.8→85.7
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-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, LA and Hot Springs, AR 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.
Rents creates the largest separation: Hot Springs is 5.0 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 housing-sensitive move, validate the rent gap first: HUD Fair Market Rent and the actual unit size can overturn what the blended index implies. On the BEA ratio alone, $100,000 in Shreveport-Bossier City corresponds to $101,137 in Hot Springs.
Diff +1.0 RPP
Diff -0.1 RPP
Diff +1.7 RPP
Diff +5.0 RPP
| Category | Shreveport-Bossier City | Hot Springs | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 84.8 | 85.7 | +1.0 |
| Goods | 93.7 | 93.6 | -0.1 |
| Services | 72.6 | 74.3 | +1.7 |
| Rents | 52.3 | 57.3 | +5.0 |
Vertical line = national average (100)
What a salary in Shreveport-Bossier City would need to be in Hot Springs for the same purchasing power:
| In Shreveport-Bossier City | In Hot Springs | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,569 | +$569 |
| $75,000 | $75,853 | +$853 |
| $100,000 | $101,137 | +$1,137 |
| $150,000 | $151,706 | +$1,706 |
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (84.8 → 85.7), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Hot Springs is 1.1% more expensive than Shreveport-Bossier City. The overall cost index is 85.7 vs 84.8 (national average = 100).
A $100,000 salary in Shreveport-Bossier City has the same purchasing power as $101,137 in Hot Springs. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
Rents in Shreveport-Bossier City are indexed at 52.3 while Hot Springs is at 57.3 (national average = 100). Hot Springs has higher rents.
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.