Overall
Diff -0.4 RPP
St. Cloud vs Lafayette
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lafayette is 0.5% less expensive than St. Cloud.
0.5% less expensive
Lafayette, LA is 0.5% less expensive than St. Cloud, MN on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 87.2 vs 87.6). A $100,000 salary in St. Cloud buys about the same as $99,517 in Lafayette; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 87.6 (St. Cloud) vs 87.2 (Lafayette)
- $100k in St. Cloud ≈ $99,517 purchasing power in Lafayette
- Services drives the gap (-17.5 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair MN:LA 87.6→87.2
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SERVICES-LED · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE MN × 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.
St. Cloud
87.6
Cost Index
Lafayette
87.2
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
St. Cloud, MN and Lafayette, LA are a photo finish on overall price level, only 0.4 RPP points apart. A salary conversion is therefore a fine adjustment, not evidence of a fundamentally different cost regime.
Services leads the difference, with Lafayette 17.5 points lower than St. Cloud. 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 St. Cloud to $99,517 in Lafayette, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
Diff -1.7 RPP
Services
Diff -17.5 RPP
Rents
Diff -6.2 RPP
| Category | St. Cloud | Lafayette | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 87.6 | 87.2 | -0.4 |
| Goods | 95.4 | 93.7 | -1.7 |
| Services | 88.7 | 71.2 | -17.5 |
| Rents | 65.1 | 58.8 | -6.2 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
St. Cloud 87.6
Lafayette 87.2
Goods
St. Cloud 95.4
Lafayette 93.7
Services
St. Cloud 88.7
Lafayette 71.2
Rents
St. Cloud 65.1
Lafayette 58.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in St. Cloud would need to be in Lafayette for the same purchasing power:
| In St. Cloud | In Lafayette | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $49,759 | $-241 |
| $75,000 | $74,638 | $-362 |
| $100,000 | $99,517 | $-483 |
| $150,000 | $149,276 | $-724 |
$ in St. Cloud = in Lafayette
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (87.6 → 87.2), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lafayette more expensive than St. Cloud?
Lafayette is 0.5% less expensive than St. Cloud. The overall cost index is 87.2 vs 87.6 (national average = 100).
What salary in Lafayette equals $100K in St. Cloud?
A $100,000 salary in St. Cloud has the same purchasing power as $99,517 in Lafayette. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between St. Cloud and Lafayette?
Rents in St. Cloud are indexed at 65.1 while Lafayette is at 58.8 (national average = 100). St. Cloud 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.