Overall
- Lake Charles
- 85.9
Diff +0.4 RPP
Wildwood-The Villages vs Lake Charles
Cost of living comparison based on BEA Regional Price Parities. Lake Charles is 0.5% more expensive than Wildwood-The Villages.
0.5% more expensive
Lake Charles, LA is 0.5% more expensive than Wildwood-The Villages, FL on BEA Regional Price Parities (overall RPP 85.9 vs 85.4). A $100,000 salary in Wildwood-The Villages buys about the same as $100,501 in Lake Charles; the largest component gap is services.
- Overall RPP 85.4 (Wildwood-The Villages) vs 85.9 (Lake Charles)
- $100k in Wildwood-The Villages ≈ $100,501 purchasing power in Lake Charles
- Services drives the gap (-17.3 RPP points)
RPP parity plate
Pair FL:LA 85.4→85.9
PHOTO-FINISH · CROSS-STATE · SPLIT-BUDGET · BOTH-BELOW · PP-PAR
- PHOTO-FINISH Photo finish
- CROSS-STATE FL × LA
- 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.
Wildwood-The Villages
85.4
Cost Index
Lake Charles
85.9
Cost Index
What This Comparison Actually Tells You
Wildwood-The Villages, FL and Lake Charles, 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 creates the largest separation: Lake Charles is 17.3 points lower. But services and 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 Wildwood-The Villages to $100,501 in Lake Charles, but it is not a personal spending weight.
Category Breakdown
Goods
- Lake Charles
- 93.7
Diff -2.5 RPP
Services
- Lake Charles
- 71.7
Diff -17.3 RPP
Rents
- Lake Charles
- 51.8
Diff +0.0 RPP
| Category | Wildwood-The Villages | Lake Charles | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 85.4 | 85.9 | +0.4 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 93.7 | -2.5 |
| Services | 89.0 | 71.7 | -17.3 |
| Rents | 51.7 | 51.8 | +0.0 |
Visual Comparison
Overall
Wildwood-The Villages 85.4
Lake Charles 85.9
Goods
Wildwood-The Villages 96.2
Lake Charles 93.7
Services
Wildwood-The Villages 89.0
Lake Charles 71.7
Rents
Wildwood-The Villages 51.7
Lake Charles 51.8
Vertical line = national average (100)
Salary Equivalents
What a salary in Wildwood-The Villages would need to be in Lake Charles for the same purchasing power:
| In Wildwood-The Villages | In Lake Charles | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $50,251 | +$251 |
| $75,000 | $75,376 | +$376 |
| $100,000 | $100,501 | +$501 |
| $150,000 | $150,752 | +$752 |
$ in Wildwood-The Villages = in Lake Charles
Same BEA Regional Price Parity ratio as the table above (85.4 → 85.9), computed live from your number, nothing is sent anywhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lake Charles more expensive than Wildwood-The Villages?
Lake Charles is 0.5% more expensive than Wildwood-The Villages. The overall cost index is 85.9 vs 85.4 (national average = 100).
What salary in Lake Charles equals $100K in Wildwood-The Villages?
A $100,000 salary in Wildwood-The Villages has the same purchasing power as $100,501 in Lake Charles. This is based on the BEA Regional Price Parity indexes.
How do rents compare between Wildwood-The Villages and Lake Charles?
Rents in Wildwood-The Villages are indexed at 51.7 while Lake Charles is at 51.8 (national average = 100). Lake Charles 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.