re: Honest Question: is the cost of living in Louisiana less than richer states?

I’ve lived Nola and the Houston suburbs.
If you have kids, Nola is expensive Bc private schools.
Texas property taxes suck, but there’s no state income tax. One way or another, taxes will be paid.
Everyday items like groceries are comparable or a little cheaper in Texas.
Housing is waaaay cheaper in Texas. You can get a much bigger and newer house for vastly less money.

If you don’t have kids or already own your home, the COL isn’t a big difference.

I moved to the Houston burbs 6 weeks ago from Laffy. Short answer is no, COL in Lafayette was higher than Houston burbs.

My groceries are cheaper, gas is cheaper, and car insurance is lower. Now my property tax is higher, but no state income tax and public schools on par with anything private in Lafayette. Roads are all new and maintained with more being built, I see my tax dollars at work every time I leave the house.

My house is 35 years newer, bigger, and cost less per sq foot than what I had back there too. My first electric bill was lower by a couple hundred dollars as well.

I work for myself and expect my income to rise here where it was maxed out after being in Lafayette for 10 years.

Yes I have. I've honestly seen homes in Houston that cost less with relatively the same demographics of neighborhood and access to local services.

Texas, Tennessee, and Florida are much better states and feature lower costs of living.

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Not sure how BR and NOLA sustain such arbitrarily high home prices, especially what people have to pay for rent just to make ends meet in a decent area.

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In NOLA, AirBnB does a ton to inflate real estate values. Throw in the large number of people from the Northeast who own what are essentially vacation properties down here, and you get the gist. Plus, New Orleans has architecture and homes and food and events that you straight up can't get anywhere else, and they're not making more of it. I get it.

As for Baton Rouge, there are 3 reasons for high prices:
1. Your property didn't flood in August
2. You're conveniently located where traffic is not much of a concern when trying to get to downtown. (Mid City, Southdowns, Garden District, Bocage, etc)
3. You're paying a premium to live in one of the few areas that are relatively crime free.

If you check box 3 and either of boxes 1 & 2, you're going to have to pay out the arse for it.

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Housing and taxes are really the only two factors worth mentioning

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I understand. But logically, wouldn't that make COL irrevelant for most places.

Most groceries, entertainment, and other factors of life are so readily available and mass produced that you barely if ever pay more for them.

So that would only leave the 2 things you mentioned. One of which is voluntary on life choice and the other by federal and state mandate.

For insane real estate prices, don't forget to look at Lake Charles.

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You can just spell that, "LNG"

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Yeah but Lake Charles ain't Houston or Dallas (or New Orleans or Baton Rouge).

Louisiana is pretty close to middle of the road as a state in COL.

Rank State Index
1 Mississippi 84.2
2 Arkansas 87.7
3 Michigan 89
4 Missouri 89.2
5 Oklahoma 89.3
6 Iowa 90
7 Tennessee 90.1
8 Alabama 90.2
9 Kansas 90.7
10 Georgia 91.1
11 Texas 91.6
12 Ohio 91.7
13 Nebraska 92.3
14 New Mexico 92.5
15 Indiana 92.5
16 Idaho 93.3
17 Kentucky 93.7
18 North Carolina 93.9

19 Louisiana 93.9

20 Wyoming 95.5
21 Wisconsin 95.6
22 South Dakota 95.7
23 Arizona 96
24 Illinois 96.6
25 Utah 96.7
26 West Virginia 96.8
27 South Carolina 98.4
28 Florida 98.9
29 Minnesota 99
30 North Dakota 99.9
31 Montana 101.2
32 Pennsylvania 101.5
33 Virginia 101.9
34 Delaware 103.5
35 Colorado 104
36 Nevada 106.6
37 Washington 107.6
38 Maine 113.5
39 New Hampshire 113.7
40 Vermont 120.2
41 New Jersey 120.5
42 Rhode Island 123
43 Connecticut 124.9
44 Oregon 125.7
45 Massachusetts 127.3
46 Maryland 128.4
47 Alaska 131.9
48 New York 134.1
49 California 140.5
50 District of Columbia 157.4
51 Hawaii 188.4
US Average 100

LINK

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Not really. What New Orleans has is tons of abandoned areas that can be reclaimed and rebuilt into whatever we want it to be. New Orleans East is larger than the rest of New Orleans combined, and most of it looks like a Scooby Doo ghost town.

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Well when you have a large area & populace that resembles a third world country more than a US city, its not hard to figure out why it remains that way.