Cost of Living
per year
per month
How New Orleans's prices compare to the US city average across major spending categories.
How far does your salary go in New Orleans?
Your $100,000 in New Orleans has the same purchasing power as $111,557 in the average US city. You'd need $11,557 less here to maintain that standard of living.
Demographics and workforce data from the US Census ACS 5-Year.
bachelor's or higher
Climate, safety, and walkability indicators.
See a side-by-side breakdown of cost of living, housing, and salaries.
Popular comparisons
Sorted by affordability — most affordable first.
Within 10 points of New Orleans's cost index of 90, sorted by closest match.
So why do people move to New Orleans? The honest answer involves a few specific things the data backs up — most clearly cheaper than the national average, with no fine print and you'll get your commute time back, plus 1 more things worth knowing. The detail on each one is below.
The composite cost-of-living index lands at 90, a comfortable 10% under the US norm. It shows up most clearly in housing, which is where the gap to coastal metros usually opens up. Median rent in town runs about $1,162/mo against a typical household income of $51,116, which is the kind of ratio that leaves room to save.
Average commute time in New Orleans runs around 23 minutes one-way — short enough that it doesn't restructure your day. Compared to the 45-plus-minute commutes that are normal in major metros, the difference adds up to a real lifestyle gap.
New Orleans has a college-educated share of about 41% among adults 25+, which is higher than the national norm. It shows up in the local job mix, in the school district's reputation, and in the kind of conversations you have at the coffee shop.
Reasons are pulled from New Orleans's actual data — Census ACS, BLS, BEA, NOAA, EPA AQS, FBI, and Walk Score. We don't list positives that aren't supported by the numbers, which is why different cities show different sections.
It's rare. Winters in New Orleans run about 48°F — cold-snap mornings happen, real snowfall doesn't, except maybe once a decade.
Not very. Average winter temperatures of about 48°F mean New Orleans skips the harsh-winter problem most of the country has. A handful of cold mornings, otherwise sweater weather at worst.
Properly hot. New Orleans's summer averages around 91°F with daily highs that routinely break 100°F. The trick to summer here is starting the day at sunrise and staying inside through the worst of it.
Approximately USDA Hardiness Zone 10. That's the band gardeners use to pick plants — anything rated for Zone 10 or colder should survive a typical winter in New Orleans. (The estimate is derived from our winter-temperature data; the official USDA map uses station-level annual minimums and may differ by half a zone.)
Barely above the water. New Orleans is at about -3 feet (-1 m) elevation, and parts of the city are essentially at sea level. Flood-zone maps are worth checking before buying a house.
Officially, Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30, but most of the action lands between mid-August and mid-October. For New Orleans, that's when to keep half an eye on the National Hurricane Center forecast cone — and when an actual evacuation plan is worth having in the drawer if you're in a low-lying or coastal neighborhood.
New Orleans's reported crime rate runs high: about 6,157 per 100,000 residents, materially above the national average. Specific neighborhoods vary widely, but the city-wide aggregate is on the rougher end of the US distribution.
New Orleans is a genuinely affordable city by US standards. The composite index sits at 90 versus the 100 national baseline — about 10% cheaper overall, with housing doing most of the heavy lifting.
New Orleans's Walk Score is 0/100, firmly in the car-required tier. Transit Score is 35 out of 100. The layout assumes you'll drive to the grocery store, drive to work, drive everywhere.
As a rule of thumb, plan on about $62,748 to live in New Orleans the way a $70,000 earner lives in a typical US city. The math gets less forgiving the lower you go below that. Median rent in New Orleans runs about $1,162/mo — keeping housing under 30% of gross income points to a similar floor on what you'd want to earn.