What salary do you need to live in Houma, LA?

Rent, home values and prices in Houma

Census figures put the median gross rent in the Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA metro at $812 for a one-bedroom, $1,003 for a two-bedroom and $1,157 for a three-bedroom. Moving from one to two bedrooms adds $191 a month, and the third bedroom another $154.

The median value of owner-occupied homes in the metro is $189,700. Against a median household income of $64,038, the ratio is 3.0× — one of the gentler home-price-to-income ratios in the country.

BEA's Regional Price Parity for the metro is 85.1, where 100 is the US average. In plain terms, the full basket of goods, services and housing costs 14.9% less than average, so $100,000 here buys roughly what $117,505 would at average US prices.

How much you need to earn in Houma

With a two-bedroom at the median rent, the score enters Tight at $19,000, Okay at $44,000 and Comfortable at $87,000 a year before tax. At the Comfortable line, a year of rent takes 14% of income and the median home is 2.2× income.

The Royal grade is within reach at $231,000 a year, where both rent and the median home price look small next to income.

How they were found: the same scoring function the calculator runs was evaluated at rising incomes until each cutoff was crossed, and the crossing rounded up to a whole $1,000.

Four salaries, three home sizes in Houma

At $75,000 home size barely changes the picture: one, two and three bedrooms all grade Okay, with scores from 59 to 64.

Read down the two-bedroom column and the first Comfortable row is $100,000, consistent with the $87,000 line above.

How Houma ranks among 387 metros

Out of 387 metros, Houma has the 379th highest price parity and the 286th highest two-bedroom rent, which puts it in the bottom 10% on overall prices and in the middle half on rent.

For a sense of scale, the metros just above and below it on two-bedroom rent are Jackson, MI ($1,004) and Laredo, TX ($1,002).

Houma next to Louisiana and similar metros

How Houma stacks up against its state: $1,003 for a two-bedroom against Louisiana's $1,055, $189,700 for the median home against $216,500, and a price level of 85.1 against 88.2.

Run Louisiana's statewide medians through the same score and Comfortable begins at $103,000; Houma's line is −16% from that.

Looking for somewhere comparable without leaving Louisiana? Shreveport-Bossier City, LA, Hammond, LA, and Lafayette, LA have the closest mix of rent and overall prices.

The median Houma household

A household at the Houma median income of $64,038 would see a two-bedroom score of 56 — Okay — with rent at 19% of income. The Comfortable line is 36% above what the median household makes. For Louisiana as a whole, the median household income of $60,756 scores 50 against statewide rents. Keep in mind a household median often combines two incomes.

These are pre-tax estimates from public statistics, not financial advice.