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

What housing costs in Monroe

Renters in Monroe pay a median $892 a month for two bedrooms. Size matters: one bedroom is $687, three bedrooms $1,060, so going from the smallest to the largest of the three adds $4,476 a year.

Buying is the other half of the housing picture: owners put the median home in Monroe, LA at $170,300. That is only 3.3× the area's median household income of $51,660, a low ratio by national standards.

Price levels matter beyond rent. The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures Monroe's overall prices at 83.6 on a scale where the nation is 100, which makes a $100,000 salary feel like about $119,622 would elsewhere.

Income needed for each grade in Monroe

With a two-bedroom at the median rent, the score enters Tight at $17,000, Okay at $39,000 and Comfortable at $78,000 a year before tax. At the Comfortable line, a year of rent takes 14% of income and the median home is 2.2× income.

Reaching Royal takes $204,000 — 2.6× the Comfortable line — because the last points come slowly once rent is already a small share.

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.

Scores at $50K, $75K, $100K and $150K in Monroe

Take a $75,000 salary. In a one-bedroom the rent share is 11% and the score 68, Comfortable; in a three-bedroom the share rises to 17% and the score falls to 61, Okay.

Of the four salaries, $100,000 is the first where a two-bedroom reads Comfortable or better; $75,000 still lands at Okay.

How Monroe ranks among 387 metros

On price level Monroe is 387th of 387 (1 = most expensive); on two-bedroom rent it is 361st, and on median home value 351st. The two rankings agree, both falling among the least expensive tenth.

Alexandria, LA ($892) and Florence, SC ($889) bracket Monroe on two-bedroom rent.

Monroe next to Louisiana and similar metros

Statewide, Louisiana's median two-bedroom rent is $1,055 and its median home value $216,500. Monroe's rent is −15% against that, and its home value −21%; the price parity is 83.6 versus 88.2 for the state.

Run Louisiana's statewide medians through the same score and Comfortable begins at $103,000; Monroe's line is −24% from that.

The nearest matches in Louisiana, judged on rent and price parity together, are Alexandria, LA, Hammond, LA, and Shreveport-Bossier City, LA.

Does the typical Monroe income clear the bar?

The median household in the metro earns $51,660 (ACS 2020-2024). Run through the calculator with two bedrooms, that scores 53, Okay. Put differently, Monroe's typical household is $26,340 below the $78,000 it takes to read Comfortable on two bedrooms. 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.

Estimates use pre-tax income and public data; they are not financial advice.