Las Vegas, NV vs Baton Rouge, LA
Moving from Las Vegas to Baton Rouge? Here's what changes — from your equivalent salary to housing ($430,650 → $248,176 median home) and taxes.
Las Vegas vs Baton Rouge at a glance
Bars scaled to the range across all 200 metros; labels show actual values.
To keep the same standard of living as $100,000 in Las Vegas, NV, you'd need about $92,824 in Baton Rouge, LA (−$7,176).
Livability — Las Vegas, NV: 65 · Baton Rouge, LA: 69 (0–100).
What your home budget buys
A $500,000 home budget gets you about 2,206 sqft in Las Vegas vs 4,029 sqft in Baton Rouge ($227 vs $124 per sqft).
Annual cost breakdown (at $100,000)
| Category | Las Vegas, NV | Baton Rouge, LA | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing | $20,844 | $16,716 | −$4,128 |
| Groceries | $4,841 | $4,650 | −$191 |
| Transportation | $4,740 | $4,475 | −$265 |
| Utilities | $1,548 | $1,560 | +$12 |
| Insurance | $1,300 | $3,500 | +$2,200 |
| Taxes | $4,779 | $8,854 | +$4,076 |
| Total | $38,052 | $39,755 | +$1,703 |
Side by side
| Metric | Las Vegas, NV | Baton Rouge, LA |
|---|---|---|
| Cost-of-living index | 98.3 | 91.2 |
| Unemployment rate | 7.66% | 6.51% |
| Population growth (5-yr) | 7.3% | 5.0% |
| Air quality (median AQI) | 42 | 42 |
| Big Mac price (est.) | $5.59 | $5.19 |
| Median home price | $430,650 | $248,176 |
| Home price ÷ income | 6.2× | 3.7× |
| 1-yr home appreciation | -2.7% | 1.5% |
| Price per square foot | $227 | $124 |
| Median rent | $1,737 | $1,393 |
| Total tax burden (% income) | 9.6% | 9.1% |
| Combined sales tax | 8.23% | 9.56% |
| Capital gains tax | None | 4.25% |
| Property tax rate | 0.51% | 0.56% |
| Healthcare (annual) | $6,400 | $6,600 |
| Childcare (annual, infant) | $11,000 | $8,000 |
| Vehicle property tax | 2.12% | 0.10% |
| Avg commute (min) | 25 | 27 |
| Home insurance / yr | $1,300 | $3,500 |
| Auto insurance / yr | $2,400 | $2,900 |
| Flood insurance / yr | $500 | $1,000 |
| Earthquake insurance / yr | $400 | $100 |
| Electricity ¢/kWh | 14.3 | 14.4 |
| Gas $/gal | 4.20 | 2.95 |
| Natural gas / mo | $48 | $52 |
| Water & sewer / mo | $80 | $108 |
| Home internet / mo | $89 | $76 |
| Violent crime /100k | 460 | 630 |
| Avg summer high °F | 95 | 92 |
| Avg winter low °F | 30 | 43 |
| Annual precipitation (in) | 4.2 | 63.4 |
| Annual snowfall (in) | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| Sunshine (% possible) | 85% | 57% |
| Permit difficulty (1–5) | 3 | 2 |