San Jose, CA vs New Orleans, LA
Moving from San Jose to New Orleans? Here's what changes — from your equivalent salary to housing ($1,610,466 → $261,414 median home) and taxes.
San Jose vs New Orleans 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 San Jose, CA, you'd need about $80,661 in New Orleans, LA (−$19,339).
Livability — San Jose, CA: 32 · New Orleans, LA: 68 (0–100).
What your home budget buys
A $500,000 home budget gets you about 466 sqft in San Jose vs 3,826 sqft in New Orleans ($1074 vs $131 per sqft).
Annual cost breakdown (at $100,000)
| Category | San Jose, CA | New Orleans, LA | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housing | $43,500 | $19,464 | −$24,036 |
| Groceries | $5,247 | $4,650 | −$597 |
| Transportation | $5,125 | $4,475 | −$650 |
| Utilities | $3,804 | $1,560 | −$2,244 |
| Insurance | $1,500 | $3,500 | +$2,000 |
| Taxes | $25,449 | $9,107 | −$16,342 |
| Total | $84,625 | $42,756 | −$41,869 |
Side by side
| Metric | San Jose, CA | New Orleans, LA |
|---|---|---|
| Cost-of-living index | 113.1 | 91.2 |
| Unemployment rate | 4.50% | 6.72% |
| Population growth (5-yr) | 0.6% | 0.3% |
| Air quality (median AQI) | 42 | 42 |
| Big Mac price (est.) | $6.43 | $5.19 |
| Median home price | $1,610,466 | $261,414 |
| Home price ÷ income | 10.6× | 4.2× |
| 1-yr home appreciation | -1.4% | 2.8% |
| Price per square foot | $1074 | $131 |
| Median rent | $3,625 | $1,622 |
| Total tax burden (% income) | 13.5% | 9.1% |
| Combined sales tax | 8.82% | 9.56% |
| Capital gains tax | 13.30% | 4.25% |
| Property tax rate | 0.71% | 0.62% |
| Healthcare (annual) | $7,200 | $6,600 |
| Childcare (annual, infant) | $19,000 | $8,000 |
| Vehicle property tax | 0.65% | 0.10% |
| Avg commute (min) | 28 | 26 |
| Home insurance / yr | $1,500 | $3,500 |
| Auto insurance / yr | $2,400 | $2,900 |
| Flood insurance / yr | $750 | $1,000 |
| Earthquake insurance / yr | $950 | $100 |
| Electricity ¢/kWh | 35.3 | 14.4 |
| Gas $/gal | 4.85 | 2.95 |
| Natural gas / mo | $72 | $52 |
| Water & sewer / mo | $138 | $108 |
| Home internet / mo | $83 | $76 |
| Violent crime /100k | 500 | 630 |
| Avg summer high °F | 84 | 92 |
| Avg winter low °F | 45 | 43 |
| Annual precipitation (in) | 13.5 | 63.4 |
| Annual snowfall (in) | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Sunshine (% possible) | 68% | 57% |
| Permit difficulty (1–5) | 5 | 2 |