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Average Rent in Louisiana
Rent in Louisiana runs from a 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $892 a month in Bienville to $1,480 in Jefferson — a spread of 1.7× inside one state. The table below is the complete FY2027 HUD schedule for Louisiana: every county (or county-equivalent) with its Fair Market Rent for each unit size, efficiency through four bedrooms. For context, the Census Bureau's American Community Survey measured Louisiana's median gross rent — what renter households actually reported paying — at $1,064 a month in 2024.
FY2027 Fair Market Rents by county in Louisiana
| County | HUD rent area | Efficiency | 1 BR | 2 BR | 3 BR | 4 BR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acadia Parish | Acadia Parish, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $628 | $690 | $902 | $1,075 | $1,267 |
| Allen Parish | Allen Parish, LA | $657 | $836 | $910 | $1,169 | $1,382 |
| Ascension Parish | Baton Rouge, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $992 | $1,014 | $1,149 | $1,456 | $1,842 |
| Assumption Parish | Assumption Parish, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $758 | $762 | $932 | $1,242 | $1,495 |
| Avoyelles Parish | Avoyelles Parish, LA | $628 | $719 | $902 | $1,154 | $1,370 |
| Beauregard Parish | Beauregard Parish, LA | $716 | $782 | $1,023 | $1,251 | $1,710 |
| Bienville Parish | Bienville Parish, LA | $644 | $682 | $892 | $1,235 | $1,491 |
| Bossier Parish | Shreveport-Bossier City, LA MSA | $832 | $926 | $1,045 | $1,380 | $1,450 |
| Caddo Parish | Shreveport-Bossier City, LA MSA | $832 | $926 | $1,045 | $1,380 | $1,450 |
| Calcasieu Parish | Lake Charles, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $935 | $941 | $1,231 | $1,467 | $1,713 |
| Caldwell Parish | Caldwell Parish, LA | $644 | $682 | $892 | $1,202 | $1,355 |
| Cameron Parish | Lake Charles, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $935 | $941 | $1,231 | $1,467 | $1,713 |
| Catahoula Parish | Catahoula Parish, LA | $644 | $702 | $892 | $1,158 | $1,355 |
| Claiborne Parish | Claiborne Parish, LA | $644 | $791 | $892 | $1,091 | $1,355 |
| Concordia Parish | Concordia Parish, LA | $645 | $702 | $893 | $1,140 | $1,493 |
| De Soto Parish | Shreveport-Bossier City, LA MSA | $832 | $926 | $1,045 | $1,380 | $1,450 |
| East Baton Rouge Parish | Baton Rouge, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $992 | $1,014 | $1,149 | $1,456 | $1,842 |
| East Carroll Parish | East Carroll Parish, LA | $644 | $702 | $892 | $1,235 | $1,476 |
| East Feliciana Parish | Baton Rouge, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $992 | $1,014 | $1,149 | $1,456 | $1,842 |
| Evangeline Parish | Evangeline Parish, LA | $644 | $682 | $892 | $1,166 | $1,172 |
| Franklin Parish | Franklin Parish, LA | $644 | $712 | $892 | $1,091 | $1,355 |
| Grant Parish | Alexandria, LA MSA | $757 | $796 | $995 | $1,341 | $1,468 |
| Iberia Parish | Iberia Parish, LA | $726 | $813 | $981 | $1,286 | $1,624 |
| Iberville Parish | Iberville Parish, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $775 | $819 | $892 | $1,235 | $1,431 |
| Jackson Parish | Jackson Parish, LA | $644 | $819 | $892 | $1,235 | $1,312 |
| Jefferson Davis Parish | Jefferson Davis Parish, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $641 | $704 | $921 | $1,217 | $1,315 |
| Jefferson Parish | New Orleans-Metairie, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $1,096 | $1,229 | $1,480 | $1,900 | $2,233 |
| La Salle Parish | La Salle Parish, LA | $644 | $702 | $892 | $1,125 | $1,491 |
| Lafayette Parish | Lafayette, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $835 | $971 | $1,092 | $1,375 | $1,607 |
| Lafourche Parish | Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA MSA | $765 | $903 | $1,098 | $1,335 | $1,443 |
| Lincoln Parish | Lincoln Parish, LA | $724 | $754 | $892 | $1,235 | $1,440 |
| Livingston Parish | Baton Rouge, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $992 | $1,014 | $1,149 | $1,456 | $1,842 |
| Madison Parish | Madison Parish, LA | $644 | $710 | $892 | $1,235 | $1,491 |
| Morehouse Parish | Morehouse Parish, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $705 | $710 | $892 | $1,175 | $1,180 |
| Natchitoches Parish | Natchitoches Parish, LA | $621 | $716 | $892 | $1,168 | $1,491 |
| Orleans Parish | New Orleans-Metairie, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $1,096 | $1,229 | $1,480 | $1,900 | $2,233 |
| Ouachita Parish | Monroe, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $782 | $794 | $1,017 | $1,314 | $1,337 |
| Plaquemines Parish | New Orleans-Metairie, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $1,096 | $1,229 | $1,480 | $1,900 | $2,233 |
| Pointe Coupee Parish | Baton Rouge, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $992 | $1,014 | $1,149 | $1,456 | $1,842 |
| Rapides Parish | Alexandria, LA MSA | $757 | $796 | $995 | $1,341 | $1,468 |
| Red River Parish | Red River Parish, LA | $671 | $731 | $929 | $1,132 | $1,411 |
| Richland Parish | Richland Parish, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $783 | $785 | $975 | $1,162 | $1,362 |
| Sabine Parish | Sabine Parish, LA | $717 | $722 | $892 | $1,235 | $1,427 |
| St. Bernard Parish | New Orleans-Metairie, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $1,096 | $1,229 | $1,480 | $1,900 | $2,233 |
| St. Charles Parish | New Orleans-Metairie, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $1,096 | $1,229 | $1,480 | $1,900 | $2,233 |
| St. Helena Parish | Baton Rouge, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $992 | $1,014 | $1,149 | $1,456 | $1,842 |
| St. James Parish | St. James Parish, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $868 | $891 | $1,165 | $1,613 | $1,753 |
| St. John the Baptist Parish | New Orleans-Metairie, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $1,096 | $1,229 | $1,480 | $1,900 | $2,233 |
| St. Landry Parish | St. Landry Parish, LA | $632 | $682 | $892 | $1,087 | $1,172 |
| St. Martin Parish | Lafayette, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $835 | $971 | $1,092 | $1,375 | $1,607 |
| St. Mary Parish | St. Mary Parish, LA | $757 | $762 | $997 | $1,321 | $1,633 |
| St. Tammany Parish | Slidell-Mandeville-Covington, LA MSA | $1,074 | $1,164 | $1,354 | $1,745 | $1,997 |
| Tangipahoa Parish | Hammond, LA MSA | $782 | $854 | $1,097 | $1,384 | $1,442 |
| Tensas Parish | Tensas Parish, LA | $644 | $819 | $892 | $1,235 | $1,355 |
| Terrebonne Parish | Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA MSA | $765 | $903 | $1,098 | $1,335 | $1,443 |
| Union Parish | Monroe, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $782 | $794 | $1,017 | $1,314 | $1,337 |
| Vermilion Parish | Vermilion Parish, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $657 | $826 | $899 | $1,177 | $1,182 |
| Vernon Parish | Vernon Parish, LA | $767 | $842 | $1,102 | $1,396 | $1,560 |
| Washington Parish | Washington Parish, LA | $767 | $819 | $892 | $1,235 | $1,433 |
| Webster Parish | Webster Parish, LA | $642 | $705 | $922 | $1,183 | $1,212 |
| West Baton Rouge Parish | Baton Rouge, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $992 | $1,014 | $1,149 | $1,456 | $1,842 |
| West Carroll Parish | West Carroll Parish, LA | $644 | $682 | $892 | $1,171 | $1,226 |
| West Feliciana Parish | Baton Rouge, LA HUD Metro FMR Area | $992 | $1,014 | $1,149 | $1,456 | $1,842 |
| Winn Parish | Winn Parish, LA | $644 | $819 | $892 | $1,235 | $1,355 |
Two things in this table reward a second look. First, the 2-bedroom column (highlighted) is the standard benchmark: HUD and housing agencies quote it most often, and it is the column to use when comparing one county with another. Second, many counties share a rent area and therefore share identical figures — that is deliberate. HUD sets FMRs for rent areas, not individual counties: metropolitan counties in the same housing market get the same numbers, while each nonmetropolitan county is generally its own area. All figures are gross rents, meaning they include the cost of utilities on top of the lease rent.
Where Louisiana rents run highest — and lowest
The three most expensive county listings in Louisiana are Jefferson ($1,480), Orleans ($1,480), Plaquemines ($1,480). The three least expensive are Bienville ($892), Caldwell ($892), Catahoula ($892). That 1.7× gap between the top and bottom of the table is mostly a story of housing markets rather than county lines: the priciest figures belong to counties inside or near the state's large metropolitan areas, where wages, land prices, and demand are highest, while the lowest figures are rural counties where HUD's formula rests on thinner rental markets and lower incomes.
Measured against what renters actually pay, 38% of Louisiana's county listings carry a 2-bedroom FMR above the state's ACS median gross rent of $1,064. That pattern is expected rather than alarming. An FMR is set near the 40th percentile of rents paid by recent movers, and recent movers usually pay more than long-settled tenants, whose rents are held down by tenure. The ACS median, by contrast, covers every renter household including those in place for a decade. Read together, the two series bracket the market: the ACS median shows the typical existing rent, and the FMR shows what a new lease at the modest end of the market is expected to cost.
What income covers the typical Louisiana two-bedroom?
The long-standing affordability yardstick is the 30% rule: a household is "cost-burdened" when gross rent takes more than 30% of gross income. At the median Louisiana county 2-bedroom FMR of $995, staying under the line takes an annual income of about $39,800 — roughly $19 an hour for a full-time worker. In Jefferson, the state's priciest market, the same rule requires about $59,200 a year. Our rent affordability calculator runs this math for your own income against the counties we cover in depth.
We also publish a dedicated page for Louisiana’s largest rental market covered in depth: East Baton Rouge, with the full bedroom-by-bedroom table and the income each unit size takes under the 30% rule.
Compare with the neighboring state tables: Kentucky · Massachusetts. Or go back to the national overview for the most and least expensive counties in the country.
Louisiana rent questions
What is the average rent in Louisiana?
The Census Bureau's American Community Survey put Louisiana's median gross rent at $1,064 a month in 2024. HUD's FY2027 Fair Market Rents put the median Louisiana county 2-bedroom figure at $995, ranging from $892 in Bienville to $1,480 in Jefferson.
What is a Fair Market Rent?
A Fair Market Rent is HUD's gross-rent benchmark for an area, set near the 40th percentile of rents paid by recent movers. Housing agencies use it to set payment standards for Housing Choice Vouchers, so it is a reliable yardstick for comparing rent levels between counties.
What salary do you need to rent a 2-bedroom in Louisiana?
Under the common 30% rule — housing should cost no more than 30% of gross income — the median Louisiana county 2-bedroom FMR of $995 a month implies an annual income of about $39,800. In the priciest county, Jefferson, the same rule implies about $59,200.
Sources: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Fair Market Rents FY2027 (county-level data file, effective October 1, 2026), huduser.gov; U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-year estimates, table B25031 (median gross rent), census.gov. Last verified: October 2026.