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Place dossier plate
SheetLA-BATON-ROUGE-LA · Baton Rouge, LA 223,699 pop · income 19th pct · 108 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Baton Rouge
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Baton Rouge on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Shreveport · lowest
48,465
Shreveport · lowest
48,465 median HH income
57.8% of the leader · rank #1
Galatia · near
49,938
Galatia · near
49,938 median HH income
59.6% of the leader · rank #2
Spencerville · near
49,938
Spencerville · near
49,938 median HH income
59.6% of the leader · rank #3
Baton Rouge · this city
49,944
Baton Rouge · this city
49,944 median HH income
59.6% of the leader · rank #4
Gowanda · near
49,946
Gowanda · near
49,946 median HH income
59.6% of the leader · rank #5
Merrill · near
49,947
Merrill · near
49,947 median HH income
59.6% of the leader · rank #6
Tacoma · highest
83,857
Tacoma · highest
83,857 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Baton Rouge on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 223,699.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Baton Rouge places in the 19th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
19th
percentile, household income
49th
percentile, home value
16th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Baton Rouge, LA
Baton Rouge is a mid-sized U.S. city in Louisiana, home to 223,699 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Baton Rouge report a median income of $49,944 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 18.6%. Baton Rouge's housing stock carries a median value of $224,500, and the median resident age is 31.8 years. Educational attainment runs 35.8% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 55.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 1,375 residential building permits were authorized in Baton Rouge (Building Boom), up 288% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data.
Living costs in Louisiana run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Louisiana scores 88.2 (Well Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,007 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Louisiana run around $212, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Commute times here average 19.6 minutes, with 75.0% driving alone and 7.1% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. Natural-hazard exposure scores 62.4 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Baton Rouge's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from comparison shortlist to work and mobility to schools and households to population change to housing and income to within-city variation; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Baton Rouge, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares, local building permits, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Baton Rouge?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
Within Louisiana, the closest population matches are Shreveport (183,483 residents, $48,465 income); Metairie (138,995 residents, $73,256 income); Lafayette (121,537 residents, $61,454 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Hialeah, FL (221,901 residents); San Bernardino, CA (221,774 residents); Tacoma, WA (220,482 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
What does the journey to work look like in Baton Rouge?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 75.0%. The reported mean trip to work is 19.6 minutes.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
What does the education layer cover for Baton Rouge?
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 101 public schools within the city match. 35.8% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
What can 108 Census tracts reveal inside Baton Rouge?
PlainCities matches 108 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Population change
Is Baton Rouge growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -3,270 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 1,375 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
2020 estimate
226,065
2025 estimate
222,795
Period change
-1.4%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
How far does income reach against housing in Baton Rouge?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 18.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
4.5×
Home value
$224,500
Household income
$49,944
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Cost of living A+
88.2 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Bachelor's+ share B-
35.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$49,944
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
18.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Baton Rouge profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 92/100 (A+) · 88.2 index
Bachelor's+ share: 68/100 (B-) · 35.8%
Household income: 20/100 (F) · $49,944
Poverty rate: 16/100 (F) · 18.6%
How does Baton Rouge compare to other US cities?
Here's how Baton Rouge stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income19% higher than other cities
Home value49% pricier than other cities
Median rent16% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Baton Rouge against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Louisiana only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Louisiana-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Baton Rouge near the bottom of Louisiana's cities
Among the 477 Louisiana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Baton Rouge ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Baton Rouge only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#218 of 426
49th percentile in Louisiana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 477
0th percentile in Louisiana
Median Home Value
#79 of 419
81st percentile in Louisiana
Poverty Rate
#189 of 475
60th percentile in Louisiana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#38 of 477
92nd percentile in Louisiana
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Louisiana only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
19th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Baton Rouge's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$224,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 51% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Baton Rouge's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,961 of 15,516
More affordable than 23% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#58 of 117
Large cities (200,000–999,999)
At 4.5×, Baton Rouge sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,961 of 15,516 and #58 of 117large cities (200,000–999,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$49,944Baton Rouge, LA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Baton Rouge, LA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Baton Rouge, LA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)35.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)18.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)55.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
223,699
Median Income
$49,944
Median Home Value
$224,500
Median Age
31.8
Poverty Rate
18.6%
Labor force participation
55.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
35.8%
Schools
Total Schools
101
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Baton Rouge's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
226,065 residents
2021
224,013 residents
2022
222,044 residents
2023
221,143 residents
2024
221,540 residents
2025
222,795 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
1,375
housing units authorized
Single-Family
844
detached homes
Multifamily
531
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
6.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
354
354
0
$96.8M
2020
306
306
0
$88.7M
2021
266
266
0
$90.3M
2022
249
249
0
$80.1M
2023
231
231
0
$75.2M
2024
1,375
844
531
$249.4M
Permit volume increased 288% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
19.6 minutes
Drive Alone
75.0%
Carpool
11.0%
Public Transit
1.5%
Walk
3.8%
Work from Home
7.1%
Other
1.6%
Based on 99,431 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Louisiana statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $212
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Louisiana at $212 (electricity about $130 , water and sewer about $42 ).
These are Louisiana statewide averages, not a meter reading for Baton Rouge. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Louisiana's BEA cost-of-living index is 88.2 (Well Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Baton Rouge is $1,007/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Louisiana statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 62.4 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Louisiana statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Baton Rouge sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Baton Rouge compares to similar-size Louisiana cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.