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Place dossier plate
SheetLA-MONROE-LA · Monroe, LA 47,241 pop · income 5th pct · 47 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 Monroe
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Monroe on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Kaibab · lowest
36,500
Kaibab · lowest
36,500 median HH income
22.1% of the leader · rank #1
Skidmore · near
36,503
Skidmore · near
36,503 median HH income
22.1% of the leader · rank #2
Fitzgerald · near
36,515
Fitzgerald · near
36,515 median HH income
22.1% of the leader · rank #3
Monroe · this city
36,521
Monroe · this city
36,521 median HH income
22.1% of the leader · rank #4
Gary City · near
36,528
Gary City · near
36,528 median HH income
22.2% of the leader · rank #5
Lincolnville · near
36,538
Lincolnville · near
36,538 median HH income
22.2% of the leader · rank #6
Newark · highest
164,909
Newark · highest
164,909 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Monroe on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. 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: 47,241.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Monroe - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Monroe places in the 5th percentile for household income and the 1st percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
5th
percentile, household income
35th
percentile, home value
16th
percentile, median rent
1st
percentile, safety
📝 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: Monroe, LA
Louisiana's Monroe is a small city, with 47,241 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Monroe report a median income of $36,521 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 32.3%. Monroe's housing stock carries a median value of $174,800, and the median resident age is 34.7 years. About 28.8% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 47.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 96 residential building permits were authorized in Monroe (Construction Slowdown), down 45% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Monroe's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 7625.8 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, above the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Monroe's yearly average temperature at 63.4°F with 59.9 inches of precipitation per year.
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. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,007 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Louisiana's average monthly utility costs around $212 (state average). Workers in Monroe report an average commute of 16.7 minutes, with 73.7% driving alone and 7.1% working from home. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 62.4 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Monroe'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 work and mobility to within-city variation to reported crime to comparison shortlist to climate and hazard context to schools and households to housing and income to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Monroe, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Monroe?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 73.7%. The reported mean trip to work is 16.7 minutes.
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.
PlainCities matches 47 Census tracts to this city.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Monroe?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 7625.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 234% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Which cities make useful reference points for Monroe?
Within Louisiana, the closest population matches are Alexandria (44,566 residents, $47,357 income); Prairieville (35,010 residents, $115,610 income); Houma (32,760 residents, $54,637 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Roseville, MI (47,240 residents); Rancho Santa Margarita, CA (47,257 residents); Mentor, OH (47,215 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.
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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
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.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Monroe?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 63.4°F, with 59.9 inches of precipitation. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Louisiana is 62.4 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
Mean temperature
63.4°F
Annual precipitation
59.9 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
62.4
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
The NCES join finds 34 public schools within the city match. 28.8% 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.
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.
Matched public schools
34
Bachelor's degree+
28.8%
Poverty estimate
32.3%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Monroe?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 32.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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.
Household income
$36,521
Home value
$174,800
Value / income
4.8×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -874 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -1.8% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 96 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
-1.8%
2025 estimate
46,860
2020 estimate
47,734
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 32.3% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
88.2 (US=100)
Very affordable · BEA RPP 2024, Louisiana average
F
City profile score · Monroe, LA
27/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
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 C
28.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$36,521
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
32.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
1,892 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Monroe profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 92/100 (A+) · 88.2 index
Bachelor's+ share: 56/100 (C) · 28.8%
Household income: 2/100 (F) · $36,521
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 32.3%
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 1,892 /100k
Where Monroe sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Monroe's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Monroe highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Monroe, LA (this city): home $174,800, crime 7,626/100k
Roseville, MI : home $142,700, crime 3,833/100k
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA : home $907,900, crime 605/100k
Mentor, OH : home $229,500, crime 1,473/100k
Brea, CA : home $874,300, crime 3,076/100k
Newark, CA : home $1,094,200, crime 4,344/100k
Alexandria, LA : home $182,800, crime 9,310/100k
Bossier City, LA : home $192,300, crime 4,593/100k
How does Monroe compare to other US cities?
Here's how Monroe stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income5% higher than other cities
Home value35% pricier than other cities
Median rent16% pricier than other cities
Safety1% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Louisiana, Monroe ranks #59 of 60 Louisiana cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Monroe 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 Monroe near the bottom of Louisiana's cities
Among the 477 Louisiana cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Monroe ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Monroe only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#312 of 426
27th percentile in Louisiana
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 477
0th percentile in Louisiana
Median Home Value
#158 of 419
62nd percentile in Louisiana
Poverty Rate
#72 of 475
84th percentile in Louisiana
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#68 of 477
86th 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
5th percentile nationally for median household income · 1st percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Monroe's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Monroe's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Monroe's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$174,800Among the most affordablemore affordable than 65% 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
Monroe's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#12,532 of 15,516
More affordable than 19% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,507 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 4.8×, Monroe sits in the moderate band:
national rank #12,532 of 15,516 and #2,507 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$36,521Monroe, LA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Monroe, 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 Monroe, LA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)28.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)32.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)47.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
47,241
Median Income
$36,521
Median Home Value
$174,800
Median Age
34.7
Poverty Rate
32.3%
Labor force participation
47.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
28.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
7625.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
1892.4
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
5733.4
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Climate
Avg Temperature
63.4°F
Annual Precipitation
59.9"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
34
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Monroe's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
47,734 residents
2021
47,345 residents
2022
47,044 residents
2023
46,949 residents
2024
47,040 residents
2025
46,860 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
96
housing units authorized
Single-Family
94
detached homes
Multifamily
2
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
173
83
90
$28.1M
2020
184
89
95
$29.9M
2021
221
101
120
$35.5M
2022
100
12
88
$8.7M
2023
131
33
98
$13.2M
2024
96
94
2
$14.3M
Permit volume decreased 45% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
16.7 minutes
Drive Alone
73.7%
Carpool
11.8%
Public Transit
2.9%
Walk
3.1%
Work from Home
7.1%
Other
1.4%
Based on 16,574 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 Monroe. 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 Monroe 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 Monroe sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Monroe 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, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.