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Story Archives: Survey says cost of living reasonable in Monroe


Survey says cost of living reasonable in Monroe
posted Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 @ 10:06 pmE-mail Story E-mail Story | Print Story Print Story 
If cost of living is a major factor in attracting more people and businesses to an area, Ouachita Parish could be considered very competitive.

That's according to Dr. Robert Eisenstadt, director of the ULM Center for Business and Economic Research.

ULM's Center for Business and Economic Research helped compile local statistics for the Council for Community and Economic Research's most recent cost of living survey. That survey was released late last week.

Approximately 315 metropolitan areas participated in the national survey.

Out of the 315 metropolitan areas, Monroe ranked No. 217 as the least expensive area to live in the United States.

Compared to the cost of living in the rest of the country, Monroe (Ouachita Parish) is 92.9 percent of the national average, or eight percent below the national level. Monroe's annual average cost of living index was tied with Cincinnati, Ohio, and Cedar City, Utah.

Douglas, Ga., was the least expensive to live of the participating areas at 82.8 percent of the national average. Manhattan Island, N.Y., was the highest at 224.2 percent of the national average.

"Monroe has a very competitive cost of living," Eisenstadt said. "There are all kinds of reasons one would move to a place, or locate a business somewhere, but if cost of living is a criteria for consideration, then Monroe is quite reasonable and an attractive destination."

Statewide, Ouachita Parish was considered the third least expensive to live, behind Baton Rouge and Lake Charles.

Lafayette was considered the most expensive place to live in Louisiana due mainly to the increase in its housing market.

"Lafayette is the fastest growing city in Louisiana, which is due to the oil and gas industry driving the market there," Eisenstadt said. "In-migration is pushing the price of housing there."

Of the 315 metropolitan areas sampled, Ouachita Parish had the lowest annual average cost of housing in the state at 80.9 percent. Lafayette had the highest cost of housing in the state at 107.5 percent.

"The reason for the reduced cost of living here (in Ouachita Parish) is because housing prices are lower," Eisenstadt explained. "Ouachita Parish is almost 20 percent below the national cost of living (for housing) because single family housing and apartment rentals are lower here. Those areas in the country that saw increases in housing due to the housing bubble saw their cost of living rise quite rapidly. Now they are seeing rapid deflation in those neighborhoods."

Monroe also enjoys "very favorable" utility rates at 88.0 percent of the national annual average.

The ACCRA Cost of Living Index is published quarterly by the Council for Community and Economic Research. The latest cost of living index utilized statistics from the past 12 months.
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