Charleston → Lafayette

Moving from Charleston to Lafayette shifts your BEA Regional Price Parity from 88.7 to 87.2 (100 = US average), so a Charleston salary needs to be multiplied by 0.98 to hold the same purchasing power in Lafayette. On rent, HUD Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom goes from $869/month in Charleston to $880/month in Lafayette - a higher monthly bill of $11, or $132/year. That rent delta alone is often the single biggest line item when relocating.

Wages tell the other half. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics report a median salary of $61,861 in Charleston versus $57,165 in Lafayette - a raw gap of $4,696 lower. The Lafayette labor market has 163,850 tracked jobs against 94,760 in Charleston, shaping how easy it is to find a comparable role. Combine that with the cost-of-living shift above and you get the real purchasing-power delta, sometimes a "higher salary" is actually a pay cut once rent and RPP are applied.

Safety, schools, and childcare round out the move. FBI UCR violent crime rates near Charleston and Lafayette are 242 and 410 per 100,000 (state-level). NCES student-teacher ratios run 13.1:1 at origin versus 16.8:1 at destination. DOL center-based infant care costs $8,974/year in Charleston versus $7,396/year in Lafayette. Our composite verdict - Unfavorable - weighs all seven federal sources; the dimension table below lets you override that with your personal priorities.