Lake Charles → Scranton--Wilkes-Barre

Moving from Lake Charles to Scranton--Wilkes-Barre shifts your BEA Regional Price Parity from 85.9 to 93.6 (100 = US average), so a Lake Charles salary needs to be multiplied by 1.09 to hold the same purchasing power in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre. On rent, HUD Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom goes from $1,217/month in Lake Charles to $1,252/month in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre - a higher monthly bill of $35, or $420/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 $58,097 in Lake Charles versus $61,803 in Scranton--Wilkes-Barre - a raw gap of $3,706 higher. The Scranton--Wilkes-Barre labor market has 246,030 tracked jobs against 93,170 in Lake Charles, 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 Lake Charles and Scranton--Wilkes-Barre are 410 and 250 per 100,000 (state-level). NCES student-teacher ratios run 16.8:1 at origin versus 13.6:1 at destination. Our composite verdict - Strongly Favorable - weighs all seven federal sources; the dimension table below lets you override that with your personal priorities.