Webster Parish Has the Most Overextended Renters in Louisiana

Residents in Louisiana are no strangers to the rising cost of real estate; Renters from Minden to Baton Rouge and Lake Charles to Alexandria are having a hard time making ends meet.

Where is it hardest for renters to make ends meet in Louisiana?

We all get it, times are tough. Inflation, interest, and insurance rates are through the roof, and it doesn't help that even food and gas are getting more expensive... or that our incomes aren't growing at the same pace. That's why it makes it even harder to find a place to live in Louisiana whether you rent or purchase.

When it comes to renting your home, the rule of thumb is that you should not spend more than 30% of your gross monthly income on rent. Unfortunately, when you start looking at the average income to cost of renting ratio, 13 towns in Louisiana have a median gross rent as a percentage of household income over 30%. That's not good.

If you've gone house hunting in the last few years, then you're not imagining it. The cost of renting is going up. The Joint Center for Housing Studies says that from around 2010 to 2019, the average rent for apartments across the U.S. increased by 2% to 5% annually. Then, after the pandemic, from 2020 to 2022, rent prices increased by 15%. Conversely, during that same time, USA Today reports that wages have remained stagnant. And when you consider towns like Baton Rouge where the rental market is already highly competitive because of the presence of a major university or a town like Bossier City with a large military installation, it just compounds the issue.

So which towns in Louisiana are harder to rent in than others? The towns with the highest median gross rent as a percentage of household income in Louisiana were determined by using US Census Bureau data compiled by Stacker. Let's take a look.