Lake Charles, LA — Momentum Score, Home Values & Best-For

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Calcasieu Parish · Lake Charles · population 81,157

First-time buyersShrinking
Lake Charles, LA
Image: Wikipedia · Lake Charles, Louisiana
OverviewCost of livingMoving guide
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49
Stable
Momentum score · 0–100

Where Lake Charles stands

Home values up 4.1% in the last year. population shrinking 1.1% per year. rents up 12.8% in the last year.

Median home $204,081
1-year +4.1%
5-yr CAGR -0.9%
vs 5-yr peak -6.8%
Population -1.1%/yr

Home value trajectory · last 10 years

Zillow ZHVI · monthly
peak 2020-11$204k$177k$194k$212k$229k201620182020202220242026

Lifestyle scores

🚶
Walkability
40/100
Car-dependent
Estimated from population density. Higher = denser, more amenities within walking distance.
🚉
Public transit
30/100
Minimal transit
Curated list of major US transit systems + population-based estimate. Higher = real subway/rail/bus options.
💻
Remote work fit
68/100
Strong remote-work fit
Composite of city size, housing cost, state tax structure, and region's remote-work track record.

Scores are heuristic estimates from population density, state, and known transit/walkable cities. Not based on a paid Walk Score / Transit Score API — see methodology for the formula.

Rent trajectory · last 5 years

Zillow ZORI · monthly
$1,152/mo$884$1,052$1,221202220242026

Home value vs rent · indexed to 100

Both rebased at first month of ZORI data (~2015)
Home valueRent96103100202220242026

Rent vs buy

Price-to-rent ratio: 14.8
Buy

At a 14.8 price-to-rent ratio, buying generally beats renting in Lake Charles on a long-enough horizon. The headline math is that one year of mortgage payments approximates 14.8 years of rent — well below the 15+ threshold where ownership starts to dominate.

How the momentum score breaks down

methodology →
Home YoY
70 · w22%
Home 5-yr CAGR
30 · w22%
Distance from peak
55 · w18%
Population growth
28 · w16%
Rent YoY
85 · w12%
Home 10-yr CAGR
27 · w10%
Long thesis

Lake Charles has held up across the cycle: home values at $204,081 with -0.9% 5-year CAGR. The bull case is structural — population, location, employer base — and holds even if next year's print is soft.

Short thesis

Lake Charles's population is shrinking 1.1% per year. Housing demand has to come from somewhere — if people are leaving, the buyer pool is shrinking faster than the inventory. That eventually shows up in price.

About Lake Charles

Lake Charles is a city in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, with an estimated population of 81,157. The population has contracted 1.1% per year on average since 2020. The median home value in Lake Charles is $204,081 as of 2026-04, up 4.1% over the last 12 months. Over the last five years, home values have averaged -0.9% annual growth (-6.8% from the 5-year peak). Rents in Lake Charles average $1,152 per month, up 12.8% year-over-year. The composite momentum score is 49 of 100 (Stable). Conditions are neither hot nor cold, so the local fit matters more than market timing.

▲ Bull case

●Affordable AND rising: median home $204,081 with positive recent direction — rare combination most of the country can’t offer.
●Quiet strength: +4.1% over the trailing year — not a melt-up, but the market is bid.
●Hot rental market: rents up 12.8% YoY — landlords have pricing power, supports new investment math.

▼ Bear case

●Net out-migration: population shrinking 1.1% per year — services, schools, and tax base will follow.
●Rental squeeze: rents up 12.8% YoY — tenants face tough renewals. Affordability deteriorating fast.
●Stagnant long-run trend: +0.3% 10-year CAGR plus flat population — appreciation case is weak.

About Lake Charles (Wikipedia)

Lake Charles is the fifth-most populous city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the parish seat of Calcasieu Parish, located on the namesake lake, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Founded in 1861 in Calcasieu Parish, it is a major industrial, cultural, and educational center in the southwest region of Louisiana. As of the 2020 U.S. census, Lake Charles's population was 84,872.

Source: Wikipedia · this summary is contributed and licensed under CC-BY-SA.

City facts

MayorMarshall Simien Jr.
FoundedAbout 1857 as Charleston
NicknameThe Lake Area
Named forCharles Sallier

Extracted from the Wikipedia infobox. Values may be slightly out of date relative to the latest sources.

Playbook

Buyer

Lifestyle fit matters more than market timing in a Stable market. Take your time on the home and neighborhood; the macro trend isn't urgent. Negotiate normally.

Seller

Price competitively from day one or risk a 60+ day listing. Staging, photography, and presentation matter more in Stable markets than in Hot ones.

Investor

Stable cap rates, no big appreciation story to lean on. Underwrite this as a pure cash-flow play — the math has to work on rent alone.

Local safety & alerts

No active National Weather Service alerts for Calcasieu Parish right now.

NWS active alerts (LA)Louisiana Emergency ManagementHow to prepare (NWS)

Public-safety links are official .gov sources, not curated by us. Calcasieu Parish routes NWS alerts; check the state EM portal for non-weather emergencies.

Cities like Lake Charles

Sulphur, LA48 · StableWestwego, LA40 · CoolingGretna, LA46 · CoolingBreaux Bridge, LA59 · Stable

Run the numbers for Lake Charles

ToolCan I afford Lake Charles?Income → city shortlistToolROI on a Lake Charles rentalCap rate, cash-on-cash, DSCRToolCompare Lake Charles to anywhereSide-by-side up to 3 citiesToolLake Charles cost-of-livingEquivalent income elsewhere

Sources: Zillow ZHVI (home values), Zillow ZORI (rents), US Census ACS + place population. Updated when source agencies publish revisions.

Climate & natural-disaster risk

Winter (Jan)
61° / 43°
avg high / low
Summer (Jul)
91° / 74°
avg high / low
Sunny days/yr
217
~59% of year
Annual precip
60″ rain
0″ snow
Disaster risk (1=very low, 5=very high)
Hurricane
Very high
Tornado
Moderate
Wildfire
Very low
Earthquake
Very low
Flood
Very high

State-level averages from NOAA Climate Normals (1991-2020) and FEMA National Risk Index. City-level conditions can vary significantly within a state.

Current weather

Loading current conditions…

7-day forecast on weather.gov →

Find rentals & listings

Open current Lake Charles listings on the major real-estate sites.

Links open the live search on the destination site — results are always current.

Local news & community

Updated 2026-05-21 from Google News + Reddit RSS. Headlines link to original sources.

Local sports teams

Major professional teams the Lake Charles area cheers for. Detailed stats, schedules, and player pages on intherafters.com.

Local economy & environment

Humidity
75%
Very humid climate
Median household income
$57,800
Louisiana state median
Top industries (state-level)
Oil & GasTourismShipping/Petrochemicals

Humidity is annual average relative humidity (NOAA). Income is Census ACS 5-year estimate. Industries are largest employment sectors statewide (BLS); the local mix in a given city may vary.

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