Baton Rouge, LA vs Lake Charles, LA
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Baton Rouge spends 249.6% more per capita than Lake Charles ($31,334/person difference). Baton Rouge, LA has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (B, 75/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $488 | $38 |
| Income Tax | $2,296 | $0 |
| Intergovernmental | $949 | $10 |
| Charges & Fees | $0 | $1,751 |
| Other | $7,610 | $1,431 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Police | $1,820 | $0 |
| Fire Protection | $1,140 | $240 |
| Highways & Roads | $589 | $204 |
| Public Welfare | $2,691 | $543 |
| Health | $2,058 | $0 |
| Hospitals | $4,729 | $1,466 |
| Parks & Recreation | $758 | $737 |
| Housing | $7,045 | $2,714 |
| Sewerage | $236 | $0 |
| Utilities | $2,413 | $1,918 |
| Interest on Debt | $1,735 | $435 |
| General Admin | $4,492 | $0 |
| Other | $14,181 | $4,296 |
Compare More Cities
The side-by-side above pulls the the Census Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances data for both entity A and entity B. What follows is the interpretation — which specific axes carry the most weight for entity A versus entity B, and which differences are large enough to influence a real decision.
Practical use of the comparison: read the data above, then drill into the individual entity A and entity B detail pages for the underlying breakdown. A pairwise comparison answers the relative question; the per-entity pages answer the absolute question.
Source: Census Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances, 2026.