Bossier City, LA vs Lake Charles, LA
Side-by-side fiscal comparison · U.S. Census Bureau data (2023)
Summary
Bossier City spends 16.6% more per capita than Lake Charles ($2,083/person difference). Lake Charles, LA has the stronger Fiscal Health Score (B, 73/100).
Fiscal Health Score
Key Metrics
Per Capita Spending by Department
Revenue Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Sales Tax | $60 | $38 |
| Income Tax | $1,039 | $0 |
| Intergovernmental | $226 | $10 |
| Charges & Fees | $2,561 | $1,751 |
| Other | $4,072 | $1,431 |
Spending Breakdown (Per Capita)
| Fire Protection | $346 | $240 |
| Highways & Roads | $283 | $204 |
| Education | $64 | $0 |
| Public Welfare | $372 | $543 |
| Hospitals | $171 | $1,466 |
| Parks & Recreation | $1,616 | $737 |
| Housing | $3,326 | $2,714 |
| Sewerage | $231 | $0 |
| Utilities | $2,287 | $1,918 |
| Interest on Debt | $0 | $435 |
| Other | $5,940 | $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.