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Cost & Benefits

Compare / New Orleans to Tulsa

New Orleans, LA vs Tulsa, OK

Simple answer

You'd likely save $251 a month in Tulsa.

This is the HUD 2-bedroom fair-market rent for October 2026 through September 2027. It is not your lease.

The largest cost gap in this pair is housing prices. The BEA housing price parity differs by 17.8 points (New Orleans 86.0, Tulsa 68.2).

Louisiana taxes wages at a flat 3.00%. Oklahoma taxes wages at rates up to 4.50%. Combined sales tax differs by 1.0 percentage points, higher in Louisiana. The effective property tax gap is 0.22 percentage points, higher in Oklahoma.

After a move from Louisiana to Oklahoma, those two example households keep the same benefit status labels. A different income can still split Medicaid and marketplace credits.

A $75,000 salary in New Orleans lines up with about $72,260 in Tulsa on the 2024 all-items price parity. Census median gross rent and the commute figures are 2024. Fair Market Rents are fiscal year 2027.

New Orleans

New Orleans-Metairie, LA

2-bedroom Fair Market Rent
$1,480
HUD area
New Orleans-Metairie, LA HUD Metro FMR Area
Census median gross rent
$1,262
All-items price parity
92.6
Goods price parity
93.7
Utilities price parity
71.2
Mean commute
24.9 min
Median household income
$62,373

Tulsa

Tulsa, OK

2-bedroom Fair Market Rent
$1,229
HUD area
Tulsa, OK HUD Metro FMR Area
Census median gross rent
$1,115
All-items price parity
89.2
Goods price parity
93.8
Utilities price parity
73.9
Mean commute
22.6 min
Median household income
$69,658

Equivalent salary

The first number keeps the same place in the national price level. The second also runs 2026 federal income tax, employee Social Security and Medicare, and a simplified state income tax. Groceries use the BEA goods price parity, not a grocery receipt.

Same buying power

$72,260

Salary in Tulsa that matches the 2024 all-items regional price parity.

After state and federal tax

$73,153

Gross salary in Tulsa whose after-tax pay buys the same basket, using price parities.

Rent only

$62,280

Scales the salary by the ratio of HUD 2-bedroom Fair Market Rents. Rent is not the whole budget.

Taxes on the two sides of the move

TaxLouisianaOklahoma
State income tax on wages3.00% flatup to 4.50%
Combined sales tax, Jan 1, 202610.1%9.1%
Effective property tax, ACS 2024 median / median0.53%0.75%

On a $400,000 home, the state median effective rate implies about $2,127 a year in Louisiana and $3,011 in Oklahoma. That illustration is not a local bill. Childcare prices are not in the verified dataset for these metros.

Benefits if you land in Oklahoma

Same household, $40,000 a year, scored once in Louisiana and once in Oklahoma. This is an illustration, not your application.

  • Food stamps (SNAP)

    New OrleansLikely eligible

    TulsaLikely eligible

  • Medicaid and CHIP

    New OrleansLikely eligible

    TulsaLikely eligible

  • WIC

    New OrleansLikely eligible

    TulsaLikely eligible

  • School meals

    New OrleansLikely eligible

    TulsaLikely eligible

  • LIHEAP

    New OrleansMaybe

    TulsaMaybe

  • Earned Income Tax Credit

    New OrleansLikely eligible

    TulsaLikely eligible

  • Child Tax Credit

    New OrleansLikely eligible

    TulsaLikely eligible

  • Marketplace premium tax credits

    New OrleansUnlikely

    TulsaUnlikely

  • Lifeline phone and internet

    New OrleansLikely eligible

    TulsaLikely eligible

  • SSI

    New OrleansUnlikely

    TulsaUnlikely

At $40,000 the status labels match. A single adult around $18,000 is where Medicaid expansion and the marketplace coverage gap usually split.

Medicaid guide for Oklahoma · SNAP guide

Related comparisons

From New Orleans

The eight largest 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent gaps from New Orleans.

Nearby metros

How the salary and tax math works · The reverse city order redirects to this address.