($1,440) Movers From Lafayette, LA to St. Petersburg, FL

What to know before moving from Lafayette to St. Petersburg

Moving from Lafayette to St. Petersburg comes with exciting new opportunities — but also higher living costs. Since St. Petersburg is generally more expensive than Lafayette, it’s important to plan ahead and budget carefully for the change.

Check out how the two cities compare so you know what to expect before you relocate:

• Rent prices in St. Petersburg are 27% lower than in Lafayette, which means you’ll have more money in your pocket each month.
• In terms of homeownership, you’ll be able to get more for your money in Lafayette.
  Home prices in St. Petersburg are 68.3% higher than in Lafayette.
• Income in St. Petersburg is 8.2% higher than in Lafayette, so you could earn more for doing the same job. The top employers in St. Petersburg include Jabil, FADV Holdings, and Raymond James.
• Be sure to budget for higher bills in St. Petersburg, since the cost of living for a single person in St. Petersburg is 48.0% higher than in Lafayette. This includes routine expenses like utilities, groceries, clothing, and transportation.
• If you’re moving your family to St. Petersburg, keep in mind that your living expenses could increase. The cost of living for a family in St. Petersburg is 46.8% higher than in Lafayette.
• The unemployment rate in St. Petersburg is 20.69% lower than in Lafayette.
• You’ll spend less on retail and restaurants in St. Petersburg, since the city’s sales taxes in St. Petersburg are 25.93% lower than in Lafayette.
• One perk of moving to St. Petersburg is paying less in state income taxes, which are 100.00% lower than in Lafayette.

To put this in perspective, you would need around $4,440.34 in St. Petersburg to maintain the same standard of life that you can have with $3,000.00 in Lafayette.

How life is different in Lafayette vs. St. Petersburg

• The population of St. Petersburg is about 114% greater than Lafayette, so you may find more to see and do in your new surroundings. Of course, with more people can also come increased competition for jobs and housing.
• St. Petersburg offers better access to buses and trains than Lafayette, based on public transportation ratings. St. Petersburg has a transit score of 6 out of 10 compared to 3 in Lafayette. The higher the score, the more public transportation pickup and dropoff locations a city provides.
• You’ll find St. Petersburg to be about as walkable as Lafayette. The two cities have similar walkability scores of 43 and 42 respectively out of 100 in terms of how close housing is to businesses, recreational facilities, and jobs.
• If cycling is your thing, St. Petersburg is considered more bike-friendly than Lafayette in terms of designated lanes and connectivity and how many residents opt to commute on two wheels rather than by car. St. Petersburg has a bike-friendliness score of 59 out of 100, while Lafayette is rated as 47 out of 100.
• St. Petersburg has a lower crime rate than Lafayette based on scores of 39.54 and Lafayette's 45.75, respectively. The crime index shows how safe a city is perceived to be. So, a lower score generally means less crime.
• You might find more confidence in your overall safety in St. Petersburg than in Lafayette, based on St. Petersburg’s safety index of 60.46 versus 54.25 for Lafayette. With this index, higher scores indicate more safety, particularly around how comfortable residents feel walking alone during the day and at night.
• The air quality in St. Petersburg and Lafayette is generally the same (Good). Cities with good to moderate ratings have clean or acceptable air quality, with the possibility of small pollutants affecting people with certain health conditions like asthma. Anything beyond the moderate rate means increased impact on residents.