How much does concrete cost in the Northshore and New Orleans area?
Most plain concrete work in Louisiana runs $5 to $11 per square foot installed. New Orleans market guides show $6 to $12 for reinforced work. That puts a 20x20 slab around $2,100 to $4,800 and a two-car driveway in the $3,200 to $8,000 range. Decorative finishes, thicker pours, and soft ground push the number up.
These are market ranges from published 2026 cost guides, not a W2 quote. Your lot, your soil, and your access decide the real number.
What concrete costs per square foot
Concrete work is priced by the square foot, and the project type sets the baseline. Here is what published guides show for our region in 2026.
| Project | Installed, per square foot |
|---|---|
| Plain slab, broom finish | $5–$11 |
| Driveway, plain gray | $5–$8 |
| Patio, plain | $5–$8 |
| Sidewalk or walkway | $6–$12 |
| Foundation slab (monolithic) | $5–$8 |
| Commercial slab, 6–8 in. with rebar | $10–$18 |
| Small parking lot | $6–$12 |
| Stamped or decorative finish | $10–$20+ |
Louisiana sits at the low end of national pricing. One 2026 guide puts the state’s installed range at $5.28 to $10.56 per square foot, against a $12-to-$18 range in California. Ready-mix here averages about $162 per cubic yard.
What a full project runs
Totals track the footage. A 20x20 pad is 400 square feet, so plain work lands between $2,100 and $4,800 in Louisiana. New Orleans guides price the same pad at $3,900 to $6,600 once it is built 4 to 6 inches thick with rebar.
A typical two-car driveway is bigger than people think. The standard reference size is 16 by 40 feet, which is 640 square feet, so plain gray runs about $3,200 to $5,100. At 1,000 square feet, expect $5,300 to $10,800.
One useful way to read those numbers: 1,000 square feet of concrete at 4 inches thick is about 12 cubic yards of mix, roughly $2,000 of material. Everything above that is dirt work, forms, steel, labor, and finish. That is why two quotes on the same slab can sit far apart. They are pricing different amounts of preparation.
What moves the price up or down
- Thickness. Each added inch costs about $0.50 to $1.25 more per square foot. Going from 4 to 5 inches adds roughly 20% to the concrete but buys close to 50% more load capacity.
- Steel. Wire mesh installs for about $0.35 per square foot. Rebar runs $1 to $3. Skipping steel on a vehicle slab saves a few hundred dollars now and costs a full replacement later.
- Base work. A compacted gravel base adds $0.80 to $1.50 per square foot. Soft or wet ground that needs engineered fill can add up to $2.50, and grading the site is its own line.
- Tear-out. Removing old concrete runs about $2 to $4 per square foot, or $4 to $7 when it is reinforced.
- Access. If the truck cannot reach the pour, a pump adds roughly $600 to $1,600 for a typical residential job.
- Finish. Stamped and colored work starts around $10 per square foot and climbs from there. We cover it in our stamped concrete guide.
Why the ground here adds a line item
South Louisiana ground holds water. Around the Northshore, the water table sits 1 to 3 feet down from December through April, and much of the soil drains slowly. Closer to the lake and across it, the delta clays shrink and swell as they dry and wet. Concrete poured straight on ground like that settles and cracks, which is why proper base and drainage work shows up on local quotes.
Parts of the New Orleans metro also sink. Most of the area is stable, but studies have measured pockets losing an inch or more of elevation a year. On those blocks, what sits under the slab matters more than the slab itself. We break down the mechanics in pouring concrete on Louisiana clay.
Permits can add a small line too. In St. Tammany Parish, any development in the floodplain needs a permit, and that includes earthwork. Metro cities have their own rules for driveways and right-of-way aprons. A local crew prices that in up front.
Is it cheaper to mix it yourself?
Only on small pours. Bagged mix works out to $280 to $550 per cubic yard once you buy the bags, against $120 to $220 from the truck. The break-even sits around 1.5 to 2 cubic yards, about the size of a 12x16 patio at 4 inches.
A 20x20 slab needs about 5 cubic yards. That is roughly 225 bags of 80-pound mix, hand-fed through a rental mixer at 3 to 4 hours per yard. The truck costs less, pours in one continuous batch, and cures as one slab instead of twenty small ones.
FAQ
How much does a 20x20 slab of concrete cost? A 20x20 slab is 400 square feet. In Louisiana, a basic 4-inch pad runs about $2,100 to $4,800. New Orleans market guides put a 4-to-6-inch reinforced slab at $3,900 to $6,600. Thickness, rebar, and how much base work the ground needs decide where you land.
How much does 1,000 square feet of concrete cost? Plan on $5,300 to $10,800 installed for 1,000 square feet of plain concrete. The concrete itself is only about $2,000 of that. The rest is base preparation, forms, steel, labor, and finishing, which is why site conditions move the price more than the mix does.
Is it cheaper to mix your own concrete or buy ready-mix? Bagged concrete wins on small pours, under about 1.5 cubic yards. Past 2 yards the truck wins on both price and quality. A 20x20 slab needs about 5 yards, which would take roughly 225 bags of 80-pound mix. That is a ready-mix job.
What is poor man’s concrete? It usually means dry cement raked over gravel and misted with water. The how-to guides themselves warn it cracks and cannot take vehicle weight. It has no controlled water ratio, no steel, and no compacted base. For a path it can serve. For a driveway or slab it is not a substitute.
How much does it cost to remove old concrete? Around $2 to $4 per square foot for plain slabs and $4 to $7 for reinforced concrete, plus disposal. Some local guides quote as low as $1.20 to $2. A cracked 400-square-foot driveway usually costs $800 to $2,800 to break out and haul off before the new pour.
Get a real number for your project
The ranges above are market data. Your price depends on the footage, the thickness, the steel, and what your ground needs before the first yard arrives. W2 Commercial Construction pours driveways, slabs, patios, and parking lots across Covington, Mandeville, Slidell, and the Northshore, and we serve Metairie, Kenner, and Greater New Orleans across the lake. Ask for a free estimate and we will measure the job and put a written price in your hands.