Best PlacesAllen Parish, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Allen Parish, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Allen Parish ranks 2,992nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Allen Parish
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Allen Parish
The parts of Allen Parish, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Oberlin
Commutes are shorter, homes cost less, and more adults hold degrees.
Kinder
More households have young kids, though more homes sit empty.
Oakdale
Tree cover is thinner and heat risk is higher.
Scores across Allen Parish run from about the 3rd to the 26th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Allen Parish's strengths and weaknesses
Where Allen Parish ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 95% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 94% of counties
- Cheap childcare$612 a month, better than 72% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 67% of counties
- QuietBetter than 57% of counties
Where Allen Parish ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 6% of counties
- Household income$48,341 median, better than only 6% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 8% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Allen Parish
A household needs to earn about $32,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Allen Parish home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $48,341, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Allen Parish's effective rate of 0.33%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Allen Parish
Allen Parish runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Allen Parish.
Who works in Allen Parish, and how
Work in Allen Parish centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Allen Parish
Allen Parish has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Allen Parish and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Allen Parish growing, and who is moving in?
Allen Parish has lost about 12% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Alexandria, LA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Allen Parish go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Allen Parish, month by month
Allen Parish sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 50° | 40° |
| April | 79° | 67° | 55° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 83° | 68° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Allen Parish
The nearest airport, Lake Charles Regional, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 157 miles away.
The best schools in and around Allen Parish
Schools across Allen Parish average a C−, better than 27% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- W. W. Stewart Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Elton Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Kinder Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kinder Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Oakdale Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Kinder High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Oberlin High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Oakdale High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Allen Parish school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Allen Parish measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Allen Parish against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Allen Parish suits
Common questions about living in Allen Parish
Is Allen Parish a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Allen Parish ranks 2,992nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low property taxes, a stable housing market, and affordable childcare, and lowest on state infrastructure and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Allen Parish expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $129,190. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $48,341 median income, cost of living beats 8% of counties.
Is Allen Parish safe?
Allen Parish is safer than 18% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $596 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Allen Parish?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 63 with lows near 40. That works out to about 85 pleasant days a year, more than 46% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Allen Parish?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Oberlin, Kinder, and Oakdale. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Allen Parish with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Allen Parish. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Allen Parish represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Allen Parish detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Allen Parish: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Allen Parish: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Allen Parish: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Allen Parish: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Allen Parish detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.