Best PlacesBaton Rouge, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Baton Rouge metro, 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.
Photo by Michael Maples, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, via commons
Baton Rouge ranks 365th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on car insurance costs and state infrastructure. It does better on low property taxes, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Baton Rouge metro
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 Baton Rouge
The towns and districts of the Baton Rouge metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Prairieville & Gonzales
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and crime runs lower.
St. Gabriel, White Castle & Belle Rose
More adults hold degrees, though tree cover is thinner.
Walker, Greenwell Springs & Albany
It is quieter and more households have young kids.
Plaquemine, Addis & Pierre Part
Fewer residents vote.
Denham Springs
Fewer homes sit empty, though disaster risk is higher.
Downtown Baton Rouge
Biking is better and streets are more walkable.
Zachary, St. Francisville & New Roads
Homes cost less, though health outcomes score lower.
Port Allen
Commutes are shorter, though prices have run up more.
Central, Baker & Merrydale
Schools score lower and heat risk is higher.
Scores across Baton Rouge run from about the 1st to the 88th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Baton Rouge's strengths and weaknesses
Baton Rouge ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Low property taxes, a stable housing market, and affordable childcare carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: car insurance costs, state infrastructure, and crime all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Baton Rouge ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 88% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 85% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$685 a month, better than 81% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than 66% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 65% of metro areas
Where Baton Rouge ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Crime safetyBetter than only 7% of metro areas
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 9% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Baton Rouge
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Baton Rouge home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,910, 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 Baton Rouge's effective rate of 0.51%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Baton Rouge.
Who works in Baton Rouge, and how
Work in Baton Rouge centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less late-night activity than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Baton Rouge and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Baton Rouge growing, and who is moving in?
Baton Rouge has grown about 4% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from New Orleans, LA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Baton Rouge go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Baton Rouge, month by month
Baton Rouge sees roughly 106 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 52° | 43° |
| April | 80° | 69° | 59° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 75° |
| October | 84° | 71° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Baton Rouge
The nearest airport, Baton Rouge Metro, Ryan Field, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 59 miles away.
The best schools in and around Baton Rouge
Schools across Baton Rouge average a C, better than 30% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Westdale Heights Academic Magnet SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Oak Grove Primary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Bullion Primary SchoolA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bluff Middle SchoolA+ · 69% proficient
- Prairieville Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
- Sherwood Middle Academic AcademyA · 63% proficient
Top high schools
- Baton Rouge Magnet High SchoolA · 79% proficient
- Dutchtown High SchoolA− · 66% proficient
- St. Amant High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Baton Rouge school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Baton Rouge 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 Baton Rouge against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Baton Rouge suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 8% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 64% of metro areas and it is quieter than 58%.
Common questions about living in Baton Rouge
Is Baton Rouge a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Baton Rouge ranks 365th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on low property taxes, a stable housing market, and affordable childcare, and lowest on car insurance costs and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Baton Rouge expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $258,180. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $78,910 median income, cost of living beats 65% of metro areas.
Is Baton Rouge safe?
Baton Rouge is safer than 7% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $657 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Baton Rouge?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 64 with lows near 43. That works out to about 106 pleasant days a year, more than 64% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Baton Rouge?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Prairieville & Gonzales, St. Gabriel, White Castle & Belle Rose, and Walker, Greenwell Springs & Albany. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Baton Rouge good for families?
Schools beat 30% of metro areas, crime safety beats 7%, and childcare runs $685 a month.
Is Baton Rouge good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 65% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 66% of metro areas. About 8% of workers already work from home.
Compare Baton Rouge with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Baton Rouge. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Baton Rouge 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.
Baton Rouge detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Baton Rouge: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Baton Rouge: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Baton Rouge: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Baton Rouge: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Baton Rouge 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.