Best PlacesBunkie, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bunkie, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Bunkie ranks 50,118th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Bunkie
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.
Bunkie's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bunkie ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 96% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 91% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of towns
- BikingBetter than 85% of towns
- Cheap childcare$640 a month, better than 74% of towns
Where Bunkie ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bunkie
A household needs to earn about $25,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bunkie home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $27,435, 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 Bunkie's effective rate of 0.26%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bunkie
Bunkie runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bunkie.
Who works in Bunkie, and how
Work in Bunkie centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Bunkie
Bunkie has more restaurants and bars per resident than 71% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Bunkie and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bunkie, month by month
Bunkie sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 62, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 62° | 50° | 42° |
| April | 78° | 67° | 58° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 82° | 69° | 59° |
Flying in and out of Bunkie
The nearest airport, Alexandria International, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 132 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bunkie
Schools across Bunkie average a D, better than 8% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Palmetto Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
- James Stephens Montessori SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Grand Prairie Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Plaisance Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Magnet Academy For Cultural ArtsB+ · 55% proficient
- La School For Ag ScienceC+ · 40% proficient
- Bunkie Magnet High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bunkie school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bunkie 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 Bunkie against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bunkie
Is Bunkie a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bunkie ranks 50,118th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, cell coverage, and walkability, and lowest on health outcomes 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 Bunkie expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $104,118. The overall cost of living runs about 24% below the national average. Set against a $27,435 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Bunkie safe?
Bunkie is safer than 3% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,019 per resident a year.
Compare Bunkie with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bunkie. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bunkie 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.
Bunkie detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bunkie: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bunkie: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bunkie: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bunkie: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bunkie 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.
- 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.