Best PlacesCarmel, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Carmel, 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.
Carmel ranks 48,627th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Carmel
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.
Carmel's strengths and weaknesses
Where Carmel ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 95% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 84% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 82% of towns
- Cheap childcare$732 a month, better than 60% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 51% of towns
Where Carmel ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Carmel
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carmel home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $51,366, 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 Carmel's effective rate of 0.29%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Carmel
Carmel runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, 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 Carmel.
Who works in Carmel, and how
Work in Carmel centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Carmel
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Carmel.
What the weather is like in Carmel, month by month
Carmel sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 48° | 38° |
| April | 80° | 67° | 55° |
| July | 96° | 84° | 75° |
| October | 83° | 69° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Carmel
The nearest airport, Shreveport Regional, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is George Bush Intcntl/Houston, about 177 miles away.
The best schools in and around Carmel
Schools across Carmel average a C−, better than 26% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- North Desoto Upper Elementary SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Mansfield Elementary SchoolD+ · 22% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Desoto Middle School 6-8A− · 58% proficient
- Mansfield Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- North Desoto High SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- Mansfield High SchoolD · 19% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carmel school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carmel 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 Carmel against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Carmel
Is Carmel a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carmel ranks 48,627th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, a stable housing market, and tree cover, and lowest on state infrastructure and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Carmel expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $171,245. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $51,366 median income, cost of living beats 14% of towns.
Is Carmel safe?
Carmel is safer than 5% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $860 per resident a year.
Compare Carmel with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carmel. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carmel 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.
Carmel detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carmel: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carmel: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carmel: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carmel: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carmel 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.