Best PlacesCatahoula, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Catahoula, 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.
Catahoula ranks 47,323rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Catahoula
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.
Catahoula's strengths and weaknesses
Where Catahoula ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 90% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 140 pleasant days a year, better than 89% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 89% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 86% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 81% of towns
Where Catahoula ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 5% of towns
- Household income$44,785 median, better than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Catahoula
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Catahoula home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $44,785, 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 Catahoula's effective rate of 0.37%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Catahoula
Catahoula runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Catahoula.
Who works in Catahoula, and how
Work in Catahoula centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Catahoula
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Catahoula.
What the weather is like in Catahoula, month by month
Catahoula sees roughly 140 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 44. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 52° | 44° |
| April | 79° | 68° | 59° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 74° |
| October | 82° | 70° | 60° |
Flying in and out of Catahoula
The nearest airport, Lafayette Regional/Paul Fournet Field, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 89 miles away.
The best schools in and around Catahoula
Schools across Catahoula average a C−, better than 26% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Parks Primary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Teche Elementary SchoolC · 34% proficient
- St. Martinville Primary SchoolD+ · 22% proficient
Top middle schools
- Parks Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- Cecilia Junior High SchoolD · 23% proficient
- St. Martinville Junior High SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Cecilia High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Breaux Bridge High SchoolD · 20% proficient
- St. Martinville Senior High SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Catahoula school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Catahoula 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 Catahoula against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Catahoula
Is Catahoula a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Catahoula ranks 47,323rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, the weather, and few empty homes, and lowest on disaster risk and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Catahoula expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $175,932. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $44,785 median income, cost of living beats 17% of towns.
Is Catahoula safe?
Catahoula is safer than 26% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $492 per resident a year.
Compare Catahoula with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Catahoula. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Catahoula 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.
Catahoula detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Catahoula: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Catahoula: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Catahoula: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Catahoula: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Catahoula 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.