Best PlacesCharenton, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Charenton, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Charenton ranks 41,953rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Charenton
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.
Charenton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Charenton ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of towns
- Short commute20.2 minutes each way, better than 87% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 80% of towns
- BikingBetter than 79% of towns
Where Charenton ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Charenton
A household needs to earn about $32,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Charenton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,076, 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 Charenton's effective rate of 0.32%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Charenton
Charenton runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Charenton.
Who works in Charenton, and how
Work in Charenton centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Charenton
The coast is about 40 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Charenton, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Charenton, month by month
Charenton sees roughly 115 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 65, with lows near 44. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 65° | 53° | 44° |
| April | 78° | 69° | 60° |
| July | 91° | 82° | 75° |
| October | 83° | 71° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Charenton
The nearest airport, Lafayette Regional/Paul Fournet Field, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 76 miles away.
The best schools in and around Charenton
Schools across Charenton average a D, better than 6% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Stephensville Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Raintree Elementary SchoolD · 16% proficient
- W.p. Foster Elementary SchoolF · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- B. Edward Boudreaux Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Franklin Junior High SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Morgan City High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Franklin Senior High SchoolD · 20% proficient
- West St. Mary High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Charenton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Charenton 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 Charenton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Charenton
Is Charenton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Charenton ranks 41,953rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, low property taxes, and short commutes, 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 Charenton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $132,444. The overall cost of living runs about 27% below the national average. Set against a $66,076 median income, cost of living beats 67% of towns.
Is Charenton safe?
Charenton is safer than 27% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $510 per resident a year.
Compare Charenton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Charenton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Charenton 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.
Charenton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Charenton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Charenton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Charenton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Charenton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Charenton 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.