Best PlacesEast Baton Rouge Parish, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in East Baton Rouge Parish, 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.
East Baton Rouge Parish ranks 2,230th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on car insurance costs and state infrastructure. It does better on transit, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in East Baton Rouge Parish
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 East Baton Rouge Parish
The parts of East Baton Rouge Parish, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Shenandoah
Local pay stretches further, crime runs lower, and incomes run higher.
Baton Rouge
More adults hold degrees, though homes cost more.
Central & Greenwell Springs
It is quieter and more residents vote.
Zachary
Disaster risk is lower, though biking is worse.
Baker & Merrydale
Tree cover is thicker, though health outcomes score lower.
Scores across East Baton Rouge Parish run from about the 1st to the 86th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
East Baton Rouge Parish's strengths and weaknesses
East Baton Rouge Parish lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Transit, cell coverage, and biking carry most of that.
The one real hole is car insurance costs, near the bottom of the country. State infrastructure and disaster risk also cost it ground. Cost swings more from one part of East Baton Rouge Parish to another than it does between East Baton Rouge Parish and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where East Baton Rouge Parish ranks high
- TransitBetter than 95% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 92% of counties
- BikingBetter than 90% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 89% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 87% of counties
Where East Baton Rouge Parish ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 11% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in East Baton Rouge Parish
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median East Baton Rouge Parish home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,508, 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 East Baton Rouge Parish's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 East Baton Rouge Parish
East Baton Rouge Parish runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for East Baton Rouge Parish.
Who works in East Baton Rouge Parish, and how
Work in East Baton Rouge Parish centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in East Baton Rouge Parish
East Baton Rouge Parish has more parkland per resident than 78% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of East Baton Rouge Parish and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is East Baton Rouge Parish growing, and who is moving in?
East Baton Rouge Parish has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Baton Rouge, LA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving East Baton Rouge Parish go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in East Baton Rouge Parish, month by month
East Baton Rouge Parish sees roughly 108 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 East Baton Rouge Parish
The nearest airport, Baton Rouge Metro, Ryan Field, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 60 miles away.
The best schools in and around East Baton Rouge Parish
Schools across East Baton Rouge Parish average a C, better than 30% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Westdale Heights Academic Magnet SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- B. R. Foreign Language Acad. Immersion MagnetA · 67% proficient
- Mayfair Laboratory SchoolA · 66% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sherwood Middle Academic AcademyA · 63% proficient
- Northwestern Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Live Oak Junior HighB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Baton Rouge Magnet High SchoolA · 79% proficient
- Zachary High SchoolB+ · 56% proficient
- Live Oak High SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every East Baton Rouge Parish school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
East Baton Rouge Parish 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 East Baton Rouge Parish against the other 3,143 counties.
Who East Baton Rouge Parish suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 76% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 9% already work from home.
Common questions about living in East Baton Rouge Parish
Is East Baton Rouge Parish a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, East Baton Rouge Parish ranks 2,230th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on transit, cell coverage, and biking, 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 East Baton Rouge Parish expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $269,704. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $75,508 median income, cost of living beats 76% of counties.
Is East Baton Rouge Parish safe?
East Baton Rouge Parish is safer than 12% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $762 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in East Baton Rouge Parish?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 64 with lows near 43. That works out to about 108 pleasant days a year, more than 66% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in East Baton Rouge Parish?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Shenandoah, Baton Rouge, and Central & Greenwell Springs. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is East Baton Rouge Parish good for families?
Schools beat 30% of counties, crime safety beats 12%, and childcare runs $676 a month.
Is East Baton Rouge Parish good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 76% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 89% of counties. About 9% of workers already work from home.
Compare East Baton Rouge Parish with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to East Baton Rouge Parish. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in East Baton Rouge Parish 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.
East Baton Rouge Parish detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for East Baton Rouge Parish: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in East Baton Rouge Parish: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of East Baton Rouge Parish: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in East Baton Rouge Parish: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
East Baton Rouge Parish 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.