Best PlacesElba, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Elba, 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.
Elba ranks 49,931st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Elba
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.
Elba's strengths and weaknesses
Where Elba ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 76% of towns
- Cheap childcare$637 a month, better than 75% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 85 pleasant days a year, better than 54% of towns
Where Elba ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$42,344 median, better than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Elba
A household needs to earn about $34,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Elba home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $42,344, 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 Elba's effective rate of 0.18%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Elba
Elba's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Elba.
Who works in Elba, and how
Work in Elba centers on admin & support services and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Elba
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Elba.
What the weather is like in Elba, month by month
Elba sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 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 | 90° | 80° | 73° |
| October | 81° | 69° | 59° |
Flying in and out of Elba
The nearest airport, Lafayette Regional/Paul Fournet Field, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 105 miles away.
The best schools in and around Elba
Schools across Elba average a B+, better than 76% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Palmetto Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Magnet Academy For Cultural ArtsB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Elba school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Elba 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 Elba against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Elba
Is Elba a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Elba ranks 49,931st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, a stable housing market, and good schools, 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 Elba expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $141,700. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $42,344 median income, cost of living beats 9% of towns.
Is Elba safe?
Elba is safer than 3% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,015 per resident a year.
Compare Elba with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Elba. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Elba 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.
Elba detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Elba: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Elba: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Elba: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Elba: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Elba 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.