Best PlacesHammond, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Hammond metro, 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.
Photo by David Wilson, CC BY 2.0, via commons
Hammond ranks 386th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on the schools and state infrastructure. It does better on low property taxes, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Hammond metro
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 Hammond
The towns and districts of the Hammond metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Kentwood & Amite
It is quieter, local pay stretches further, and prices have run up less.
Ponchatoula
More households have young kids and crime runs lower.
Loranger & Robert
Fewer homes sit empty and incomes run higher.
Tickfaw
Commutes are longer and fewer adults hold degrees.
Downtown Hammond
Biking is better, though fewer residents vote.
Amite City & Independence
Health care is harder to reach and heat risk is higher.
Scores across Hammond run from about the 1st to the 54th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Hammond's strengths and weaknesses
Hammond ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Low property taxes is the standout, in the top 3% of metro areas. Tree cover and a stable housing market follow.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: the schools, state infrastructure, and car insurance costs all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Hammond ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 87% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 84% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than 76% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$737 a month, better than 72% of metro areas
Where Hammond ranks low
- School gradeD, better than only 1% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Household income$59,863 median, better than only 2% of metro areas
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Hammond
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hammond home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $59,863, 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 Hammond's effective rate of 0.34%, 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 Hammond
Hammond runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hammond.
Who works in Hammond, and how
Work in Hammond centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Hammond
Hammond has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Hammond and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Hammond growing, and who is moving in?
Hammond has grown about 10% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Baton Rouge, LA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Hammond go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Hammond, month by month
Hammond sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 63, 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 | 63° | 51° | 42° |
| April | 79° | 67° | 57° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 82° | 69° | 59° |
Flying in and out of Hammond
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International sits about 37 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 6.2 million passengers in 2025, with 112 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Hammond
Schools across Hammond average a D, better than 1% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Southeastern La University Lab SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Albany Upper Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Springfield Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Albany Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Springfield Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Martha Vinyard Elementary SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Springfield High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Ponchatoula High SchoolC · 30% proficient
- Albany High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hammond school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hammond 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 Hammond against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Hammond suits
Common questions about living in Hammond
Is Hammond a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hammond ranks 386th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on low property taxes, tree cover, and a stable housing market, and lowest on the schools and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hammond expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $218,921. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $59,863 median income, cost of living beats 14% of metro areas.
Is Hammond safe?
Hammond is safer than 24% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $533 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Hammond?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 63 with lows near 42. That works out to about 95 pleasant days a year, more than 56% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Hammond?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Kentwood & Amite, Ponchatoula, and Loranger & Robert. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Hammond good for families?
Schools beat 1% of metro areas, crime safety beats 24%, and childcare runs $737 a month.
Is Hammond good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 14% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 31% of metro areas. About 8% of workers already work from home.
Compare Hammond with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hammond. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hammond 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.
Hammond detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hammond: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hammond: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hammond: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hammond: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hammond 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.