Best PlacesHighland, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Highland, 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.
Highland ranks 50,294th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Highland
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.
Highland's strengths and weaknesses
Where Highland ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 82% of towns
- Cheap childcare$625 a month, better than 76% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 51% of towns
Where Highland ranks low
- Short commute59.8 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 1% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Highland
A household needs to earn about $25,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Highland home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,750, 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 Highland's effective rate of 0.17%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Highland
Highland runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Highland.
Who works in Highland, and how
Work in Highland centers on utilities and mining & oil & gas. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Highland
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Highland.
What the weather is like in Highland, month by month
Highland sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 48° | 38° |
| April | 78° | 65° | 53° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 82° | 68° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Highland
The nearest airport, Monroe Regional, is about 56 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 147 miles away.
The best schools in and around Highland
Schools across Highland average an F, better than 1% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Tensas Elementary SchoolD · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Tensas High SchoolF · 6% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Highland school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Highland 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 Highland against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Highland
Is Highland a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Highland ranks 50,294th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, quiet, and a stable housing market, and lowest on long commutes and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Highland expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $105,500. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $60,750 median income, cost of living beats 12% of towns.
Is Highland safe?
Highland is safer than 1% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,322 per resident a year.
Compare Highland with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Highland. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Highland 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.
Highland detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Highland: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Highland: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Highland: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Highland: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Highland 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.