Best PlacesJefferson Parish, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Jefferson Parish, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Jefferson Parish ranks 2,136th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Its strengths are cell coverage and walkability. The cost shows up in car insurance costs, state infrastructure, and summer heat.
The best neighborhoods in Jefferson 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 Jefferson Parish
The parts of Jefferson 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.
Jefferson & Bridge City
More adults hold degrees, incomes run higher, and local pay stretches further.
Kenner
Scores close to Jefferson & Bridge City, except that more households have young kids here.
River Ridge, Waggaman & Harahan
Schools score higher, though heat risk is higher.
Metairie
It is noisier and homes cost more.
Marrero, Harvey & Terrytown
Health care is harder to reach.
Avondale
Health outcomes score lower and streets are more car-dependent.
Westwego
More homes sit empty and biking is worse.
Jefferson Parish shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 9%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Jefferson Parish's strengths and weaknesses
Jefferson Parish lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Cell coverage is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Walkability and fast internet follow.
The one real hole is car insurance costs, near the bottom of the country. State infrastructure and summer heat also cost it ground. Cost swings more from one part of Jefferson Parish to another than it does between Jefferson Parish and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Jefferson Parish ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 90% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 87% of counties
- BikingBetter than 86% of counties
Where Jefferson Parish ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 5% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Jefferson Parish
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Jefferson Parish home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,914, 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 Jefferson Parish's effective rate of 0.53%, 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 Jefferson Parish
Jefferson Parish'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 Jefferson Parish.
Who works in Jefferson Parish, and how
Work in Jefferson Parish 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 86%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Jefferson Parish
Jefferson Parish has less parkland per resident than most counties and more late-night spots per resident than 66% of counties. The coast is about 65 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Jefferson Parish and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Jefferson Parish growing, and who is moving in?
Jefferson Parish has lost about 2% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the New Orleans, LA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Jefferson Parish go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Jefferson Parish, month by month
Jefferson Parish sees roughly 110 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 66, with lows near 45. The comfortable stretch runs October through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 66° | 55° | 45° |
| April | 81° | 71° | 61° |
| July | 94° | 84° | 77° |
| October | 84° | 74° | 65° |
Flying in and out of Jefferson Parish
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International sits about 7 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 Jefferson Parish
Schools across Jefferson Parish average a C+, better than 69% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Metairie Academy For Advanced StudiesA+ · 95% proficient
- Airline Park Academy For Advanced StudiesA+ · 88% proficient
- Gretna No. 2 Academy For Advanced StudiesA+ · 87% proficient
Top middle schools
- Albert Cammon Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- John Q. Adams Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
- L.h. Marrero Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Patrick F. Taylor Science & Technology AcademyA+ · 93% proficient
- Haynes Academy School For Advanced StudiesA+ · 93% proficient
- Thomas Jefferson High School For Advanced StudiesA+ · 80% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Jefferson Parish school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Jefferson 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 Jefferson Parish against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Jefferson Parish suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 9% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Jefferson Parish
Is Jefferson Parish a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Jefferson Parish ranks 2,136th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cell coverage, walkability, and fast internet, 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 Jefferson Parish expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $271,350. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $72,914 median income, cost of living beats 33% of counties.
Is Jefferson Parish safe?
Jefferson Parish is safer than 40% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $471 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Jefferson Parish?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 66 with lows near 45. That works out to about 110 pleasant days a year, more than 68% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Jefferson Parish?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Jefferson & Bridge City, Kenner, and River Ridge, Waggaman & Harahan. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Jefferson Parish good for families?
Schools beat 69% of counties, crime safety beats 40%, and childcare runs $702 a month.
Is Jefferson Parish good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 33% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 90% of counties. About 9% of workers already work from home.
Compare Jefferson Parish with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Jefferson Parish. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Jefferson 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.
Jefferson Parish detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Jefferson Parish: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Jefferson Parish: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Jefferson Parish: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Jefferson Parish: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Jefferson 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.