Best PlacesJennings, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Jennings, 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.
Jennings ranks 43,534th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Jennings
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.
Jennings' strengths and weaknesses
Where Jennings ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 90% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 86% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 82% of towns
Where Jennings ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Jennings
A household needs to earn about $37,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Jennings home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,827, 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 Jennings' effective rate of 0.43%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Jennings
Jennings'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 Jennings.
Who works in Jennings, and how
Work in Jennings centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Jennings
Jennings has more restaurants and bars per resident than 73% of towns and more parkland per resident than 86% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Jennings and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Jennings, month by month
Jennings sees roughly 98 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 44. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 52° | 44° |
| April | 78° | 68° | 60° |
| July | 91° | 82° | 76° |
| October | 83° | 71° | 62° |
Flying in and out of Jennings
The nearest airport, Lake Charles Regional, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 144 miles away.
The best schools in and around Jennings
Schools across Jennings average a C−, better than 27% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Evangeline Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Lake Arthur Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Welsh Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Welsh-roanoke Junior High SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Lake Arthur High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Jennings High SchoolC · 30% proficient
- Welsh High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Jennings school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Jennings 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 Jennings against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Jennings
Is Jennings a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Jennings ranks 43,534th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, fast internet, and walkability, and lowest on state infrastructure and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Jennings expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $151,094. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $65,827 median income, cost of living beats 56% of towns.
Is Jennings safe?
Jennings is safer than 31% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $498 per resident a year.
Compare Jennings with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Jennings. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Jennings 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.
Jennings detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Jennings: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Jennings: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Jennings: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Jennings: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Jennings 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.