Best PlacesKinder, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kinder, 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.
Kinder ranks 42,841st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Kinder
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.
Kinder's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kinder ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 82% of towns
- Cheap childcare$618 a month, better than 77% of towns
- BikingBetter than 70% of towns
Where Kinder ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 10% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 10% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Kinder
A household needs to earn about $38,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kinder home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $55,298, 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 Kinder's effective rate of 0.32%, 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 Kinder
Kinder runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Kinder.
Who works in Kinder, and how
Work in Kinder centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Kinder
Kinder has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Kinder and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Kinder, month by month
Kinder sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 50° | 40° |
| April | 79° | 67° | 55° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 83° | 68° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Kinder
The nearest airport, Lake Charles Regional, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is George Bush Intcntl/Houston, about 152 miles away.
The best schools in and around Kinder
Schools across Kinder average a C+, better than 47% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Kinder Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Oberlin Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Fenton Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kinder Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Kinder High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Oberlin High SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kinder school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kinder 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 Kinder against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Kinder
Is Kinder a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kinder ranks 42,841st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, a stable housing market, 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 Kinder expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $155,473. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $55,298 median income, cost of living beats 26% of towns.
Is Kinder safe?
Kinder is safer than 30% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $487 per resident a year.
Compare Kinder with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kinder. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kinder 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.
Kinder detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kinder: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kinder: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kinder: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kinder: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kinder 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.