Best PlacesLake Charles, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Lake Charles 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 CTtcg, via commons
Lake Charles ranks 372nd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on state infrastructure and empty homes. It does better on low property taxes, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Lake Charles 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 Lake Charles
The towns and districts of the Lake Charles 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.
Vinton
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more adults hold degrees.
Moss Bluff
Tree cover is thicker and it is quieter.
Lake Arthur
Commutes are longer and fewer households have young kids.
Westlake & Dequincy
Heat risk is lower.
Downtown Lake Charles
Prices have run up more and more homes sit empty.
Sulphur
Scores close to Downtown Lake Charles, except that schools score higher here.
Jennings, Iowa & Welsh
Homes cost less, though disaster risk is higher.
Scores across Lake Charles run from about the 1st to the 79th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Lake Charles' strengths and weaknesses
Lake Charles ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Low property taxes, a stable housing market, and affordable childcare carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: state infrastructure, empty homes, 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 Lake Charles ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 88% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$710 a month, better than 78% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 60% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than 57% of metro areas
Where Lake Charles ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Health outlookBetter than only 7% of metro areas
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Lake Charles
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lake Charles home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,412, 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 Lake Charles' effective rate of 0.42%, 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 Lake Charles
Lake Charles'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 Lake Charles.
Who works in Lake Charles, and how
Work in Lake Charles 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 89%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Lake Charles
Lake Charles has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. The coast is about 66 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lake Charles and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Lake Charles growing, and who is moving in?
Lake Charles has grown about 4% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Houston, TX.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Lake Charles go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Lake Charles, month by month
Lake Charles sees roughly 96 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 Lake Charles
The nearest airport, Lake Charles Regional, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is George Bush Intcntl/Houston, about 128 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lake Charles
Schools across Lake Charles average a C, better than 16% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- T. S. Cooley Elementary Magnet SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
- Vincent Settlement Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Prien Lake Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- South Beauregard Upper Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Moss Bluff Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- W. W. Lewis Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Grand Lake High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Sam Houston High SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Alfred M. Barbe High SchoolB− · 44% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lake Charles school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lake Charles 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 Lake Charles against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Lake Charles suits
Common questions about living in Lake Charles
Is Lake Charles a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lake Charles ranks 372nd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on low property taxes, a stable housing market, and affordable childcare, and lowest on state infrastructure and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lake Charles expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $229,278. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $73,412 median income, cost of living beats 60% of metro areas.
Is Lake Charles safe?
Lake Charles is safer than 20% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $543 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lake Charles?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 63 with lows near 44. That works out to about 96 pleasant days a year, more than 57% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Lake Charles?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Vinton, Moss Bluff, and Lake Arthur. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Lake Charles good for families?
Schools beat 16% of metro areas, crime safety beats 20%, and childcare runs $710 a month.
Is Lake Charles good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 60% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 57% of metro areas. About 7% of workers already work from home.
Compare Lake Charles with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lake Charles. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lake Charles 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.
Lake Charles detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lake Charles: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lake Charles: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lake Charles: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lake Charles: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lake Charles 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.