Best PlacesLincoln Parish, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Lincoln Parish, 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.
Lincoln Parish ranks 2,686th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. State infrastructure pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on low property taxes.
The best neighborhoods in Lincoln 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.
Lincoln Parish's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lincoln Parish ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 88% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 88% of counties
- Short commute19.2 minutes each way, better than 83% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 81% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 66% of counties
Where Lincoln Parish ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of counties
- Household income$50,989 median, better than only 10% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Lincoln Parish
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lincoln Parish home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $50,989; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Lincoln Parish's 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lincoln Parish
Lincoln Parish runs younger 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 Lincoln Parish.
Who works in Lincoln Parish, and how
Work in Lincoln Parish centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Lincoln Parish
Lincoln Parish has less parkland per resident than most counties and more late-night spots per resident than 89% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lincoln Parish and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Lincoln Parish growing, and who is moving in?
Lincoln Parish has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Shreveport, LA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Lincoln Parish go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Lincoln Parish, month by month
Lincoln Parish sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 47° | 39° |
| April | 77° | 64° | 54° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 74° |
| October | 80° | 66° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Lincoln Parish
The nearest airport, Monroe Regional, is about 36 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 226 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lincoln Parish
Schools across Lincoln Parish average a C+, better than 46% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Choudrant Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Cypress Springs Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Ruston Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ruston Junior High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- I.a. Lewis SchoolD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Choudrant High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Ruston High SchoolB · 48% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lincoln Parish school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lincoln 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 Lincoln Parish against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Lincoln Parish suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Lincoln Parish
Is Lincoln Parish a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lincoln Parish ranks 2,686th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low property taxes, an educated workforce, and short commutes, 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 Lincoln Parish expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $223,533. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $50,989 median income, cost of living beats 11% of counties.
Is Lincoln Parish safe?
Lincoln Parish is safer than 11% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $713 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lincoln Parish?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 59 with lows near 39. That works out to about 77 pleasant days a year, more than 33% of counties.
Is Lincoln Parish good for families?
Schools beat 46% of counties, crime safety beats 11%, and childcare runs $723 a month.
Compare Lincoln Parish with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lincoln Parish. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lincoln 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.
Lincoln Parish detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lincoln Parish: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lincoln Parish: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lincoln Parish: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lincoln Parish: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lincoln 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.