Best PlacesLouisiana Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Louisiana, 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.
Louisiana ranks 50th of 50 U.S. states on the BestNeighborhood index. Its strengths are a stable housing market and low property taxes. The cost shows up in car insurance costs, state infrastructure, and crime.
The best neighborhoods in Louisiana
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 Louisiana
The counties of Louisiana, grouped by direction and ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the state.
Cameron Parish
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and it is quieter.
St. Tammany Parish, Livingston Parish & Tangipahoa Parish
Tree cover is thicker, though disaster risk is higher.
Iberia Parish, Vermilion Parish & St. Mary Parish
Fewer homes sit empty and prices have run up less.
Jefferson Parish & Orleans Parish
Big-city amenities are closer and streets are more walkable.
East Baton Rouge Parish & Lafayette Parish
Scores close to Jefferson Parish & Orleans Parish, except that heat risk is lower here.
Caddo Parish, Bossier Parish & Rapides Parish
Homes cost less.
Calcasieu Parish & Beauregard Parish
Fewer adults hold degrees and biking is worse.
Ouachita Parish
Schools score lower and health outcomes score lower.
Louisiana shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 4%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Louisiana's strengths and weaknesses
Louisiana ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. A stable housing market is the standout, in the top 3% of states. Low property taxes and affordable childcare follow.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: car insurance costs, state infrastructure, and crime all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Louisiana ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 97% of states
- Low property taxBetter than 91% of states
- Cheap childcare$699 a month, better than 91% of states
- Internet speedBetter than 68% of states
- Nice weatherabout 101 pleasant days a year, better than 63% of states
Where Louisiana ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of states
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of states
- Crime safetyBetter than only 3% of states
- Health outlookBetter than only 3% of states
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of states
What it costs to buy a home in Louisiana
A household needs to earn about $59,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Louisiana home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,329, 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 Louisiana's effective rate of 0.49%, 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 Louisiana
Louisiana'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 Louisiana.
Who works in Louisiana, and how
Work in Louisiana 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 6%
Life in Louisiana
Louisiana has less parkland per resident than most states and less late-night activity than most states. Louisiana has 397 miles of ocean coastline. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Louisiana and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Louisiana, month by month
Louisiana sees roughly 101 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 52° | 43° |
| April | 80° | 69° | 59° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 75° |
| October | 84° | 71° | 61° |
The best schools in and around Louisiana
Schools across Louisiana average a C, better than 25% of states.
Top elementary schools
- Metairie Academy For Advanced StudiesA+ · 95% proficient
- T. S. Cooley Elementary Magnet SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
- Airline Park Academy For Advanced StudiesA+ · 88% proficient
Top middle schools
- Caddo Parish Middle Magnet SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Bluff Middle SchoolA+ · 69% proficient
- Prairieville Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
Top high schools
- Patrick F. Taylor Science & Technology AcademyA+ · 93% proficient
- Haynes Academy School For Advanced StudiesA+ · 93% proficient
- Benjamin Franklin High SchoolA+ · 92% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Louisiana school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Louisiana 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 Louisiana against the other 49 states.
Who Louisiana suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 9% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Louisiana
Is Louisiana a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Louisiana ranks 50th of 50 states. It scores highest on a stable housing market, low property taxes, and affordable childcare, 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 Louisiana expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $237,081. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $69,329 median income, cost of living beats 9% of states.
Is Louisiana safe?
Louisiana is safer than 3% of states. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $650 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Louisiana?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 64 with lows near 43. That works out to about 101 pleasant days a year, more than 63% of states.
What are the best areas in Louisiana?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Cameron Parish, St. Tammany Parish, Livingston Parish & Tangipahoa Parish, and Iberia Parish, Vermilion Parish & St. Mary Parish. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Louisiana good for families?
Schools beat 25% of states, crime safety beats 3%, and childcare runs $699 a month.
Is Louisiana good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 9% of states, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 68% of states. About 9% of workers already work from home.
Compare Louisiana with other states
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Louisiana. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Louisiana 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.
Louisiana detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Louisiana: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Louisiana: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Louisiana: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Louisiana: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Louisiana 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.
- 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.