Best PlacesMathews, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mathews, 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.
Mathews ranks 43,434th 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 Mathews
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.
Mathews' strengths and weaknesses
Where Mathews ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 87% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 86% of towns
Where Mathews ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 5% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mathews
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mathews home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,064, 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 Mathews' effective rate of 0.22%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Mathews
Mathews runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, 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 Mathews.
Who works in Mathews, and how
Work in Mathews centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Mathews
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mathews.
What the weather is like in Mathews, month by month
Mathews sees roughly 114 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 45. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 54° | 45° |
| April | 78° | 69° | 61° |
| July | 90° | 82° | 75° |
| October | 82° | 72° | 63° |
Flying in and out of Mathews
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International sits about 26 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 6.2 million passengers in 2025, with 112 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Mathews
Schools across Mathews average a C+, better than 46% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lockport Upper Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Raceland Upper Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lockport Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
- Raceland Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Central Lafourche High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mathews school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mathews 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 Mathews against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mathews
Is Mathews a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mathews ranks 43,434th 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 Mathews expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $170,876. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $67,064 median income, cost of living beats 48% of towns.
Is Mathews safe?
Mathews is safer than 7% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $822 per resident a year.
Compare Mathews with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mathews. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mathews 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.
Mathews detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mathews: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mathews: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mathews: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mathews: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mathews 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.