Best PlacesNorth Shore, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around North Shore, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
North Shore ranks 42,619th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in North Shore
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.
North Shore's strengths and weaknesses
Where North Shore ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 89% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 88% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 87% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 114 pleasant days a year, better than 77% of towns
Where North Shore ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in North Shore
A household needs to earn about $123,000 a year to comfortably buy the median North Shore home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $73,261, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 North Shore's effective rate of 0.72%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in North Shore
North Shore runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for North Shore.
Who works in North Shore, and how
Work in North Shore centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in North Shore
The coast is about 35 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across North Shore, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in North Shore, month by month
North Shore sees roughly 114 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 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 | 79° | 68° | 58° |
| July | 92° | 82° | 75° |
| October | 83° | 70° | 60° |
Flying in and out of North Shore
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International sits about 33 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 North Shore
Schools across North Shore average a D+, better than 12% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Glynn H. Brock Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
- W.l. Abney Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Carolyn Park Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- St. Tammany Junior High SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Salmen High SchoolD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every North Shore school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
North Shore 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 North Shore against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in North Shore
Is North Shore a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, North Shore ranks 42,619th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, a strong job market, and fast internet, 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 North Shore expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $476,871. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $73,261 median income, cost of living beats 63% of towns.
Is North Shore safe?
North Shore is safer than 21% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $530 per resident a year.
Compare North Shore with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to North Shore. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in North Shore 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.
North Shore detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for North Shore: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in North Shore: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of North Shore: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in North Shore: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
North Shore 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.