Best PlacesPort Allen, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Port Allen, 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.
Port Allen ranks 36,735th 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 Port Allen
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.
Port Allen's strengths and weaknesses
Where Port Allen ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 91% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- BikingBetter than 88% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 88% of towns
Where Port Allen ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 5% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Port Allen
A household needs to earn about $53,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Port Allen home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,734, 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 Port Allen's effective rate of 0.41%, 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 Port Allen
Port Allen's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Port Allen.
Who works in Port Allen, and how
Work in Port Allen centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Port Allen
Port Allen has more restaurants and bars per resident than 91% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Port Allen and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Port Allen, month by month
Port Allen sees roughly 106 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° |
Flying in and out of Port Allen
The nearest airport, Baton Rouge Metro, Ryan Field, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 68 miles away.
The best schools in and around Port Allen
Schools across Port Allen average a D+, better than 11% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Brusly Upper Elementary SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Belfair Montessori SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Caneview K-8 SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Brusly Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Port Allen Middle SchoolD− · 18% proficient
- Park Forest Middle SchoolF · 7% proficient
Top high schools
- Liberty High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Brusly High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Livonia High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Port Allen school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Port Allen 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 Port Allen against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Port Allen
Is Port Allen a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Port Allen ranks 36,735th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, walkability, and a stable housing market, 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 Port Allen expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $214,486. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $74,734 median income, cost of living beats 62% of towns.
Is Port Allen safe?
Port Allen is safer than 21% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $646 per resident a year.
Compare Port Allen with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Port Allen. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Port Allen 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.
Port Allen detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Port Allen: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Port Allen: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Port Allen: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Port Allen: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Port Allen 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.