Best PlacesRuston, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ruston, 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.
Ruston ranks 1,979th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ruston
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.
Ruston's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ruston ranks high
- Short commute16.6 minutes each way, better than 97% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 97% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 91% of cities
- Cheap childcare$722 a month, better than 88% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 77% of cities
Where Ruston ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of cities
- Household income$51,407 median, better than only 2% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than only 2% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 5% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 7% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Ruston
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ruston home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $51,407; 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 Ruston'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 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 Ruston
Ruston 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 Ruston.
Who works in Ruston, and how
Work in Ruston centers on education and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Ruston
Ruston has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of cities and more parkland per resident than 80% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Ruston and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ruston, month by month
Ruston 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 Ruston
The nearest airport, Monroe Regional, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 225 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ruston
Schools across Ruston average a C, better than 30% of cities.
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
- Jonesboro-hodge High SchoolF · 9% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ruston school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ruston 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 Ruston against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Ruston suits
Common questions about living in Ruston
Is Ruston a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ruston ranks 1,979th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on short commutes, low property taxes, and tree cover, and lowest on state infrastructure and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ruston expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $230,655. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $51,407 median income, cost of living beats 5% of cities.
Is Ruston safe?
Ruston is safer than 11% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $654 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Ruston?
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 40% of cities.
Is Ruston good for families?
Schools beat 30% of cities, crime safety beats 11%, and childcare runs $722 a month.
Compare Ruston with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ruston. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ruston 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.
Ruston detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ruston: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ruston: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ruston: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ruston: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ruston 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.