Best PlacesSt. Benedict, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around St. Benedict, 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.
St. Benedict ranks 26,488th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in St. Benedict
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.
St. Benedict's strengths and weaknesses
Where St. Benedict ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 114 pleasant days a year, better than 76% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 75% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 73% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 73% of towns
Where St. Benedict ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 10% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in St. Benedict
A household needs to earn about $60,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. Benedict home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $83,865, 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 St. Benedict's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in St. Benedict
St. Benedict runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for St. Benedict.
Who works in St. Benedict, and how
Work in St. Benedict centers on education and admin & support services. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in St. Benedict
The coast is about 51 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across St. Benedict, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in St. Benedict, month by month
St. Benedict 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 St. Benedict
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International sits about 37 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 St. Benedict
Schools across St. Benedict average a B−, better than 57% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Abita Springs Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Sixth Ward Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Abita Springs Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Creekside Junior HighD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Fontainebleau High SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Lakeshore High SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Pearl River High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. Benedict school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
St. Benedict 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 St. Benedict against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in St. Benedict
Is St. Benedict a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. Benedict ranks 26,488th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, the weather, and health care access, 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 St. Benedict expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $234,391. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $83,865 median income, cost of living beats 73% of towns.
Is St. Benedict safe?
Yes, St. Benedict is safer than 66% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $333 per resident a year.
Compare St. Benedict with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. Benedict. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in St. Benedict 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.
St. Benedict detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for St. Benedict: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in St. Benedict: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of St. Benedict: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in St. Benedict: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
St. Benedict 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.