Best PlacesSt. Charles Parish, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in St. Charles Parish, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
St. Charles Parish ranks 2,031st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Car insurance costs pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on cell coverage.
The best neighborhoods in St. Charles Parish
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.
The best areas in St. Charles Parish
The parts of St. Charles Parish, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Luling
Fewer homes sit empty, more adults hold degrees, and more residents vote.
Bayou Gauche
It is quieter, though fewer households have young kids.
Destrehan
Scores close to Bayou Gauche, except that local pay stretches less far here.
Norco & Laplace
Disaster risk is lower, though crime runs higher.
Boutte
St. Rose
Incomes run lower and heat risk is higher.
Scores across St. Charles Parish run from about the 2nd to the 80th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
St. Charles Parish's strengths and weaknesses
Where St. Charles Parish ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 89% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 88% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 83% of counties
- Household income$84,269 median, better than 81% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 78% of counties
Where St. Charles Parish ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 9% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in St. Charles Parish
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. Charles Parish home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $84,269, 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. Charles Parish's effective rate of 0.52%, 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 St. Charles Parish
St. Charles Parish's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for St. Charles Parish.
Who works in St. Charles Parish, and how
Work in St. Charles Parish centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in St. Charles Parish
St. Charles Parish has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of St. Charles Parish and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is St. Charles Parish growing, and who is moving in?
St. Charles Parish has lost about 4% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the New Orleans, LA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving St. Charles Parish go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in St. Charles Parish, month by month
St. Charles Parish sees roughly 108 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 66, with lows near 45. The comfortable stretch runs October through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 66° | 55° | 45° |
| April | 81° | 71° | 61° |
| July | 94° | 84° | 77° |
| October | 84° | 74° | 65° |
Flying in and out of St. Charles Parish
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International sits about 8 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. Charles Parish
Schools across St. Charles Parish average a B−, better than 62% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Norco Elementary SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Ethel Schoeffner Elementary SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- R.j. Vial Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- J.b. Martin Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Harry M. Hurst Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
- Larose-cut Off Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Patrick F. Taylor Science & Technology AcademyA+ · 93% proficient
- Destrehan High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Central Lafourche High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. Charles Parish school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
St. Charles Parish 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. Charles Parish against the other 3,143 counties.
Who St. Charles Parish suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 8% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 66% of counties and health care access beats 69%.
Common questions about living in St. Charles Parish
Is St. Charles Parish a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. Charles Parish ranks 2,031st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cell coverage, fast internet, and big-city 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. Charles Parish expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $274,540. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $84,269 median income, cost of living beats 67% of counties.
Is St. Charles Parish safe?
St. Charles Parish is safer than 53% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $424 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in St. Charles Parish?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 66 with lows near 45. That works out to about 108 pleasant days a year, more than 66% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in St. Charles Parish?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Luling, Bayou Gauche, and Destrehan. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare St. Charles Parish with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. Charles Parish. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in St. Charles Parish 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. Charles Parish detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for St. Charles Parish: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in St. Charles Parish: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of St. Charles Parish: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in St. Charles Parish: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
St. Charles Parish 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.