Best PlacesSt. James Parish, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in St. James Parish, 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.
St. James Parish ranks 2,623rd of 3,144 U.S. counties 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 St. James 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.
St. James Parish's strengths and weaknesses
Where St. James Parish ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 86% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 84% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 81% of counties
- Household income$79,396 median, better than 74% of counties
Where St. James Parish ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 11% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in St. James Parish
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. James Parish home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $79,396, 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. James Parish's effective rate of 0.48%, 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 St. James Parish
St. James Parish runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for St. James Parish.
Who works in St. James Parish, and how
Work in St. James Parish centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in St. James Parish
St. James Parish has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of St. James Parish and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is St. James Parish growing, and who is moving in?
St. James Parish has lost about 11% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Houma, LA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving St. James 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. James Parish, month by month
St. James Parish sees roughly 108 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 44. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 53° | 44° |
| April | 81° | 69° | 59° |
| July | 93° | 82° | 75° |
| October | 83° | 71° | 62° |
Flying in and out of St. James Parish
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International sits about 29 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. James Parish
Schools across St. James Parish average a C, better than 37% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Bayou Community Academy Charter SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Sorrento Primary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Bayou Boeuf Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sixth Ward Middle SchoolA · 60% proficient
- St. Amant Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
- Gramercy Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- St. Amant High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Lutcher High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Thibodaux High SchoolC · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. James Parish school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
St. James 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. James Parish against the other 3,143 counties.
Who St. James Parish suits
Common questions about living in St. James Parish
Is St. James Parish a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. James Parish ranks 2,623rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cell coverage, civic engagement, and low property taxes, 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. James Parish expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $228,134. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $79,396 median income, cost of living beats 61% of counties.
Is St. James Parish safe?
St. James Parish is safer than 22% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $577 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in St. James Parish?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 64 with lows near 44. That works out to about 108 pleasant days a year, more than 66% of counties.
Is St. James Parish good for families?
Schools beat 37% of counties, crime safety beats 22%, and childcare runs $699 a month.
Compare St. James Parish with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. James Parish. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in St. James 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. James Parish detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for St. James Parish: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in St. James Parish: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of St. James Parish: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in St. James Parish: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
St. James 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.