Best PlacesSt. Landry Parish, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in St. Landry Parish, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
St. Landry Parish ranks 3,022nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in St. Landry 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. Landry Parish
The parts of St. Landry 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.
Sunset
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and crime runs lower.
Eunice
Fewer homes sit empty and it is quieter.
Arnaudville
More households have young kids and more residents vote.
Port Barre
Schools score higher, though advertised internet is slower.
Opelousas
Streets are more walkable and commutes are shorter.
Scores across St. Landry Parish run from about the 1st to the 54th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
St. Landry Parish's strengths and weaknesses
Where St. Landry Parish ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 98% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 87% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 71% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 70% of counties
- Cheap childcare$637 a month, better than 69% of counties
Where St. Landry Parish ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than only 6% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in St. Landry Parish
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. Landry Parish home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $52,746, 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. Landry Parish's effective rate of 0.25%, 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 St. Landry Parish
St. Landry 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. Landry Parish.
Who works in St. Landry Parish, and how
Work in St. Landry Parish centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in St. Landry Parish
St. Landry 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. Landry Parish and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is St. Landry Parish growing, and who is moving in?
St. Landry Parish has lost about 3% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Lafayette, LA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving St. Landry 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. Landry Parish, month by month
St. Landry Parish sees roughly 83 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 62, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 62° | 50° | 42° |
| April | 78° | 67° | 58° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 82° | 69° | 59° |
Flying in and out of St. Landry Parish
The nearest airport, Lafayette Regional/Paul Fournet Field, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 116 miles away.
The best schools in and around St. Landry Parish
Schools across St. Landry Parish average a C−, better than 22% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Palmetto Elementary SchoolB · 47% proficient
- East Elementary SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Port Barre Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Port Barre Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Eunice Junior High SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Arnaudville Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Magnet Academy For Cultural ArtsB+ · 55% proficient
- Eunice High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Port Barre High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. Landry Parish school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
St. Landry 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. Landry Parish against the other 3,143 counties.
Who St. Landry Parish suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in St. Landry Parish
Is St. Landry Parish a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. Landry Parish ranks 3,022nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low property taxes, a stable housing market, and fast internet, 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. Landry Parish expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $175,625. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $52,746 median income, cost of living beats 18% of counties.
Is St. Landry Parish safe?
St. Landry Parish is safer than 6% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $842 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in St. Landry Parish?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 62 with lows near 42. That works out to about 83 pleasant days a year, more than 43% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in St. Landry Parish?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Sunset, Eunice, and Arnaudville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare St. Landry Parish with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. Landry Parish. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in St. Landry 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. Landry Parish detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for St. Landry Parish: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in St. Landry Parish: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of St. Landry Parish: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in St. Landry Parish: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
St. Landry 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.