Best PlacesStarks, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Starks, 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.
Starks ranks 49,220th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Starks
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.
Starks' strengths and weaknesses
Where Starks ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 85% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 81% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 99 pleasant days a year, better than 67% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 66% of towns
Where Starks ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 3% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$40,461 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Starks
A household needs to earn about $21,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Starks home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $40,461, 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 Starks' effective rate of 0.07%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Starks
Starks runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Starks.
Who works in Starks, and how
Work in Starks centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Starks
Starks has more restaurants and bars per resident than 96% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Starks and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Starks, month by month
Starks sees roughly 99 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° | 51° | 42° |
| April | 78° | 67° | 58° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 81° | 69° | 59° |
Flying in and out of Starks
The nearest airport, Lake Charles Regional, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is George Bush Intcntl/Houston, about 102 miles away.
The best schools in and around Starks
Schools across Starks average a D, better than 6% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Vinton Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Dequincy Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Vinton Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- Dequincy Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Dequincy High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Vinton High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Starks school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Starks 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 Starks against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Starks
Is Starks a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Starks ranks 49,220th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, a stable housing market, and tree cover, and lowest on state infrastructure and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Starks expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $88,821. The overall cost of living runs about 24% below the national average. Set against a $40,461 median income, cost of living beats 9% of towns.
Is Starks safe?
Starks is safer than 45% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $411 per resident a year.
Compare Starks with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Starks. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Starks 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.
Starks detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Starks: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Starks: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Starks: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Starks: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Starks 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.