Best PlacesTensas Parish, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Tensas 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.
Tensas Parish ranks 3,142nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Tensas 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.
Tensas Parish's strengths and weaknesses
Where Tensas Parish ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 96% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 73% of counties
- Cheap childcare$625 a month, better than 70% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 68% of counties
Where Tensas Parish ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 1% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 1% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of counties
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Tensas Parish
A household needs to earn about $20,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tensas Parish home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $39,739, 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 Tensas Parish's effective rate of 0.31%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Tensas Parish
Tensas Parish runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Tensas Parish.
Who works in Tensas Parish, and how
Work in Tensas Parish centers on retail trade and public administration. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Tensas Parish
Tensas Parish has more restaurants and bars per resident than 91% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Tensas Parish and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Tensas Parish growing, and who is moving in?
Tensas Parish has lost about 21% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from New Orleans, LA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Tensas Parish go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Tensas Parish, month by month
Tensas Parish sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 48° | 38° |
| April | 78° | 65° | 53° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 82° | 68° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Tensas Parish
The nearest airport, Monroe Regional, is about 58 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 149 miles away.
The best schools in and around Tensas Parish
Schools across Tensas Parish average an F, better than 1% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Crowville SchoolD+ · 21% proficient
- Tensas Elementary SchoolD · 17% proficient
- Tallulah Elementary SchoolF · 4% proficient
Top middle schools
- Port Gibson Middle SchoolD− · 14% proficient
- Madison Middle SchoolF · 6% proficient
Top high schools
- Franklin Parish High SchoolD · 19% proficient
- Port Gibson High SchoolD− · 17% proficient
- Vicksburg High SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tensas Parish school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tensas 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 Tensas Parish against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Tensas Parish
Is Tensas Parish a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tensas Parish ranks 3,142nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on quiet, low property taxes, and a stable housing market, and lowest on health outcomes and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Tensas Parish expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $80,020. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $39,739 median income, cost of living beats 1% of counties.
Is Tensas Parish safe?
Tensas Parish is safer than 1% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,197 per resident a year.
Compare Tensas Parish with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tensas Parish. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tensas 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.
Tensas Parish detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tensas Parish: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tensas Parish: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tensas Parish: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tensas Parish: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tensas 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.