Best PlacesWard, LA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ward, 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.
Ward ranks 45,858th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ward
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.
Ward's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ward ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 90% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 80% of towns
- Cheap childcare$612 a month, better than 78% of towns
Where Ward ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 3% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ward
A household needs to earn about $33,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ward home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $53,125, 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 Ward's effective rate of 0.38%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ward
Ward runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ward.
Who works in Ward, and how
Work in Ward centers on admin & support services and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 55%
- Work from home 37%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Ward
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ward.
What the weather is like in Ward, month by month
Ward sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs February through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 50° | 40° |
| April | 79° | 67° | 55° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 83° | 68° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Ward
The nearest airport, Alexandria International, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 153 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ward
Schools across Ward average a D+, better than 14% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Oakdale Elementary SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Oakdale Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Oakdale High SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ward school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ward 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 Ward against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ward
Is Ward a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ward ranks 45,858th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, tree cover, and low property taxes, and lowest on state infrastructure and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ward expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $132,154. The overall cost of living runs about 24% below the national average. Set against a $53,125 median income, cost of living beats 29% of towns.
Is Ward safe?
Ward is safer than 34% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $446 per resident a year.
Compare Ward with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ward. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ward 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.
Ward detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ward: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ward: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ward: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ward: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ward 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.