QoL Rank
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Louisiana

Louisiana has a quality of life score of 20/100 (F, poor) and ranks #51 of 51 states. Its strongest category is cost of living (46) and its weakest is safety (10). Its top-rated larger counties are Vernon Parish, St. Tammany Parish, West Feliciana Parish.

  • Safety: 10
  • Cost of living: 46
  • Education: 12
  • Quality of life: 13

Key figures: violent crime 519.3 per 100,000 people a year (US 345.2); median rent $1,064 a month; median home value $216,500; median household income $58,273; life expectancy 73.3 years.

Counties in Louisiana, best first

  1. Vernon Parish 53
  2. Cameron Parish 53
  3. St. Tammany Parish 50
  4. West Feliciana Parish 48
  5. LaSalle Parish 48
  6. Plaquemines Parish 48
  7. Ascension Parish 47
  8. Vermilion Parish 47
  9. Beauregard Parish 47
  10. Grant Parish 46
  11. St. Charles Parish 44
  12. West Carroll Parish 43
  13. Livingston Parish 43
  14. Bossier Parish 43
  15. St. James Parish 42
  16. West Baton Rouge Parish 42
  17. Lincoln Parish 41
  18. Jackson Parish 41
  19. Calcasieu Parish 40
  20. Lafourche Parish 39
  21. Terrebonne Parish 39
  22. De Soto Parish 39
  23. Lafayette Parish 38
  24. St. Mary Parish 36
  25. St. Bernard Parish 36
  26. Winn Parish 36
  27. Catahoula Parish 36
  28. East Baton Rouge Parish 36
  29. Jefferson Parish 35
  30. Jefferson Davis Parish 35
  31. Allen Parish 34
  32. Caldwell Parish 34
  33. Claiborne Parish 34
  34. Sabine Parish 34
  35. Rapides Parish 32
  36. St. Martin Parish 32
  37. East Feliciana Parish 32
  38. Franklin Parish 32
  39. Ouachita Parish 31
  40. Assumption Parish 31
  41. Richland Parish 31
  42. East Carroll Parish 31
  43. Iberville Parish 31
  44. Pointe Coupee Parish 30
  45. Orleans Parish 30
  46. St. John the Baptist Parish 29
  47. Bienville Parish 29
  48. Union Parish 28
  49. Iberia Parish 28
  50. Avoyelles Parish 27
  51. Tensas Parish 27
  52. Madison Parish 26
  53. Caddo Parish 26
  54. Acadia Parish 26
  55. Concordia Parish 26
  56. Evangeline Parish 25
  57. St. Helena Parish 25
  58. Natchitoches Parish 24
  59. Red River Parish 24
  60. Tangipahoa Parish 24
  61. Webster Parish 24
  62. St. Landry Parish 22
  63. Morehouse Parish 18
  64. Washington Parish 16

Your priorities

Choose how much each category counts toward the overall score. The map, rankings and every place’s overall score update as you go.

About the data

Every county is compared with every other US county, and every state with the other states.

Each measure becomes a percentile from 0 to 100, where 100 is always best. For crime, deaths, disaster risk, costs and commutes, the lowest value is best. A category score averages its measures’ percentiles and is then scaled so all four categories have the same spread around 50, so each counts equally. The overall score is the average of the four. 50 is a typical place, and most land between 35 and 65. Your priorities lets you weight the categories differently.

Grades: A 65 and up, B 55–64, C 45–54, D 35–44, F under 35.

Each category lists a county’s own figures next to its state’s and the US figures. Under the state and US columns, Difference shows whether the county is higher or lower, as a share of that figure (hover for the exact gap). Rank shows where it ranks instead: “ranked 75%” means it does better than 75% of the counties in its state, or in the US. A green arrow or dot means the county does better, red means worse.

Compare puts any two places side by side, counties or states, in any state. The better value in each row is highlighted.

A county gets an overall score only if all four categories have data and at least 60% of the measures are present. Small counties often have suppressed data, and without this rule they rank at the top on just a few numbers. Top 10 lists only include counties with at least 10,000 people.

What’s measured

Limitations

Sources