Exploring the Safest Cities in Louisiana

Featuring coastal marshes, swamps, and deltas, Louisiana is a beautiful state to visit for nature lovers. It's also home to the famous city of New Orleans, known for having a distinctive culture influenced by the French and Spanish Creole. In the northern end of the state, you'll find tallgrass prairies, longleaf pine forests, and wet savannas. More than half of Louisiana is forested.

In any state, you'll find varying levels of safety in the cities and neighborhoods. At a state level, there are a total of 123,575 property crimes per year in Louisiana, which averages out to 26.72 per 1,000 residents. Louisiana's population is just over 4.6 million. Keep reading to learn more about the most secure areas to live in Louisiana.

Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge, a major city with a population of 222,185 and the state's capital, has safe neighborhoods to live in. The city enjoys a prime location on the Mississippi River and an abundance of fun activities throughout the year, including concerts, rodeos and music and food festivals.

• South Baton Rouge, a safe neighborhood with stately homes, attracts a number of highly educated executives. More than 77% of adults in the neighborhood have at least a bachelor’s degree.
• College students in Baton Rouge often choose LSU East because of its above-average safety and walkability. It's among the top 0.1% of college-friendly neighborhoods in Louisiana.
• Clearlake Estates consists primarily of large to medium single-family homes, attracting executives to the neighborhood. There are small apartment buildings in the area, too.

Jennings

Jennings is a small city in Louisiana that has one of the lowest crime rates in the state. The typical year doesn't see any property crimes here. Jennings is in the Jefferson Davis Parish and about 36 miles from Lake Charles.

• Jennings Airport is in City Center, one of the safest neighborhoods in Jennings. City Center is close to Jennings Golf Course, too. Because of its quiet atmosphere and low crime rate, the neighborhood is one of the most retirement-friendly in Louisiana.
• Jennings South is an affordable, safe suburban neighborhood. A mixture of fast-food workers and sales and service employees live in Jennings South.
• Jennings East, another affordable suburban neighborhood, attracts retirees and people who enjoy a peaceful atmosphere.

Rayne

Known as the Frog Capital of the World, Rayne has over 35 concrete frog statues scattered across the city. Many of them are painted and represent the employees of the business that they're adjacent to. Featuring more than 30 murals, Rayne is also nicknamed "Louisiana's City of Murals." In the '90s, the city government hired Robert Dafford, a famous artist, to create the murals. The property crime rate in Rayne is 5.45 per 1,000 residents.

• Arceneaux is a family-friendly rural neighborhood with good public schools and low crime rates. It ranks among the top 13.2% of family-friendly neighborhoods in Louisiana.
• Rayne East is a safe rural neighborhood that consists of medium to small mobile homes and single-family homes. Nearly 30% of the residents carpool to work. The neighborhood is walkable and college student-friendly as well.
• City Center is another college student-compatible area to live. It's walkable, and it has a below-average crime rate.

Harahan

If you want to live close to New Orleans, Harahan is a safe city that's just 11.3 miles away. The crime rate in Harahan is 6.58 property crimes per 1,000 residents.

• Harahan's City Center is among the top 0.1% of college-friendly neighborhoods in Louisiana. Low crime, walkability, and access to activities make it a desirable place to live.
• Nestled along the Mississippi River, Harahan South attracts residents who enjoy living by the water. There is a golf course in the neighborhood as well.
• Located north of Harahan South, Harahan North offers a safe urban environment. Most of the real estate in Harahan North consists of medium to small single-family homes and small apartment buildings.

Broussard

Broussard started out as a horse-and-buggy community but has grown into an industrial city. It gained official city status in 2002 and has over 300 businesses. Property crimes are a bit higher than the previous cities on this list at 18.28 per 1,000 residents but still lower than the state-wide rate of 26.72.

• With a vacancy rate of 1.7%, Capitan is a high-demand neighborhood. Most of the real estate consists of medium to large single-family homes and mobile homes. Capitan has among the highest concentration of active military members in the state as well.
• Broussard West, located near Vintage Park, has mostly medium to small single-family homes and apartment complexes.
• Lafayette Regional Airport is in the Elks neighborhood, a rural neighborhood of medium to small single-family homes and mobile homes.

DeRidder

Founded in the 1890s, DeRidder has many historic buildings like Beauregard Parish Courthouse, Beauregard Museum, and Hanging Jail. The Whiskey Chitto River and Sabine River are close to the city. Around 17.24 property crimes occur per 1,000 in DeRidder.

• Bon Ami, a rural neighborhood, is an affordable, safe place to live in Louisiana. Most of the real estate is medium to small single-family homes and mobile homes. Only 41 people per square mile live in Bon Ami, making it less crowded than 90.7% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.
• DeRidder South, located east of Beauregard Regional Airport, has one of the shortest commute times in the country. A significant number of active military personnel live in the neighborhood compared to other neighborhoods.
• Nearly 4% of the employed residents in Hite serve in the military. This neighborhood is also home to Beauregard Regional Airport. Most of the commuters spend less than 15 minutes traveling to work.

Will a home security system keep you safe in Louisiana?

Home security systems protect against crimes at your home, lowering your chance of becoming a victim. Even in the safest neighborhoods, crime can still happen.

• Safeguard your home: Our home automation system solves the problem of forgetting to turn on the porch light or lock the garage door. You can check the status of your home from our Vivint mobile app and control various aspects of your household via the app or the Vivint Smart Hub.
• Secure your doors: Smart locks give you the ability to lock and unlock your home on the Vivint app via a unique access code. This gives you peace of mind on those days you can't remember if you locked the door after leaving the house.
• Monitor your property: Outdoor cameras allow you to see who might be scouting your home. Vivint’s Outdoor Camera Pro illuminates an LED ring light and plays a loud noise when someone is caught in the frame and stays too long.
• Protect your porch: With our doorbell camera, you will always know who's at the door without the need to approach it and look through a peephole. You receive an alert whenever the doorbell camera detects a person as well and can view them on your Vivint Smart Hub.

Establish a secure home in Louisiana

Setting up a home security system helps keep your home a safe haven.

Even in an area where the crime rates are low, you can further protect your family by installing a quality security system. Contact our team of Smart Home Pros to discuss how we can make your home safer. Call us at 855.822.1220 today.