Belle Chasse, Louisiana
Area Profile
10,934 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Belle Chasse, in Plaquemines Parish.
Missing required signal: growth. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.
Unemployment is 4.3% and median household income $115,012, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.
Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by hurricane, coastal flooding and drought.
A major airport is 18 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment of 4.3% is lower than 51% of the 3,904 measured US cities.
Employment fell 0.7% over the past year, to 9,787 employed residents.
Household income is higher than at least 88% of measured US cities.
| Metric | Value | Compared with peers | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income ±$17,713 | $115,012 | Top 12% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$4,665 | $46,927 | Top 21% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate | 6.1% | Bottom 29% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute | 29.1 min | Top 38% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 29.8% | Top 31% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Employment | 9,787 | Bottom 3% | June 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years) | -2.3% | Bottom 16% | June 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year) | -0.7% | Top 48% | June 2026 |
| Labor force | 10,231 | Bottom 3% | June 2026 |
| Labor force participation | 66.3% | Top 29% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Mean annual wage | $61,050 | Bottom 18% | 2025 OEWS |
| Median annual wage | $47,290 | Bottom 18% | 2025 OEWS |
| Unemployment change (year over year) | 0.1% | Top 49% | June 2026 |
| Unemployment rate | 4.3% | Bottom 49% | June 2026 |
| Occupation | People employed | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Retail Salespersons | 12,030 | $30,400 |
| Registered Nurses | 11,530 | $81,850 |
| General and Operations Managers | 10,670 | $105,110 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 10,110 | $25,470 |
| Waiters and Waitresses | 10,050 | $16,640 |
| Cashiers | 9,320 | $28,370 |
Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Plaquemines Parish, LA, which contains this city.
Schools
How it’s calculated →52% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 61% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.
There are 12.7 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.
| School | District | Students | Per teacher | Math | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belle Chasse High School | Plaquemines Parish | 883 | 13.2 | — | — |
| Belle Chasse Academy · charter | Belle Chasse Academy | 773 | 12.5 | 58% | 73% |
| Belle Chasse Middle School | Plaquemines Parish | 656 | 10.9 | 42% | 47% |
| Belle Chasse Elementary School | Plaquemines Parish | 543 | 14.3 | 54% | 59% |
| Belle Chasse Primary School | Plaquemines Parish | 395 | 13.6 | — | — |
56.6% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.
Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Louisiana’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.
Housing & affordability
How it’s calculated →Median rent of $1,485 takes 15% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.
A median home costs 3.6 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.
| Metric | Value | Compared with peers | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home price to income | 3.56 | Top 35% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate | 79.8% | Top 42% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±362 | 4,573 | Top 12% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median gross rent ±$193 | $1,485 | Top 21% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$34,727 | $410,000 | Top 17% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income | 15.5% | Bottom 28% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate | 7.7% | Bottom 41% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.
Growth & development
How it’s calculated →No building-permit activity is published for this location by the Census Building Permits Survey.
Weather & climate
8 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 90°F and January a low of 43°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 63.8 inches.
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Annual precipitation | 63.8" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low | 43°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high | 90°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months | 8 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Seasonal temperature swing | 29°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.
Physical risk
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, coastal flooding and drought.
Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, lightning, cold wave, tornado, earthquake, hail, inland flooding, wildfire, winter weather, landslide, ice storm, strong wind.
Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.
Safety
How it’s measured →These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.
Plaquemines Parish records 12.9 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.
Firearm deaths of all intents run at 19.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.
Drug overdose deaths run at 26.8 per 100,000 residents in Plaquemines Parish.
Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.
Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Plaquemines Parish as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Belle Chasse rather than Belle Chasse itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.
What this profile does not cover
Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.
- Reported crime
- The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
- Taxes
- No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
- Full cost of living
- No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.
Access
2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 18 miles away.
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Louis Armstrong New Orleans Intl | MSY | 18 mi | 10,104 ft |
| Stennis Intl | HSA | 48 mi | 8,498 ft |
| Acadiana Rgnl | ARA | 113 mi | 8,002 ft |
Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.
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Other cities in New Orleans-Metairie, LA
Same metropolitan area, measured the same way| City | County | Population | Area Score | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Orleans | Orleans Parish | 371,853 | 47 | vs Belle Chasse |
| Metairie | Jefferson Parish | 139,729 | — | vs Belle Chasse |
| Kenner | Jefferson Parish | 64,904 | 53 | vs Belle Chasse |
| Marrero | Jefferson Parish | 32,540 | — | vs Belle Chasse |
| Laplace | St. John the Baptist Parish | 28,343 | — | vs Belle Chasse |
| Terrytown | Jefferson Parish | 24,726 | — | vs Belle Chasse |
| Chalmette | St. Bernard Parish | 22,616 | — | vs Belle Chasse |
| Harvey | Jefferson Parish | 20,915 | — | vs Belle Chasse |
| Gretna | Jefferson Parish | 17,389 | 50 | vs Belle Chasse |
| Estelle | Jefferson Parish | 16,341 | — | vs Belle Chasse |
| Luling | St. Charles Parish | 13,960 | — | vs Belle Chasse |
| River Ridge | Jefferson Parish | 13,312 | — | vs Belle Chasse |
Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.
Similar places
Matched on AreaProfile signals, not geographyCompare
Put Belle Chasse side by side with a similar place.
Data & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle | 28-day NASR cycle |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) | Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current) |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals | Every ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period) |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics | 2025 OEWS | Annual (spring release) |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | June 2026 | Monthly |
| Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year | Annual (5-year estimates released each December) |
| safety | U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics Provisional county-level mortality by intent | April, 2025 to March, 2026 | Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years |
| schools | U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments | 2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school year | Directory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them |
Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.
ZIP codes in Belle Chasse
1 published ZIP profiles| ZIP | Population | Median household income | Area Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 70037 | 16,639 | $98,983 | — |