Chalmette, Louisiana

Area Profile

22,616 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Chalmette, in St. Bernard Parish.

53out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 29% of 4,196 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 14 sources
Opportunity3,403rd of 4,199 cities measured41
SchoolsTop 31% of 4,162 cities measured64
Growth2,989th of 4,224 cities measured40
Housing affordabilityTop 49% of 4,218 cities measured67
ClimateTop 20% of 4,225 cities measured78
Physical resilience3,168th of 4,226 cities measured32
Access2,575th of 4,226 cities measured90
Economic stability3,735th of 4,226 cities measured32
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable cities measured: unemployment is 4.7% and the Opportunity signal places Chalmette in the bottom 19%. The unemployment rate is published for St. Bernard Parish, LA, which contains Chalmette, rather than for Chalmette alone.

In the public schools here, 72% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 14.1 students for every teacher.

99 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, within 15% of the prior year — steady rather than turning. The permit count and 1 other measure here are published for St. Bernard Parish, LA, which contains Chalmette, rather than for Chalmette alone.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
22,616
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$54,904
Bottom 31% nationally
Density
3,152/sq mi
7.2 sq mi of land
Median age
35.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Louisiana
Nearest major airport
MSY
18 mi · Louis Armstrong New Orleans Intl
Median home value
$214,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment across St. Bernard Parish, LA, which contains Chalmette, is 4.7% — higher than in all but 36% of the 4,226 measured US cities.

Employment across St. Bernard Parish, LA, which contains Chalmette, fell 0.2% over the past year, to 18,699 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsSt. Bernard Parish, LA’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$40,3111st percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftSt. Bernard Parish, LA’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$43,6441st percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$7,5172024 ACS 5-Year$54,904Bottom 31%of 29,2232024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,9052024 ACS 5-Year$29,914Bottom 36%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year24.6%Bottom 15%of 31,7732024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±1.7 min2024 ACS 5-Year31.4 minBottom 28%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year13.6%Bottom 30%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year75.3%44th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentSt. Bernard Parish, LA’s figureJuly 202618,699Bottom 21%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (3 years)St. Bernard Parish, LA’s figureJuly 2026−0.5%Bottom 46%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (year over year)St. Bernard Parish, LA’s figureJuly 2026−0.2%Top 38%of 4,226July 2026
Labor forceSt. Bernard Parish, LA’s figureJuly 202619,61921st percentileof 4,226July 2026
Labor force participation ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year74.7%Bottom 38%of 31,5132024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wageNew Orleans-Metairie, LA Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$61,050Bottom 18%of 3,7292025 OEWS
Median annual wageNew Orleans-Metairie, LA Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$47,290Bottom 18%of 3,7292025 OEWS
Public transit to work ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year1.1%85th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)St. Bernard Parish, LA’s figureJuly 2026−0.4%Top 34%of 4,226July 2026
Unemployment rateSt. Bernard Parish, LA’s figureJuly 20264.7%Bottom 36%of 4,226July 2026
Worked from home ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year8.9%55th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202457k49k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $54,904 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

Largest occupations — New Orleans-Metairie, LA

OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons12,030$30,400
Registered Nurses11,530$81,850
General and Operations Managers10,670$105,110
Fast Food and Counter Workers10,110$25,470
Waiters and Waitresses10,050$16,640
Cashiers9,320$28,370

Searches the 40 largest occupations here that have a published wage.

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 St. Bernard Parish, LA, which contains this city.

72% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 71% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.1 students for every full-time teacher across 6 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
6
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.1
across all schools here
Math proficiency
72.4%
Top 25% in Louisiana
Reading proficiency
70.9%
Bottom 47% in Louisiana
All 6 public schools on record, largest first.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Chalmette High SchoolSt. Bernard Parish2,19314.878%73%
Lacoste Elementary SchoolSt. Bernard Parish62115.581%76%
Arlene Meraux Elementary SchoolSt. Bernard Parish58317.169%67%
Andrew Jackson Middle SchoolSt. Bernard Parish54614.055%72%
Chalmette Elementary SchoolSt. Bernard Parish46711.170%68%
C.F. Rowley Alternative SchoolSt. Bernard Parish1036.422%27%

62.3% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Louisiana’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

Prices for everything a household buys run about 9% below the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 91.2, against 100 for the nation. Nationally, housing drives most of the spread between places in this index; other goods vary far less.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the New Orleans-Metairie, LA Metro Area is up 14% over five years, and up 2.7% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $1,014 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.47% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,331, some 20% above the $1,110 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,331 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $53,200 a year, about 97% of the median household income here of $54,904.

The typical renter household here spends 33% of its income on rent, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,110 a month.

A median home at $214,700 costs 2.8 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $76,402, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Cost of living
91.2

Prices here run about 9% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Published for the New Orleans-Metairie, LA Metro Area as a whole. Prices are regional — people shop, commute and rent across a metropolitan area rather than within a city boundary — so this describes the cost of living around this place better than a figure drawn to its own limits would.

Rent as a share of income
33.0%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.8×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,331
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,110
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$214,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Chalmette’s median household income of $54,904, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living indexthe New Orleans-Metairie, LA Metro Area’s figure202391.2Top 9%of 3,7002023
Home price change (1 year)the New Orleans-Metairie, LA Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+2.7%43rd percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the New Orleans-Metairie, LA Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+13.9%1st percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the New Orleans-Metairie, LA Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+41.6%1st percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.52024 ACS 5-Year2.8Bottom 40%of 26,8152024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year61.2%22nd percentileof 31,7172024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3662024 ACS 5-Year9,03993rd percentileof 32,1772024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$1,113Top 30%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,701Top 29%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,331Top 29%of 4,072FY2026
Median gross rent ±$442024 ACS 5-Year$1,110Bottom 38%of 23,1202024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$12,3112024 ACS 5-Year$214,70057th percentileof 29,1112024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$1862024 ACS 5-Year$1,01424th percentileof 26,4402024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$13,3282024 ACS 5-Year$76,402Bottom 47%of 27,5482024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.09%2024 ACS 5-Year0.47%9th percentileof 20,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year33.0%Bottom 27%of 22,9502024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±612024 ACS 5-Year10790th percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year1.2%63rd percentileof 31,8952024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year6.9%50th percentileof 31,7692024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±1852024 ACS 5-Year73593rd percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures and the cost-of-living index.

Development Momentum

40/ 100
Ranks 2,989 of 4,224 published city profiles

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 99 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes. The multifamily share is published for St. Bernard Parish, LA, which contains Chalmette, rather than for Chalmette alone.

Federal tax returns show St. Bernard Parish, which contains Chalmette, lost about 0.3% of its residents through moves within the US in the most recent year, counting those who arrived against those who left. Households that moved in reported an average income of $40,311, below the $43,644 of households that moved out.

At 2.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities. The permit rate is published for St. Bernard Parish, LA, which contains Chalmette, rather than for Chalmette alone.

Units permitted
99
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
2.2
Bottom 45% nationally
Year over year
−15%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

People moving in and out

Net migration
−0.3%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
20%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$40,311
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$43,644
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Orleans Parish, LA 856 people · 41% of arrivals
  2. Jefferson Parish, LA 384 people · 19% of arrivals
  3. St. Tammany Parish, LA 171 people · 8.3% of arrivals
  4. Plaquemines Parish, LA 49 people · 2.4% of arrivals
  5. Harris County, TX 46 people · 2.2% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Orleans Parish, LA 604 people · 28% of departures
  2. Jefferson Parish, LA 367 people · 17% of departures
  3. St. Tammany Parish, LA 318 people · 15% of departures
  4. Pearl River County, MS 102 people · 4.7% of departures
  5. Harris County, TX 61 people · 2.8% of departures

Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. This is the figure for St. Bernard Parish, LA. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

The Census Bureau's Building Permits Survey lists only jurisdictions that issue their own permits, and Chalmette, LA is not one. This is the figure for St. Bernard Parish, LA, which contains this city.

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 91°F and January a low of 47°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 60.1 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 45, in the Good band, and about 2 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station NEW ORLEANS LAKEFRONT AP, 8.2 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND6.5"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year612024 calendar year
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals60.1"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals0.1"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals47°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals91°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals71991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year22024 calendar year
Median air quality index2024 calendar year452024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals31°F1991-2020 Normals

Air quality

Median air quality index
45
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
61
90th percentile index
Days above 100
2
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. Air quality is measured by EPA monitors and published by county only where a monitor sits; a county without one shows nothing rather than an estimate, and a county reading is still the county’s. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

32 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, inland flooding and coastal flooding, with hurricane alone responsible for 73% of it. Inland flooding is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.

HurricaneHigh
Coastal floodingElevated
DroughtModerate

Low or minimal exposure: lightning, heat wave, cold wave, tornado, wildfire, hail, earthquake, inland flooding, winter weather, ice storm, strong wind, landslide, tsunami, volcanic activity, avalanche.

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.

These are deaths, not offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

St. Bernard Parish has a modeled homicide rate of about 12.4 per 100,000 residents a year, because the CDC suppresses counts this small, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at about 17.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 47.2 per 100,000 residents in St. Bernard Parish.

Homicide
12.4
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
17.3
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Drug overdose
47.2
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
11.7
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe the county around Chalmette (St. Bernard Parish) rather than Chalmette itself. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. Either no municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — or its department did not report every month of the year. Either way there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. The cost-of-living index above is a price level for all consumption, not a household budget, and it excludes taxes. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Louis Armstrong New Orleans Intl at 18 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year88.8%Bottom 46%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle18 miTop 50%of 4,226NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle2Bottom 8%of 4,226NASR current cycle
No internet access ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year10.4%Bottom 36%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Louis Armstrong New Orleans IntlMSY18 mi10,104 ft
Stennis IntlHSA42 mi8,498 ft
Acadiana RgnlARA115 mi8,002 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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Area Score
53
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—

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Other cities in New Orleans-Metairie, LA

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
New OrleansOrleans Parish371,85347New Orleans vs Chalmette
MetairieJefferson Parish139,72957Metairie vs Chalmette
KennerJefferson Parish64,90452Kenner vs Chalmette
MarreroJefferson Parish32,54047
LaplaceSt. John the Baptist Parish28,34349
TerrytownJefferson Parish24,72649
HarveyJefferson Parish20,91545
GretnaJefferson Parish17,38948
EstelleJefferson Parish16,34150
LulingSt. Charles Parish13,96058
River RidgeJefferson Parish13,31254
WoodmereJefferson Parish11,87950

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.

Compare

Put Chalmette side by side with a similar place.

Chalmette vs HendersonChalmette vs New Iberia

Moving to Chalmette from somewhere else?

You get the difference in prices, rent and weather, and the income that would keep pace.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
Demographics, IncomeInternal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division
U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county)
filing years 2022–2023
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWS
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar year
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 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 every source with how often each updates.

ZIP codes in Chalmette

1 ZIP area

Every ZIP area in Chalmette with census figures of its own, largest first. The ones linked below diverge enough from the city as a whole to carry a full profile; the rest track Chalmette closely, so their figures are here rather than on a page that would repeat this one. An Area Score is calculated for published profiles only, which is why it is blank on those rows.

ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeMedian home valueArea Score
7004322,638$55,068$214,700—