East Baton Rouge Parish, LA

County Profile

452,938 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for East Baton Rouge Parish, LA.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

59out of 100
Area Score
Top 49% of 1,453 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 14 sources
OpportunityTop 25% of 1,463 counties measured68
Schools899th of 1,377 counties measured38
GrowthTop 37% of 1,453 counties measured57
Housing affordability1,126th of 1,462 counties measured65
ClimateTop 16% of 1,463 counties measured77
Physical resilience915th of 1,463 counties measured50
Access1,085th of 1,463 counties measured67
Economic stability1,130th of 1,463 counties measured38
The quick read

East Baton Rouge Parish ranks in the top 25% of counties measured for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 4.2% and median household income of $63,071.

In the public schools here, 63% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 13.3 students for every teacher.

Residential permitting has slowed: 2,333 units authorized over the past twelve months, 18% below the prior year. That follows a longer stretch moving the other way, through 2025.

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
452,938
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$63,071
Bottom 44% nationally
Density
994/sq mi
455.5 sq mi of land
Median age
34.1
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
East Baton Rouge Parish
Louisiana
Metro area
Nearest major airport
LFT
58 mi · Lafayette Rgnl/Paul Fournet Fld
Median home value
$248,800
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.2% — higher than in all but 47% of the 1,467 measured US counties.

Employment grew 2.9% over the past year, to 220,587 employed residents.

39% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 90% of measured US counties.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023$56,45344th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023$63,60165th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$2,1422024 ACS 5-Year$63,071Bottom 44%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,0802024 ACS 5-Year$38,736Top 31%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income2023$67,319Top 21%of 1,3892023
Poverty rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year17.3%Bottom 24%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±0.4 min2024 ACS 5-Year25.4 minTop 48%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±1.0%2024 ACS 5-Year38.5%Top 10%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year77.2%48th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 2026220,587Top 11%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026+2.9%Top 19%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026+2.9%Top 5%of 1,467July 2026
Labor forceJuly 2026230,24289th percentileof 1,467July 2026
Labor force participation ±0.8%2024 ACS 5-Year78.0%Top 38%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.3%2024 ACS 5-Year1.0%87th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026−0.4%Top 38%of 1,467July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20264.2%Bottom 47%of 1,467July 2026
Worked from home ±0.6%2024 ACS 5-Year8.6%50th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/076.33.0
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.2% in July 2026. It has been falling, over a series running from 2020-01 to 2026-07. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202463k58k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $63,071 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 — Baton Rouge, LA

OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Cashiers9,130$27,110
Retail Salespersons9,020$30,070
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand8,760$36,450
Fast Food and Counter Workers8,490$23,650
Registered Nurses8,290$81,130
General and Operations Managers8,230$107,140

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.

63% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 69% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.3 students for every full-time teacher across 110 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
115
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.3
across 110 of them
Math proficiency
63.4%
Bottom 27% in Louisiana
Reading proficiency
69.3%
Bottom 33% in Louisiana
The 12 largest of 115 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Zachary High SchoolZachary Community School District1,72615.785%90%
Baton Rouge Magnet High SchoolEast Baton Rouge Parish1,59317.7100%100%
Central High SchoolCentral Community School District1,52915.181%88%
LSU Laboratory SchoolLSU Laboratory School1,46311.098%100%
Woodlawn High SchoolEast Baton Rouge Parish1,33114.344%50%
Liberty High SchoolEast Baton Rouge Parish1,21818.293%97%
IDEA Bridge · charterEast Baton Rouge Parish1,12222.047%52%
Central Intermediate SchoolCentral Community School District1,03916.280%87%
Tara High SchoolEast Baton Rouge Parish1,01614.736%52%
Central Middle SchoolCentral Community School District1,01213.984%82%
BASIS Baton Rouge Materra Campus · charterEast Baton Rouge Parish888—87%87%
Northwestern Middle SchoolZachary Community School District84113.682%91%

69.0% 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 Baton Rouge, LA Metro Area is up 24% over five years, and up 2.8% 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 $1,656 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.67% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,204, close to the $1,147 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,204 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $48,200 a year, about 76% of the median household income here of $63,071.

The typical renter household here spends 34% of its income on rent, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,147 a month.

A median home at $248,800 costs 2.7 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $90,477, 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 Baton Rouge, 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
33.9%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.7×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,204
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,147
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$248,800
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against East Baton Rouge Parish’s median household income of $63,071, 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 Baton Rouge, LA Metro Area’s figure202391.2Top 28%of 8872023
Home price change (1 year)the Baton Rouge, LA Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+2.8%31st percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Baton Rouge, LA Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+24.4%4th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Baton Rouge, LA Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+46.7%2nd percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.12024 ACS 5-Year2.7Bottom 38%of 3,2172024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±0.8%2024 ACS 5-Year59.3%6th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±1362024 ACS 5-Year206,59195th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$1,064Bottom 38%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,511Top 47%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,204Bottom 47%of 1,423FY2026
Median gross rent ±$192024 ACS 5-Year$1,147Bottom 20%of 3,2152024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$3,3422024 ACS 5-Year$248,80072nd percentileof 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$442024 ACS 5-Year$1,65652nd percentileof 3,1722024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$3,2242024 ACS 5-Year$90,477Top 23%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.02%2024 ACS 5-Year0.67%36th percentileof 3,1262024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year33.9%Bottom 7%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±5942024 ACS 5-Year3,15390th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year1.5%35th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year12.7%72nd percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±1,3562024 ACS 5-Year29,29698th percentileof 3,2222024 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

57/ 100
Top 37% of 1,453 published county profiles
Permitting has been rising for the last 2 years of a series running from 2020 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run. The chart below compares the first year with the last, which can point the other way.

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.

Population has fallen 1% since 2020, to 453,022 in 2024.

Federal tax returns show East Baton Rouge Parish lost about 0.9% 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 $56,453, below the $63,601 of households that moved out.

At 5.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US counties.

Units permitted
2,333
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
5.2
Top 27% nationally
Year over year
−18%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
39.8%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

20202021202220232024456k451k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population. It has been rising, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
−0.9%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
38%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$56,453
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$63,601
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Livingston Parish, LA 1,897 people · 12% of arrivals
  2. Ascension Parish, LA 1,560 people · 9.9% of arrivals
  3. Orleans Parish, LA 585 people · 3.7% of arrivals
  4. Harris County, TX 558 people · 3.6% of arrivals
  5. West Baton Rouge Parish, LA 499 people · 3.2% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Livingston Parish, LA 2,721 people · 15% of departures
  2. Ascension Parish, LA 1,754 people · 9.5% of departures
  3. Harris County, TX 977 people · 5.3% of departures
  4. West Baton Rouge Parish, LA 559 people · 3.0% of departures
  5. Orleans Parish, LA 555 people · 3.0% 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. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

2020202120222023202420253k1k
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+101%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 92°F and January a low of 42°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 61.9 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 51, in the Moderate band, and about 7 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station BATON ROUGE RYAN AP, 3.2 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND6.5"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year692024 calendar year
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals61.9"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals0.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals42°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals92°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals71991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year72024 calendar year
Median air quality index2024 calendar year512024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals31°F1991-2020 Normals

Air quality

Median air quality index
51
Moderate on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
69
90th percentile index
Days above 100
7
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

50 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, hurricane and tornado, with inland flooding alone responsible for 39% of it. Inland flooding and tornado are independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large those hazards are.

LightningModerate
HurricaneElevated
DroughtModerate

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

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). These are FEMA’s own figures for this county rather than a value derived from surrounding geographies. 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.

East Baton Rouge Parish records 19.0 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 24.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 23.2 per 100,000 residents in East Baton Rouge Parish.

Homicide
19.0
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
24.5
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
23.2
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
10.9
per 100,000 residents

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 East Baton Rouge Parish as a whole. 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. City profiles inside this area carry their own figure where their department reported a full year. 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

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Lafayette Rgnl/Paul Fournet Fld at 58 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±0.8%2024 ACS 5-Year91.1%Top 19%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle58 miBottom 23%of 1,463NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle4Top 43%of 1,463NASR current cycle
No internet access ±0.6%2024 ACS 5-Year6.9%Top 23%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Lafayette Rgnl/Paul Fournet FldLFT58 mi8,000 ft
Acadiana RgnlARA59 mi8,002 ft
Louis Armstrong New Orleans IntlMSY63 mi10,104 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
59
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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
Housing, IncomeU.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
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
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
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 areas

Only ZIP areas whose income or home value differ from their city’s by at least ten percent get a profile of their own, so this is a selection rather than every ZIP code in the county.