Study: Happiest Cities in Louisiana

Louisianans love to let the good times roll (“laissez les bons temps rouler” is in fact the unofficial code residents honor here). We did just that as we looked around this southern state for the cities where residents are sure to be happiest. They're the ones who have short commutes and aren't spending a crazy amount of their incomes on housing. Follow us around the bayou as we find where folks have the most cause to celebrate in Louisiana.

Study Methodology

We focused our study on cities with a population of 4,500 or higher. To narrow down our list, we used U.S. Census data and FBI Uniform Crime Statistics to assign each of them a ranking. The top 10 cities had the best rating overall based on these seven factors:

1. Restaurants
   
2. Crime rate
   
3. Commute
   
4. Departure time
   
5. Income
   
6. Divorce rate
   
7. Housing

Happy people tend to want to share their enthusiasm for life, and one of the ways they like to do that is by enjoying drinks or dinner out with good company. We based our first happiness measure on the number of restaurants per capita in each city.

We understand that your sense of safety can strongly influence how you feel about where you live. The next piece of data we focused on is the odds of being the victim of a violent crime.

Getting to and from work can be a real drag if you're tied up in traffic for a significant part of your day. To see where the trip is the shortest, we considered each city's average commute time.

Waking up with the sun has been shown to improve your mood and boost your productivity. We decided to look at which cities have the highest percentage of residents leaving for work before 5 a.m.

When there's more cash coming in every payday, it can make you feel more secure from a financial standpoint. Each of the cities in our study is ranked based in part on the median household income.

For couples who are happily married, divorce is usually the furthest thing from their minds. Unfortunately, not every marriage is made to last. To see where wedded bliss endures, we considered the percentage of divorcees is lowest in each city. How much you shell out for your mortgage or rent each month can influence how content you are with your choice of hometown. Our final study metric is the percentage of income residents in each city spend on housing.

10 Happiest Cities in Louisiana

10. Houma

• Restaurants per capita: 1 per 355 inhabitants
  
• Odds of being the victim of a violent crime: 1 in 161.6
  
• Average commute time: 22.4 minutes
  
• Percentage of residents leaving for work before 5 a.m.: 7.4%
  
• Median household income: $46,393
  
• Percentage of residents who are divorced: 12.3% of males, 14% of females
  
• Percentage of income spent on housing: 19%

Located in the heart of bayou country, the city of Houma is a prime spot for tourists, but it also gets the thumbs-up from the roughly 33,000 people who make their home here. Aside from being an outdoorsman's dream, it's also a great place to raise a family or enjoy your retirement if you're working with a tight budget. To top if off, you've got restaurants like Boudreau & Thibodeau's, which serves up classic Cajun favorites in a casual setting.

Did You Know: The city is named after the people of the United Houma Nation, a state-recognized Native American tribe.

9. Kaplan

• Restaurants per capita: 1 per 920 inhabitants
  
• Odds of being the victim of a violent crime: 1 in 664.1
  
• Average commute time: 20.4 minutes
  
• Percentage of residents leaving for work before 5 a.m.: 6.6%
  
• Median household income: $34,849
  
• Percentage of residents who are divorced: 6.6% of males, 16.6% of females
  
• Percentage of income spent on housing: 17.1%

With right around 4,600 residents, Kaplan holds the honor of being the smallest city in our list in terms of population, but it's big on good cheer. It's also worth noting that this quaint little town is the safest in our study, based on the low odds of being the victim of a violent crime. Housing costs aren't a drag on your income, and workers will appreciate how quickly the drive to work goes by.

Did You Know: Kaplan is known as the "Gateway to the Wetlands" because of its close proximity to several conservation areas in Louisiana's southern lowlands region.

8. Sulphur

• Restaurants per capita: 1 per 411 inhabitants
  
• Odds of being the victim of a violent crime: 1 in 130
  
• Average commute time: 15.3 minutes
  
• Percentage of residents leaving for work before 5 a.m.: 4.9%
  
• Median household income: $46,522
  
• Percentage of residents who are divorced: 9% of males, 16.4% of females
  
• Percentage of income spent on housing: 18.3%

Sulphur sits just to the west of Lake Charles, and the 20,000 people who have settled down here should be all smiles. The working crowd is especially pleased, considering that the city has the shortest average commute at just over 15 minutes. You won't see many frowns when payday rolls around, and residents don't have to hand over too much of their hard-earned dough for housing

Did You Know: One of Sulphur's elementary schools is named for Herman Frasch, a German immigrant who developed a unique method for mining the area's sulfur mines in the early 1900s.

7. Broussard

• Restaurants per capita: 1 per 392 inhabitants
  
• Odds of being the victim of a violent crime: 1 in 348
  
• Average commute time: 21.4 minutes
  
• Percentage of residents leaving for work before 5 a.m.: 4.6%
  
• Median household income: $55,122
  
• Percentage of residents who are divorced: 8.8% of males, 13.2% of females
  
• Percentage of income spent on housing: 19.9%

Just outside the larger city of Lafayette, the small town of Broussard is sitting pretty in the number 7 spot. One of the things that stands out about this city of 8,600 residents is its higher median income, which tops $55,000 annually. Buying or renting a home doesn't cost a fortune, and violent crime is less frequent than in other cities. Poor Boy's Riverside Inn is a choice gathering spot if you're in the mood for seafood gumbo and grilled gator bites.

Did You Know: Broussard was originally named Cote Gelee, meaning "frozen hills," by the early settlers who endured the bone-chilling winter of 1784.

6. Morgan City

• Restaurants per capita: 1 per 289 inhabitants
  
• Odds of being the victim of a violent crime: 1 in 269
  
• Average commute time: 19.5 minutes
  
• Percentage of residents leaving for work before 5 a.m.: 6.1%
  
• Median household income: $38,889
  
• Percentage of residents who are divorced: 9.5% of males, 12.9% of females
  
• Percentage of income spent on housing: 19.1%

Morgan City is situated to the west of Houma on the shores of Lake Palourde and the Atchafalaya River. There are just over 12,000 people living in the city, and from what we can tell, they seem to be an upbeat group of folks. About 6% of residents get their workday started with the sunrise and they earn a decent median income of nearly $39,000. If you're looking for an unusual twist on the basic burger and fries, you'll want to try the PB&J Bacon Burger at Morgan's Restaurant.

Did You Know: Morgan City's lush swamplands served as the backdrop for the 1918 film Tarzan of the Apes.

5. Leesville

• Restaurants per capita: 1 per 213 inhabitants
  
• Odds of being the victim of a violent crime: 1 in 220.8
  
• Average commute time: 18.4 minutes
  
• Percentage of residents leaving for work before 5 a.m.: 9.2%
  
• Median household income: $38,632
  
• Percentage of residents who are divorced: 9.7% of males, 17.2% of females
  
• Percentage of income spent on housing: 19.2%

If you're one of the 6,800 people who make their home in Leesville, you probably already know why locals are in such a good mood. Just over 9% of residents are out the door and on their way to work before 5 a.m., with many of them employed at the nearby Fort Polk military installation. Buying or renting a home won't set you back too much, and you should have a little cash left over to grab a slice at Fox's Pizza Den.

Did You Know: Fort Polk has the Army’s Joint Readiness Training Center, which both trains and deploys combat units.

4. Walker

• Restaurants per capita: 1 per 411 inhabitants
  
• Odds of being the victim of a violent crime: 1 in 142.7
  
• Average commute time: 30.7 minutes
  
• Percentage of residents leaving for work before 5 a.m.: 12.6%
  
• Median household income: $61,346
  
• Percentage of residents who are divorced: 7.1% of males, 21.9% of females
  
• Percentage of income spent on housing: 14.6%

For the 6,100 people who live in Walker, it's definitely a cut above the rest. The city earned the best individual ranking in three categories, starting with the highest percentage of early risers (at nearly 13%). Residents also earn the best median income, at more than $61,000, and they spend the lowest percentage of their pay on housing.

Did You Know: Walker didn't officially become a city in 2011, making it one of Louisiana's newest municipalities.

3. St. Gabriel

• Restaurants per capita: 1 per 3,378 inhabitants
  
• Odds of being the victim of a violent crime: 1 in 257.7
  
• Average commute time: 20.7 minutes
  
• Percentage of residents leaving for work before 5 a.m.: 10%
  
• Median household income: $43,641
  
• Percentage of residents who are divorced: 11.7% of males, 17.7% of females
  
• Percentage of income spent on housing: 14.7%

St. Gabriel is a peaceful little city of about 6,800 people, located along the Mississippi River. A solid 10% of residents like to get a head start on their workday, and they can usually reach their destination in about 20 minutes on average. Housing costs are the second-lowest of any city in our study, at just under 15% of income. Restaurants are few and far between locally, but you shouldn't have any trouble finding a place to satisfy your cravings just up the road in Baton Rouge.

Did You Know: Built by Acadian settlers between 1774 and 1776, St. Gabriel Church is the oldest surviving church structure in the Mississippi Valley.

2. Thibodaux

• Restaurants per capita: 1 per 242 inhabitants
  
• Odds of being the victim of a violent crime: 1 in 226.2
  
• Average commute time: 21.5 minutes
  
• Percentage of residents leaving for work before 5 a.m.: 9%
  
• Median household income: $42,435
  
• Percentage of residents who are divorced: 9.2% of males, 14.6% of females
  
• Percentage of income spent on housing: 18.2%

The city of Thibodaux is somewhat smaller than Houma, its neighbor to the south, but its nearly 15,000 residents don't seem to mind. Some of the things that helped the city rise higher in our rankings include a relatively high percentage of workers who leave for work first thing in the morning and an average commute of under 22 minutes. A median income of $42,000 and moderately pricing housing make it that much more appealing.

Did You Know: Happiness arrived early here in 1896, when Thibodaux had the honor of receiving the first rural free delivery of mail in Louisiana.

1. Jeanerette

• Restaurants per capita: 1 per 1,394 inhabitants
  
• Odds of being the victim of a violent crime: 1 in 619.4
  
• Average commute time: 20.8 minutes
  
• Percentage of residents leaving for work before 5 a.m.: 12.3%
  
• Median household income: $34,595
  
• Percentage of residents who are divorced: 5.8% of males, 13.3% of females
  
• Percentage of income spent on housing: 16.4%

Jeanerette's nickname is "Sugar City," and life is certainly sweet for the 5,500 people who hang their hat here. Married couples appear to fare especially well, as the combined divorce rate is the lowest of any city in our rankings. Violent crime isn't a regular occurrence, and housing costs aren't a budget breaker, something that families will especially appreciate. The area dining scene features a little something for everyone, from Cajun and Creole specialties to down-home southern favorites.

Did You Know: Since its founding, the cultivation of sugar cane has been a central focus of the city's economy.

If you're curious as to why bigger cities like New Orleans or Baton Rouge didn't find their way into our rankings, it really came down to the numbers. While they both have a tremendous amount to offer in the way of places to eat and things to do, the cities that featured in our top 10 simply had the edge in terms of livability and reasons for overall satisfaction.