There’s no denying it: there are plenty of places in Louisiana that are downright beautiful and full of excitement.
Unfortunately, not all towns and cities in Pelican State are so lucky.
Just like in all U.S. States, there are definitely some boring places within Louisiana’s’ borders. You know the places where everyone has an AARP card and the most exciting thing they do all day is post a picture of their grandchild on Facebook.
Like Central, for instance. In our latest analysis, we found that this city was the most boring city in all of Louisiana according to Saturday Night Science. But don’t feel bad if you’re a resident of Central. There are plenty of other boring, lackluster places in Louisiana as well.
Here they are. Try not to jump out of your seat with excitement.
40.4 median age · 45.0% married households · #9 oldest in Louisiana
Located in
East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana
Central is the thirteenth-largest city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the second largest city in East Baton Rouge Parish. Central became the state’s newest city in April 2005. It is part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population of Central was 26,864 as of the 2010 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
38.3 median age · 40.0% married households · #22 oldest in Louisiana
Located in
East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana
Zachary is a city in the East Baton Rouge parish of Louisiana in the United States. It lies 16 miles north of the city of Baton Rouge, and had a population of 14,960 at the 2010 census, up from 11,275 in 2000.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
39.8 median age · 33.0% married households · #12 oldest in Louisiana
Located in
Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana
Jennings is a city in and the parish seat of Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana, United States, near Lake Charles. The population was 10,383 at the 2010 census, a small decline from the 2000 tabulation. The city is 68 percent white.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
43.7 median age · 34.0% married households · #4 oldest in Louisiana
Located in
St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana
Mandeville is a small city in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 11,560 at the 2010 census. Mandeville is located on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain, south of Interstate 12. It is across the lake from the city of New Orleans and its southshore suburbs. It is part of the New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner metropolitan area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
35.1 median age · 44.0% married households · #39 oldest in Louisiana
Located in
St. Martin Parish, Louisiana
Broussard is a small city in Lafayette parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The population was 6,754 from the 2005 Census Est.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
40.1 median age · 27.0% married households · #10 oldest in Louisiana
Located in
Allen Parish, Louisiana
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
42.0 median age · 37.0% married households · #7 oldest in Louisiana
Located in
Lafayette Parish, Louisiana
Scott is the fourth largest municipality in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population rose to over 8,000 according to the 2010 census results. Scott is a suburb of Lafayette and is part of the Lafayette Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
39.0 median age · 30.0% married households · #16 oldest in Louisiana
Located in
St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana
Covington is a city in, and the parish seat of, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 8,765 at the 2010 census. It is located at a fork of the Bogue Falaya and the Tchefuncte River.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
34.8 median age · 47.0% married households · #42 oldest in Louisiana
Located in
Lafayette Parish, Louisiana
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
38.9 median age · 31.0% married households · #18 oldest in Louisiana
Located in
Ascension Parish, Louisiana
Gonzales is a small city in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 9,781. Known as the “Jambalaya Capital of the World”, it is famous for its annual Jambalaya Festival, which was first held in 1968. Stephen “Steve” F. Juneau came up with the idea for the Jambalaya Festival and served as the first president of the Jambalaya Festival Association President.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Louisiana’s statewide median.
On the map
Where the quiet settles in Louisiana
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we determined the boring cities in the Pelican State
You would present the following case to your friends if you were argueing with them at a bar about the most boring place to live in Louisiana. And that’s why we call it Saturday Night Science.
Because our data speaks more truth than feelings.
To figure out how boring a place is, we factored in things we generally think make people exciting, and then we figure out which cities have the least number of those exciting people.
We used the U.S. American Community Census data to gather the information presented here. Some of the things people tend to think of as making a city’s population boring include:
- % of Population Over 25 (higher is more boring)
- % of Married Household (higher is more boring)
- Average Age (higher is more boring)
- % of Households With Kids (higher is more boring)
- Population density (lower is more boring)
Then, our algorithm generates a ranking for each place in these categories. After crunching the numbers, all of the cities ranked from most boring to most exciting.
For this ranking, we used every Louisiana city with at least 5,000 residents. This keeps us from prejudicing our rankings by including very small pockets of retired people.
Grab your rocker and hold on.
We updated this article for 2026, and it’s our eleventh time ranking the most boring cities in Louisiana.
The full plate
Detailed List Of The Most Boring Cities In Louisiana For 2026
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Boring Score | Population | Average Age | % Married | % Kids |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Central | 10.60 | 29,783 | 40.4 | 45.0% | 34.5% |
| 2 | Zachary | 11.20 | 19,952 | 38.3 | 40.0% | 35.1% |
| 3 | Jennings | 13.30 | 9,553 | 39.8 | 33.0% | 36.6% |
| 4 | Mandeville | 14.80 | 12,946 | 43.7 | 34.0% | 33.5% |
| 5 | Broussard | 16.40 | 14,322 | 35.1 | 44.0% | 38.3% |
| 6 | Oakdale | 16.90 | 6,546 | 40.1 | 27.0% | 33.8% |
| 7 | Scott | 17.20 | 8,609 | 42.0 | 37.0% | 23.0% |
| 8 | Covington | 17.70 | 11,658 | 39.0 | 30.0% | 33.5% |
| 9 | Youngsville | 18.60 | 17,427 | 34.8 | 47.0% | 46.1% |
| 10 | Gonzales | 19.40 | 13,108 | 38.9 | 31.0% | 29.2% |
| 11 | St. Gabriel | 20.00 | 6,639 | 36.8 | 16.0% | 37.5% |
| 12 | Addis | 21.80 | 7,252 | 33.8 | 39.0% | 28.9% |
| 13 | Plaquemine | 22.00 | 6,075 | 43.4 | 43.0% | 28.1% |
| 14 | Ponchatoula | 22.10 | 7,808 | 44.0 | 29.0% | 23.8% |
| 15 | Denham Springs | 23.30 | 9,323 | 39.7 | 29.0% | 24.7% |
| 16 | Carencro | 23.30 | 11,619 | 32.8 | 40.0% | 38.9% |
| 17 | St. Martinville | 23.60 | 5,297 | 49.4 | 30.0% | 16.7% |
| 18 | Breaux Bridge | 23.90 | 7,501 | 37.8 | 29.0% | 36.4% |
| 19 | Minden | 24.00 | 11,455 | 38.5 | 26.0% | 33.4% |
| 20 | Slidell | 24.40 | 28,561 | 38.9 | 29.0% | 31.5% |
| 21 | Franklin | 24.50 | 6,461 | 37.7 | 31.0% | 31.3% |
| 22 | Harahan | 25.30 | 8,904 | 50.0 | 36.0% | 16.2% |
| 23 | Bogalusa | 25.40 | 10,468 | 40.0 | 23.0% | 33.1% |
| 24 | Westwego | 27.20 | 8,335 | 43.6 | 30.0% | 23.0% |
| 25 | Sulphur | 27.20 | 20,775 | 38.0 | 30.0% | 33.0% |
| 26 | Crowley | 28.20 | 11,422 | 40.6 | 34.0% | 24.3% |
| 27 | Houma | 29.10 | 32,392 | 34.9 | 36.0% | 36.2% |
| 28 | DeRidder | 29.70 | 9,763 | 37.6 | 18.0% | 29.6% |
| 29 | Pineville | 30.00 | 14,160 | 36.2 | 26.0% | 32.1% |
| 30 | Alexandria | 30.50 | 44,060 | 37.6 | 23.0% | 30.7% |
| 31 | Thibodaux | 31.20 | 15,732 | 39.0 | 33.0% | 21.1% |
| 32 | Kenner | 32.00 | 64,904 | 39.3 | 23.0% | 28.3% |
| 33 | Patterson | 32.20 | 5,744 | 36.3 | 32.0% | 33.6% |
| 34 | Walker | 32.50 | 6,390 | 30.9 | 27.0% | 31.5% |
| 35 | Baker | 32.70 | 12,253 | 33.5 | 27.0% | 35.0% |
| 36 | Shreveport | 32.90 | 180,982 | 37.9 | 22.0% | 27.7% |
| 37 | Lake Charles | 33.30 | 81,143 | 36.6 | 29.0% | 26.2% |
| 38 | Eunice | 33.40 | 9,239 | 37.9 | 26.0% | 26.0% |
| 39 | Lafayette | 33.60 | 121,715 | 36.9 | 30.0% | 24.6% |
| 40 | West Monroe | 34.20 | 12,729 | 35.4 | 26.0% | 29.8% |
| 41 | Leesville | 34.40 | 5,495 | 34.3 | 12.0% | 31.2% |
| 42 | New Iberia | 34.50 | 27,571 | 37.0 | 29.0% | 30.4% |
| 43 | Bastrop | 34.60 | 9,232 | 31.3 | 21.0% | 37.5% |
| 44 | Monroe | 34.60 | 47,004 | 35.0 | 20.0% | 32.6% |
| 45 | New Orleans | 34.60 | 371,853 | 38.8 | 17.0% | 23.1% |
| 46 | Ville Platte | 34.70 | 6,253 | 37.9 | 27.0% | 29.1% |
| 47 | Donaldsonville | 36.00 | 6,831 | 29.1 | 26.0% | 48.1% |
| 48 | Opelousas | 36.10 | 15,495 | 37.1 | 22.0% | 29.0% |
| 49 | Gretna | 36.50 | 17,389 | 38.3 | 19.0% | 26.9% |
| 50 | Rayne | 37.00 | 7,105 | 30.1 | 34.0% | 31.2% |
| 51 | Abbeville | 37.00 | 11,003 | 33.9 | 19.0% | 32.9% |
| 52 | Natchitoches | 42.80 | 17,577 | 26.5 | 18.0% | 25.0% |
| 53 | Grambling | 44.00 | 5,287 | 21.2 | 10.0% | 27.6% |
| 54 | Hammond | 44.40 | 21,539 | 27.7 | 19.0% | 27.4% |
| 55 | Tallulah | 45.60 | 5,969 | 31.9 | 18.0% | 28.1% |
| 56 | Ruston | 46.60 | 22,284 | 24.3 | 18.0% | 20.1% |
| 57 | Baton Rouge | 50.00 | 222,771 | 31.5 | 18.0% | 24.7% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 57 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
There You Have It – Now That You’re Asleep
On a ranking like this, there are usually no winners, but since Louisiana isn’t necessarily the most boring state in the United States, the cities on this ranking can at least take solace that there are, in fact, more boring cities in the country.
The most boring cities in Louisiana are Central, Zachary, Jennings, Mandeville, Broussard, Oakdale, Scott, Covington, Youngsville, and Gonzales.
If you’re also curious enough, here are the most exciting places in Louisiana, according to science.
