The 10 Most Dangerous And Worst Neighborhoods In New Orleans, LA

The 10 Most Dangerous Neighborhoods In New Orleans For 2025

Should you desire to live in Desire? Well, it made this list, so you probably already have your answer. It’s certainly an affordable part of town, with a median home price of just $93,600. As you can guess from that figure, though, life in Desire isn’t exactly flush. Housing in the area is run down and there isn’t much demand for local real estate.

The underlying problem comes from a disastrous economy. More than 1 out of every 7 residents is out of work. Even those with jobs scrape by with a median income of just $14,134.

If you just heard the name, you’d probably be pretty excited to visit the Venetian Isles. Sounds like a getaway in a scenic part of Italy. And New Orleans’ Venetian Isles does offer a mild taste of Venice. A bayou version, anyway.

See, homes sit on the water and residents tend to travel by boat. And if you’re looking for more adventure, a quick trip will take you to the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge.

These charms aside, though, the area presents its share of challenges. Most of these fall under the financial category. After all, it’s tough to make your boat payments when unemployment rates run 5.3% and the median income stands at just $11,128.

Someday, a real estate agent might try to sell you property in Pines Village. Based on the name, they might promise a quaint community nestled into a tranquil forested setting. If they do, don’t fall for it. In actuality, there’s little green space to be found in the Pines Village. Even the “village” part is kind of a hype. Just regular neighborhoods populated with similar one-story houses.

What that crooked real estate agent probably already knows is that Pines Village faces serious economic woes. Even the median home price of $160,175 lies beyond the means of many locals. That’s thanks to the 16.8% unemployment rate and the $22,383 median income.

A small section on the south side of the Mississippi River, the Fischer Development Neighborhood sits within a curve of Highway 90. The unusually bureaucratic name comes from the fact this area was once home to a series of infamous low-income projects, known for raging crime and several high-profile murders.

A redevelopment program has since led to the demolition of many of these projects, but the overall economic problems still plague the neighborhood. Just look at the unemployment rate of 10.9%.

And housing in the area isn’t even that affordable any more. Sure, the median home price comes in at just $152,400. That would be a steal in many cities in America. But when locals pull in a median income of just $16,999, that becomes a steep mortgage.

Despite its name, West Lake Forest sits on the east side of the city. It’s pretty far from the action. In fact, it lies about as far from downtown as it does from the swamps of the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge.

A short drive from Lake Pontchartrain, the neighborhood is bounded to the north by I-10 and on the south by Dwyer Rd. That access to travel is an important component…you may want an escape route, at least if you’re looking for a good-paying job.

Finding jobs of any kind in the area poses a challenge. This dynamic leads to an unemployment rate of 8.4%. Meanwhile, wages are exceptionally low. The median income stands at $24,114.

Not that Florida. This Florida isn’t even by the water. Besides the false advertising there, this neighborhood features run-down homes and mediocre public schools. No wonder it lands on this list as the number 6 worst place to live in New Orleans for 2025.

In terms of amenities, things are fine. There are plenty of churches and the area has its share of restaurants. You’ve even got Odile Davis Park for a touch of green.

As you’ve probably guessed, though, the underlying problem here is economic. Like most of the neighborhoods on this list, Florida attracts little besides low-paying jobs. The median income hovers at just $20,465.

The Lower 9th Ward became nationally famous in 2005 as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Located just off the Mississippi River, in the far eastern part of the city, the neighborhood suffered significant flooding as a result of the storm. All this time later, the area is still struggling.

To be historically accurate, it faced significant problems even before Katrina hit. These underlying economic problems continue to afflict the residents. This includes a $28,535 median income and a 13.3% unemployment rate. Still, the community holds together, dotted by churches and sustained by a main drag along Claiborne Ave.

Methodology: How we determined the most dangerous New Orleans neighborhoods in 2025

To figure out how bad a place is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what places have the least amount of those things. We plugged the following criteria into Saturday Night Science to get the worst neighborhoods in New Orleans:

• High crime (Estimated)
• High unemployment (Less jobs)
• Low median income (Less pay)
• Low population density (No things to do)
• Low home values (No one’s willing to pay to live here)

Then, we ranked each neighborhood in New Orleans, Louisiana for each of these criteria from worst to best.

Next, we averaged the individual rankings for each criterion into a “Worst Score.”

The neighborhood with the lowest “Worst Score” ranks as the most dangerous neighborhood of New Orleans.

The article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. We updated this article for 2025. This report is our time ranking the worst neighborhoods to live in New Orleans.

Skip to the end to see the list of all 68 neighborhoods ranked from worst to best.