Saint James Parish

Saint James Parish scores 93 on appreciation and ranks 14th nationally out of 1,000 counties, placing it in the 98th percentile, yet the cash-flow score is listed at 0 and the cap rate comes back at zero as well. That combination tells you almost everything you need to know about this market: price growth is outrunning rent, and the numbers do not close for a cash-flow buyer at current prices. The median home sits at $210,429, up 7.36% year over year, and the affordability index of 85 suggests there is still room beneath the pricing ceiling, but without rent data in the dataset no gross yield or price-to-rent ratio can be calculated here. What the appreciation score of 93 says directly is that this parish is compounding equity at a rate that very few of the 1,000 counties in this analysis can match. Investors who need monthly income from day one should look elsewhere. Investors whose strategy is acquisition, hold, and equity extraction in three to seven years have a legitimate case to make.

That case belongs specifically to the appreciation buyer or, secondarily, a patient value-add operator who can manufacture income through renovation and rent-lift while the underlying land appreciates. The 7.36% year-over-year price gain on a $210,429 median base represents roughly $15,500 in equity per year on the median asset, before any mortgage paydown. A buyer putting 20% down ($42,086) at a 6.85% interest rate is carrying a meaningful mortgage cost, and with cash flow scoring zero, that carry is coming entirely out of pocket or being subsidized by rents the data does not confirm are sufficient. The stability score of 50 adds a layer of caution: this is not a market you can set and forget. Half-score on stability, combined with zero on cash flow, means the thesis is purely capital appreciation, and if that thesis breaks, there is no income cushion.

The economic context for Saint James Parish is worth understanding in structural terms. The parish sits in Louisiana's River Parishes corridor between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, a stretch historically anchored by petrochemical manufacturing and industrial plant operations along the Mississippi. The population of 20,090 is small, which means the rental pool is narrow and tenant turnover carries outsized consequences. A small tenant base also means that macro demand from industrial employment cycles, whether expansion or contraction, moves the local market more sharply than in a larger MSA. Investors used to diversified urban demand curves are underwriting a fundamentally different risk profile here.

On carry costs, Saint James Parish is actually a tailwind for anyone who does make the numbers work. The state-average effective property tax rate of 0.55% is flagged as low, and when combined with an insurance rate of 0.66%, the blended monthly tax and insurance load comes to $212 on the median asset. That is a meaningful cushion compared to higher-tax markets. Keep in mind this is a state-average estimate per Tax Foundation 2024 data, and actual parish or township rates may differ, so verify the specific assessment before closing. The insurance figure at 0.66% is notable: Louisiana carries hurricane and flood exposure, and depending on flood zone designation, the actual insurance cost on a specific property could exceed this estimate significantly. That line item deserves close scrutiny on any individual deal, particularly for properties near low-lying areas or within FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas.

The primary risk here is concentration. A population of 20,090 is thin enough that a single plant closure, layoff, or industrial restructuring event could meaningfully suppress rents and absorption simultaneously. Regulatory risk around coastal land use and environmental permitting also affects long-term development potential in this corridor. Neither of these risks can be quantified from the provided data, but both are real structural considerations that belong in any underwriting conversation for this parish.

Compared to its neighbors, Saint James Parish commands the highest median price at $210,429 and the highest overall score at 78, but the trade-off is zero current cash flow versus neighbors that at least have measurable rent data. Calcasieu Parish prices at $193,360 with a rent-to-price ratio of 6.59% and an overall score of 70. Iberia Parish prices at $134,124 with a rent-to-price ratio of 10.63% and a score of 69. If you need yield today, Iberia Parish at a 10.63% gross rent-to-price ratio is the clearest alternative in this peer set. If you are playing an equity game over a multi-year hold and you believe in the River Parishes industrial demand story, Saint James Parish at rank 14 nationally is the right choice. You are paying a premium for that positioning, and you are accepting the cash-flow gap as the cost of entry into a market the data says is appreciating faster than nearly anything else in the country.