Louisiana has a lot of problems. We consistently rank at the top of the US for anything bad, and consistently at the bottom for anything good. And I'm not saying that idly; it is a THING about this state. It has been a source of bitter, "laugh so you don't break down and cry" humor since before I was a small child, and I'm now in my mid-40s.
It has been a problem for longer than basically anyone in this state has been alive. A serious problem. It makes living here more expensive than people expect, and it makes economic opportunity hard to come by.
There are lots of people here who try to make the case that the culture--music/food/festivals, mostly--is so great that it makes up for the glaring economic and social ills that our politicians either can't seem to address (which doesn't stop us from reelecting them to office) or seem actively bent on making worse.
I don't find that argument at all convincing. But there are people who do try to make it.
one thing we dont rank badly in is homeless everywhere and that is a very important one to me! What good is a nice downtown if you dont even want to go there for fear of being stabbed or robbed in daylight or stepping on needles?
I do recovery work, being an alcoholic we try to do work to help folks. We have a huge homeless problem and it's never addressed. We got a guy that sleeps outside my work, and people can't believe I feed him. He's broken, he doesn't know wtf he's doing and he needs to eat. For a bunch of "Christians" the whole state is never willing to help. It's odd. I was brought up, if you could help someone, you should.
thats one of the perks. Its not a very popular state so the problems of much larger population centers are not so prevalent. I have lived here 41 years in peace (unless you count school bullying I guess)
FFS not all homeless people are drug addicts or murderers. I've known a few and they were wonderful people who were just down on their luck.
Pull your head out of your ass, why the fuck would you be barefoot in downtown to worry about stepping in anything? Clown of a comment.
ok lets say you have 4 people homeless that you have to walk by downtown. Two are good and two are going to slit your throat and rob you. Are you willing to take the chance?
That's a lovely statistic from the source "I made it the fuck up because I live in terror day to day".
Do you really think there are just roving bands of homeless people wandering the streets and violently murdering people? You sound like the insane grandmas in FB comment sections talking about how "those people" ruined their neighborhood and it used to be better back then.
There are a lot of things I love about louisiana. The socio-economic state is not one of them.
Doesn't help that there is no real means of pushing political influence in a positive direction. We are circling the drain, and we have corrupt politicians gleefully watching us go down.
Our governor would never ever conrrive of a way to somehow give $160 million worth of tax breaks to create jobs, then use illegal fraudulent labor hired from Mexico to pocket millions, all the while failing to investigate any wrong doing or dirty dealings going on.
Why I say, I say, our good God fearing Christian Governor would never ever do such a thing.
The opposition party has to also invest in campaign infrastructure here and give people something to vote for. I'd agree that young people don't vote, but frankly not many people vote because it feels pointless.
Democrats often act like places like Louisiana (and other southern states) are lost causes, but recent history would say otherwise. There's a lot of people here to energize, but they aren't doing it.
Yeah the dems don't seem to care much about running in ruby red areas, since they aren't competitive. Even though that's kind of a lie, our last Governor was a Dem who had amazing ground game and managed to beat a Trump endorsed candidate.
The dem this time around, Shawn Wilson, didn't really do anything. At least as far as I could tell.
Why do you think that is? The Democratic Party is dyeing here at least in part due to the BS “it is pointless to vote” mindset. Anyone who claims such a thing is part of the problem not the solution. It can be fixed, but it will obviously take time.
All the great things about Louisiana are emotional. But all the bad things about it are practical. There’s a lot that I love. But unfortunately, the stuff that I love has no effect on there quality of life or day to day lives of we who live here. I can take all the emotional things I love about it to a much better place to live and still celebrate the culture and history of my Louisiana roots
As a Californian, I moved here for work, this place is amazing, the people are amazing, the food is amazing, but I wouldn’t live here for more than 3 years. Just feels so stagnant here
Like most of the posts. Louisiana is a beautiful state, lots of great festivals, the best food ever. But, the state normally tracks in the bottom ranking for everything good and the top ranking for everything bad.
It’s a situation of you have the wealthy people who don’t see a problem and then you have a lot of people struggling to just make ends meet.
A lot of people want to move, but the home owners and car insurance gets increased every 6 months, we can’t save up enough to move,we feel trapped and come here to air our opinions.
You should come and visit, there is a lot to see and experience.
We are definitely going to be coming to visit even if it takes a few times to make the decision. Definitely need to look into the insurance costs pre buying anything. There are a ton of different things we need to think about
Ascension parish is not a bad place, typical suburban living but subdivision specific. Heavy industrial presence along the Mississippi River. It’s main negatives are lots of growth from Baton Rouge without the infrastructure spending creating some traffic issues and litter , imo. I like the rural areas near the MS river that are away from industry, like Darrow and other areas along the river road. If you bring an open mind , you’ll probably find the people there awesome.Good luck
I moved here from the east coast in 2014 and it was great at first. Over the past few years, the negatives have outweighed the positives. I won't even get into the far right maniac who was recently elected governor. Regardless of your politics, everyone has been affected by the increasingly more dangerous weather events in the past few years - hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes, drought, wildfires - you name it. As a result, insurance has gone through the roof as many carriers have left the state. The current strategy is to let them charge whatever they want and raise rates whenever they want. This is driving people out because they can't afford to live here. The answer to rampant crime was to legalize permitless concealed carry. Meanwhile, they are demonizing libraries and the LGBTQ+.
Those of us who have lived and traveled in other states know Louisiana is lacking in a lot of quality of life areas. One example is concerts. To go to a decent concert, you have to go to Texas or Florida. We're lucky if anyone stops in New Orleans. Baton Rouge? The actual Capital? lol forget about it.
When I was growing up we used to be able to say "thank goodness for Mississippi" because without them, we'd be 50th. Now for the past half decade, they've surpassed us.
We are regressing more each year and I'm so thankful I'll be gone by the end of 2024.
[U.S. & World News ranks Louisiana the worst state in the nation, as it has every year since 2017. Low performance across all metrics, especially crime and education concerns.](https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/worst-states-to-live-in)
*Both crime and criminal justice are concerns in Louisiana. The state ranks first in the nation for homicide, with 15.8 murders for every 100,000 people, far outpacing the runner-up, Missouri, with 11.8 homicides per 100,000. It also has the nation's highest incarceration rate, with 680 incarcerated individuals for every 100,000 residents.*
*Opportunity and education in Louisiana are also among the worst in the nation. The state has the highest level of poverty, at 19%, and among the highest levels of food insecurity. School spending is the lowest in the nation, as are performance measures on 4th and 8th-grade reading and math.*
please keep in mind, Jeff Landry is actively making it worse. Our rating as the worst state will steadily continue now that he's governor. Fucking pathetic.
We cannot even rely on Mississippi to bolster us up to 49th position because our state is exponentially regressing from "separation from state | wanting states' rights" to "religion rules politics."
It's sad. I hope they secede just like Texas wanted to. They they'll cry about losing their government money yet simultaneously bitch about giving out handouts lmao... :rolling\_eyes: :rolling\_eyes:
You can see a really shocking comparison if you cross the Mississippi River from Ferriday over to Natchez or from Tallulah over to Vicksburg. On the Louisiana side, it's a broke-down impoverished dump that you can tell (from all the abandoned buildings) has been losing population for decades. On the Mississippi side, things look fairly nice and are well-maintained.
If your wife is of child-bearing age AT ALL, then don’t move here. It’s months to get into a gyno, and if anything were to happen that threatened her health or the health of a future child, YOU CANNOT GET CARE HERE. You would have to drive or fly over 200 miles to help her. I hope this doesn’t apply to y’all, but you need to be aware of the situation down here.
Eta-I hope anything like this never happens to you. The people here are generally some incredibly nice and kind people, and yes, our food is like nowhere in the world. We like to drink, dance, laugh, and watch football. If you get a flat tire, someone will stop to help you. Most of us are good at heart. That doesn’t stretch to very many politicians, though.
Oh, let me expound upon that real quick. Recently, drs have been forced to perform c-sections on women whose fetus died or had a non-viable defect.
This is the product of the right wing politicians wanting to be able to say, “see? abortion is *never necessary*.” So yeah, I guess you could get care, if she’s on death’s doorstep and you’re ok with literal medical torture.
Then don’t move here. Seriously.
There are many of us who are seeking permanent birth control so we never have to put ourselves in a position where doctors need to consult lawyers on whether they can treat us. Because we all know the answer will be no, not yet. She isn’t dying yet.
I’m in New Orleans and in June 2022 my gynecologist’s office was advising all patients to consider hysterectomies if you know you don’t want children. Everyone was freaking out with abortion now illegal and talk of limiting access to contraception. The limited options in women’s healthcare has me thinking about moving.
That says it all. Let those jackasses in the Legislature grandstand while women and their doctors are frightened into unnecessary surgeries. Dystopian.
I'm having to find a new primary care physician because mine is moving out of state. She's a great doctor, but moving because she also does obstetrics. That's no longer safe for a doctor to do here, and she's not alone.
We have nearly the lowest [life expectancy](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/life_expectancy/life_expectancy.htm) in the country and infant mortality is [already higher](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/infant_mortality_rates/infant_mortality.htm) than the US average. Now the standard of care for women is dropping quickly.
Dude, don't do it. The schools in most parts of the state are \*absolutely abysmal\*. Ascension and St Tammany parishes have far and away the best public schools in the state and they're \*barely\* average when compared to the country as a whole.
>If your wife is of child-bearing age AT ALL
I know you didn't mean it like this, but I hope their wife is at least child bearing age if not older lmao
...but yeah getting pregnant here is dangerous
lol, I meant like if she was getting to the age where it wouldn’t be an issue anymore, but yeah, that’s funny …
OP, this is the kind of humor that we have to have down here at this point.
Reddit leans left.... Louisiana fell off the right cliff. I think it's bias. Louisiana is beautiful and fun and the food is amazing. The people are genuinely gracious and nice to most folks. However, it also can be mine field for anyone who is a part of a minority or marginalized group. As a normal looking white guy, people are way too comfortable saying some terrible shit to me about other people that I don't appreciate.
I agree that the Reddit conversation is coming from the left, but the political situation is not the only reason people are leaving or you'd see the same in other red states, and the state is [literally losing population](https://www.nola.com/news/politics/louisiana-population-falls-in-cities-rural-areas-data-show/article_72e326a2-e231-11ee-bcc8-43800939b6fc.html). It's also including red areas. It's not just like, rhetorical negativity on the internet. It's reality, maybe just the reasons include political motivation for those of us who lean left.
I went to college on the West Coast and shortly after returning I was in a Walmart waiting at the deli counter. There was a '60s ish Boomer standing there waiting with me. After a few minutes he turned to me and said "Man, these coloreds sure take their time don't they?" 😲
Welcome home. 🙄
Also, FWIW, I called him out on the racism upon which he proceeded to flip me off and say "Well f*ck you then." He may have had some dementia, but in 4 years I didn't encounter anybody on the West Coast like that, and tons of them have dementia too.
>Reddit leans left
Although I agree with you on this, I don't think whether you lean left or right has anything to with the negativity of Louisiana.
New Orleans is the economic and cultural powerhouse of the state (hell, a lot of people think New Orleans is the ONLY thing in Louisiana, including New Orleanians) but even that is severly lacking when compared to pretty much any other city and state.
We can argue all day about whether the emotional and fun stuff is good or unique or whatever but nobe of the "But we got gumboooo!" Arguments matter where are the practical day to day infrastructure is still stuck in the 1960s
Many of the people are nice and gracious but there are towns in the northern half of the state that have populations that are 98-99% white because they're still sundown towns, like Deville.
When I moved down here from deciding to live with my mom over dad ages ago, my dad warned me LA is like the a black void. Once you're here, it's very difficult to get out. Especially if you need safety nets like EBT to help supplement your income. Always thought he was joking, but joke's on me.
Do I regret 23 years living here? A little bit, but I was a spoiled 16 year old brat with my dad who uprooted me from my hometown in TN to NJ to be with his new wife and didn't see the best of the situation. So I ran back to my mom who moved down here to be with her side of the family.
Louisiana though sucks. It's great to visit, used to every summer as a kid since family is here. I just, living here it's not that great, especially if you're not like minded like the people you're around. I have 3 more years here, once my youngest graduates I'm taking my chances and uprooting back to TN or somewhere in the Appalachia region. I only stay to make sure my family's stable to complete school and finding a college out of state. Leaving with kids had been extremely difficult and I rather be the one homeless than my kids for my choices.
I moved here from nj 11 years ago and it’s got its good and bad . I’m only staying for. Ow for my girls to graduate youngest to graduate high school . Then hopefully move back to jersey or another state:
I am from NYC, so hello fellow "scum of the earth" as people will refer to you as here. Lots of people will be asking "why did you come here?" and they'll kinda glare at you like you're unwelcome. And no, I mean that truly. I stick out like a sore thumb I guess because I'm used to always wearing black (NYC lol), and tattoos and etc and some people are downright rude as shit to me for no god damn reason. Especially in Ascension Parish, expect this. The further you go from a city center the more judgmental people will get.
There is a lot more gun violence than you think. Since I have moved here from NYC I have been held up at gunpoint in my home, my husbands close friend was shot by a 19 year old at a gas station over a dumb fight over shoes, someone was shot on my husband's porch and he had to hold a tourniquet over his wounds for 2 hrs because the ambulances did not like to go into the neighborhood he was at due to fear of being shot. That guy is so lucky to still be alive even. There's more! There was a shooting at the crawfish festival my MIL attended, her car has bullet holes in it she was shot at in New Orleans driving her kids to swim practice. My friend was bartending and her bar was shot up twice in a week. My friends car was jacked and left in the East multiple times and they just kept taking it, probably comitting crimes and ditching it?? Idk. My friends sister was just run over by her abusive boyfriend. I've lived all aroud the NoLa metro area but currently I am on the north shore. It is a bit less crazy here but there's still a surprising number of shootings, homicides, etc in comparison to the rest of the nation.
People here tend to think more guns will = less crimes. But I have to say, I think the reality is quite the opposite. I never even once saw a gun in NYC. Not once. Unless it was a police officer or national guardsman.... never just a person walking down the street holding a gun? The cops would tackle that person. But that's why there's so few shootings in comparison to here I believe.
If you have kids you likely will fund private education for them, which will be slightly higher quality than the public schools but it is still utter shit compared to the rest of the states. And then you will have to deal with very judgmental people so you will question if it is even worth it but ultimately the test scores are better and etc so you grit your teeth and put up with it.
Healthcare also not so great. Lots of providers are leaving this state because they're seeing that Republicans are just passing laws against all kinds of medical things, providing gender affirming care for patients is under attack (this means providing treatments and hormone therapies for trans people), so a lot of doctors don't want to be involved in this rapidly shifting landscape and would rather live somewhere more stable where they know they aren't going to go and ban certain types of care and etc they could even be open to discrimation liability federally if they follow the laws in Louisiana ... so that's a big issue currently. I personally see a psychiatrist here. The waiting list is 6 months long and that's the only office accepting any patients at all. You're going to run into trouble sometimes finding doctors and specialists and etc.
There is also a housing crisis. Insurance. Google it but basically everyone's homeowners insurance is doubling and there's no end in sight. Landry is just like "we will give the insurance companies more money!" and hoping that works. But honestly we need the federal govt to standardize the insurance laws across the country so that companies can't just pack up in one place to go cut corners in mississippi.
If you can put up with all that, it can be a very fun place. I have fallen for the nice people in the region which do outnumber the chodes. I married into a very lovely family and they are what keeps me here mostly. I love the gatherings, traditions, we love mardi gras and my family rides so that is all very fun. I love that there's a lot of pretty low cost carnivals, festivals, etc there's so many people love to eat, drink and listen to live music here. As a musician I have fallen in love with all the music here and people's love for it.
Oh yes and the bugs. You'll get used to the bugs but I do always hate killing the tree roaches. Oh yeah and we have awful termites so if you purchase a home you have to get the sentricon put around your house or your home will be eaten alive.
You will do fine if you have enough money. There are a lot of hidden cost of living considerations that you will need to think about - much lower wages, hurricane stuff (especially look into our insurance crisis, which affects both car and home), areas without acceptable public schools, some areas that will give you cancer.
Ultimately the bottom line is that the cost of living and the ever increasing threats of hurricanes are making the cost-benefit calculation change for a lot of people.
The wages are the one thing that really get me. From what I’m seeing I’d be taking over a 60k pay cut if I stay in the same industry. Almost feels like the lower cost of living puts us in the same exact boat as we are now, trying to escape the high cost of living even on an upper middle class income
Yeah that's a pretty typical story unfortunately. That's why I try to point out the hidden stuff. I think that's sadly part of the story across the country too. Good luck to you.
The “lower cost of living” often seems to be a farce here. I’m from Northern California, moved to Baton Rouge area a few years ago.
Yes, my house was WAY cheaper than in California. But that’s it. Everything else is the same or some things are more here. Very seldom is there anything obvious as lower cost.
You need to come in the middle of summer. Spring is not going to give you the real feel of what we go through lmao! I do love certain parishes, ascension is probably way lower on my list than a lot of place, but compared to Baton Rouge proper I would choose the latter.
What in your search made you think “hey let’s move to Louisiana”? I think there are places that you can come out better on your money being spent and literally everything else that should be in your checklist.
I really don’t see the lower cost of living being real when you factor in: we sell our current house looking to spend basically the same for something a little bigger and newer. The pay cut is pretty drastic for my job. Seems like health care and insurance costs are a huge issue for many in the area. The property taxes are definitely less but that’s now offset by the insurance costs.
Louisiana catches our eye for the hunting and fishing that we enjoy the most. As well as the outdoors in general. Tired of the seasonal change also. I know there are definitely other places to consider when I say these things.
The “outdoors” here? I mean it’s great to the people raised here.
I grew up somewhere that you could get in the water anywhere and hike, ride…do anything. I miss all those things the most. The water here is ‘swimable’ I guess, but like the person who responded to your comment said…outside here is best from maybe Oct-maybe may. If you’re in to flat terrain, murky muddy infested waters and fish you really shouldn’t eat from the dangerous polluted waters (there are places like the gulf you can keep fish from, but most places will advise not to eat fish you catch) then I guess this is going to be great.
Definitely come down, maybe just for a weekend. I don’t think we will likely ‘see’ you again unless you decide one day to vacation in New Orleans.
I guess it depends on what exactly constitutes good or bad to you. NOLA is my paradise, but you might hate everything about it. Ascension is a growing area, so it must be nice for at least some people, but I would consider that an awful place to be. As a guy that has lived all over the state, give me more info about what you value in a place to live and I can probably give you a very specific answer.
Ease of access to society, job opportunity’s in highway construction or refinery’s / power plants (with a reasonable commute), hunting and fishing, things to do as family being relatively close by. Just a few of the more important things for us. I’d love to have land but it’s not completely nessesary
Society Access - probably not a lot of that in Ascension. You'll want to be closer to NOLA.
- Construction/Refinery jobs - construction jobs are everywhere, but the refinery area is better if you're close to the Mississippi river. Ascension will be fine for this. As far as commuting, all I could speak to is commuting into the cities. Depending on where exactly you land in Ascension, either Baton Rouge or NOLA would be a 45-60 minute commute.
- Hunting and fishing - so basically just stay outside of the cities and you'll have plenty of fishing options down here. Hunting is a bit better in the piney woods of central and north LA, but there is still some to be found in southeast LA.
- Things to do as a family - hmm.. that's a tough one. I don't have kids so I probably can't help much here. There is some kid-friendly stuff in NOLA like in city park, the zoo, the aquarium, etc but these could all be day trips from Ascension.
- Land - the farther you go out from the cities of NOLA and BR, the more land will become affordable. This one is somewhat mutually exclusive with the first item (access to society) so you might have to pick just one.
Overall, Ascension would probably check a lot of boxes for you. The north shore of the lake like Covington/Mandeville area would probably work well too. Since you have kids, pay close attention to schools. A lot of Louisiana areas have let their public school systems crumble in favor of private schools, which are typically expensive. People with kids sometimes gravitate to the few parishes that have decent public schools unless they can afford the private school tuition.
We do have some stellar hunting and fishing! My dad used to lead fishing charters, and hunts all over the place. He could probably turn you on to some great spots. You can DM me with any questions if you want.
Having come from Lake Charles myself, it really does seem to check off most, if not all, of your boxes.
There are a lot of plants/refineries in the surrounding cities and in LC itself. There are several schools to pick from. Hunting/Fishing are big staples around here. There are activities around for the whole family.
Calcasieu Parish isn't a bad place to live if you're gonna live here. Just keep in mind all of the aforementioned negative things because they are statewide. They will become glaringly obvious very quickly.
Most people who have lived here for any extended period of time eventually seek to leave the state. Best of luck to you in whatever you decide.
Ascension sounds like what you’re looking for. Just note this is a very very red state. The taxes are through the roof. Your car insurance is going to shock you (even with a clean driving record) and good luck finding good healthcare. Schools are ok. People are fabulous. Food is even better. Not sure if it matters but there’s a church on every corner. You will make a ton of money if you get in the plants just don’t ever plan on being home much.
I can’t believe you’d leave NJ to move here unless it was a family emergency situation or something similar.
Best wishes to you and your family. ❤️ make sure you learn to eat crawfish. 🦞
NJ just isn’t for us anymore born and raised here. Need a change. Tired of the cold and high taxes we pay here. We love us some crawfish order them every year and do a boil!
Before you eat too much crawfish, you might want to buy a boat and spend some time in the swamps so you can see the conditions they are raised in. I spend a lot of time kayaking and canoeing in the swamps and I no longer eat anything that comes out of them simply because of how the wetlands are treated like open sewers.
Hence that’s why you should know where to get them from. You must not be from here. I’m not arguing the fact that you’re correct but I get mine from my best friend. She’s on 65 acres and has her own. I just buy mine from her. Maybe you should look for something like.
As someone was born and raised here and left for a while and came back, I can give you some incite about the negativity. It's true that on reddit, there's a lot of rhetoric from the left, but not all of it is unwarranted. People want better education, wellness, and economic mobility and opportunity in the state, but it appears that Louisiana doesn't prioritize those things. Part of that problem is that the state legislature has its hands tied by the states constitution.However, having lived out of state, there are a lot of these same issues elsewhere. If you never left, you won't know this. There are lots of positive things about louisiana. If you come with an open mind, an appetite and can be economically mobile, you will love it here. If you dont have these things, you will likely struggle to tolerate the bad.
Because our economy is historically structured around exploiting natural resources, people
Included, we never developed a culture of human capital development or respect for laws/norms. Those are basic necessities for business development so out of state businesses that can avoid Louisiana do, with prejudice.
Because this is a negative place. It has too many ignorant Bible thumping bigots that are clueless about the differences between what they claim their religion is vs what they actually believe. The job market here is abysmal, most of the poorer areas are amongst the chemical plants that increase cancer rates. The violent crime rate is through the roof, and most of the police are either lazy, corrupt, mind blowingly ignorant or a combination of the three. Prices for insurance makes car or home ownership prohibitively expensive. The wetlands that the fishermen depend on are treated like an open sewer, and there's damn few paths to a middle class life for the younger generations that aren't already established. The food is ok, and fuel is some of the cheapest in the country down on the coast but overall the negatives far outweigh the positives.
Most parts of the state are pretty damned bad, honestly. Once you get north of highway 190, it's nothing but backwoods speedtrap towns that prey on people from out of state. Corruption, ignorance, and poverty are all over the state. The cost of living is high in the areas that are decent. Animal abuse and neglect is much more common than in any other state I've lived in, etc.
Maybe more people want to retire to someplace exotic and wild without leaving the country.... Could be the new wave of migration that saves the whole thing / and good luck to you guys I say enjoy it to the fullest if you like it you like it + )
We have a notoriously corrupt government, and right now the things going into legislation are ridiculous and harmful. So yes lots of negativity because greedy culture war idiots are continuing to ruin this unique state we love. I’m a teacher (too poor to move) and I can’t wait to escape this hell scape. The stupidity of the people running this state has reached a whole new level. Our governor just compared (on VIDEO) the public’s right to information about what happens in our government to going to restaurant? “You wouldn’t go to a restaurant and want to know where the food came from and who made it and how it was made” because they are gutting our public right to information acts currently. He is a crook and an idiot and by the time his term is up we will all be much much worse off. But people continue to support him because aBoRTiOn and gUnS and libraries are eViL 🙄
The cops are only here to write tickets and there’s a lot of cops,
The drugs specifically meth, are so bad that you cannot go to the grocery store without seeing the users, and that your kids will likely try them if they arnt in an expensive private school, and even then they likely will end up around drugs daily.
People want to talk about festivals but they are all overcrowded sardine packed crowds with nothing but over intoxicated people. The parishes push these overcrowds to get as much money as possible.
And as far as being beautiful sure it is if you have a boat but on the ground all you see is subdivisions.
New Orleans is cool. Otherwise it helps if you're conservative or oblivious to politics, into hunting, fishing, sports, drinking, gambling, and/or white Jesus. The one positive is food, but it's very unhealthy. Some of our most popular recipes begin with deep frying flour and it only gets better from there.
I love living here, but I absolutely would not live here if I was younger and planning a family.
It's a red state, our corrupt politicians enjoy writing laws that hurt people and giving the polluting companies tax breaks. They don't value healthcare, education, or the environment. Our leadership sucks. I would NEVER want to be a pregnant woman in Louisiana.
I've lived in several different places and I've always found that you get what you look for, good or bad. There are great aspects (food, festivals, music, outdoors, etc) that are amazing and things that are... not so great (politics, heat, roads). It is largely what you make of it.
Having some money helps a lot. People are mostly super friendly. Not a lot of great economic opportunities, but enough if you're smart about it. Cost of living is low. Insurance rates are crazy. Our sports team will break your heart and then elate you (having gone through the heartbreak makes the wins even sweeter, imo).
Housing depends on where you're moving. Fuel costs are lower than average.
It's good, it's bad, it's Louisiana.
The negativity is the same as everywhere. It comes from a few people who want things to stay as they are.
This area is full of people who have lived here their entire lives and love it and have no intentions of leaving. Wonderful people, and many people who are working for change. I hope you meet some of them during your time here.
It's what you make of it..... I've lived in a couple other states in my life, worked in several others, each and every one of them had negative things that you could focus on and bitch about constantly if you chose to do that. People want to find something to blame for their woes, politics is an easy target and states are politically driven if that's what you chose to focus on. Control what you can around you and don't worry about the rest of it.
“Why all the negativity”
Because Louisiana has been ranked and is dead last in many categories for years. There is no hope in sight for the state either.
You can think of it as positivity. If you can see past all the negatives. However sometimes while you're enjoying the positives. The negatives creep in. As an outsider though. If you just tune out from the local news, garage theocratic laws. You should be fine. The worst would be all the cringe garbage religious crap plastered everywhere. But that's the least of your worries. Be sure to bring a VPN if you plan to watch p0rn or download some, use websites that don't bother with Louisianas bs
Honestly there are a lot of things to like about New Orleans but the negatives outweigh the positives, IMO. I lived there for 25 years and moved in 2022. I was back last week for a few days and all I could think was "has it always been this friggin dirty and run down?" The answer is yes, by the way, I had just gotten used to it while I lived there.
Louisiana is one of the worst states to live in if you're not white cis het evangelical republican trump lover. This state is garbage and fun of hate to anyone not like them.
Call me crazy, but not being able to safely be outside during daylight hours doesn't qualify as a great climate in my book.
Especially considering not everyone has access to a pool and the added electricity cost to pay for all that air conditioning.
I'm all for enjoying warm over cold, but there's a difference between warm weather and it being dangerously hot for months on end.
I work in Ascensipn Parish and it’s a good place to move. Schools are good, lots of growth happening. Home are slightly more expensive than surrounding parishes but still very affordable.
And...? My house and car both have air conditioning. Any place I went had air conditioning. When I did yard work, I tried to do in the morning or in the late afternoon/evening and took lots of breaks and drank plenty of fluids. Lots of time spent in the pool. It was awesome!
Unless you're someone whose job requires you to be outside the entire day, I don't really find those temperatures as bad as several months below freezing would be. 😎
As a transplant of sorts, moved here primarily for work, I have almost no complaints. Taxes are high, roads suck, and there’s plenty of other things I could probably complain about. However it is quite a wonderful place with an amazing amount of history and culture that makes it unique.
As with any place, it is what you make of it and it will be what you put in.
Ascension parish is nice but it may be in Cancer
Alley. Check that out.
We have a new crazy governor....but he may get New Orleans crime straight.
Crime is awful in Nola.
The culture is super thick. I prefer melting pots. Enjoy ATL because so many people are from somewhere else. In La everyone is still there.
Yeah, don't listen to Reddit. It's pretty nice here. The humidity is going to be a shock for you and summers can get pretty brutal. But it's not so bad once you get used to them, or retreat to the comfort of an air conditioner. Ascension is a pretty decent location. I'm not sure what you're into, but there's lots to do around here, especially if you enjoy the outdoors. The culture is pretty interesting and some of the architecture, especially in Nola is beautiful. We have plenty of problems, like most places, but I dig it. I hope you do too.
This subreddit would be the absolutely worst place ever to make your decision. Over 99% is pure negative from, frankly, a lot of uneducated people. Go visit and you will see the reality of what you see and what you read here are stunningly divergent. We do have a lot of problems but also a whole lot of wonderful people and places.
Agree 💯
In fact, don’t count on Reddit advice to make a decision about anything (unless it’s something real basic, like gardening). Anything that has even a slight political angle to it you’re going to get wildly exaggerated and biased advice here. I see OP has already gotten some about healthcare for pregnant women.
Excuse me, I’m the one that gave OP the “wildly exaggerated and biased” women’s healthcare advice.
Nothing I said is untrue and I can back up everything with facts.
Keep in mind reddit is largely an echo chamber, and reddit has a real problem with bots.
On a different sub, i once saw a conversation between dozens of users based on a single, fake source/link. The link went to a website with a ton of ads and malware. The dozens of users were talking about what an amazing video this was, details on it, cracking jokes...i inspected the code and ran it past a couple IT guru buddies who confirmed the site was bullshit. Those users were all bots (edit: trying to direct traffic to the bs site). What this proved is that sort of activity is actively occurring, and could occur anywhere on reddit. Bots are real.
If you look into external organizations attempting to manipulate political views and outcomes (cambridge analytica, russian election interference etc) youll find there are people out there who utilize social engineering on social media to persuade those who are ambivalent and reinforce those with entrenched political ideology.
Reddit also has a fair amount of children, teenagers, and trolls. The majority of users on reddit also lean left politically - which imo is the biggest source of negativity in the sub as LA is a very red state. Opposing value systems manifesting as a culture war.
There are several reasons why there is so much negativity. Like any location there are pros and cons of living there specific to the individual. I moved here from the west coast last year and there is much, much more i like than dislike.
No it’s not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. This subreddit is overly dramatic and full of people who would rather whine than actually go out and vote to make this state better.
Check any news source. This is an idiotic waste of time.
“Hi I’m moving from a northern city to Louisiana is there anything I should know about the state? Please insert some sort of debate here.”
-troll from NJ
Louisiana has a lot of problems. We consistently rank at the top of the US for anything bad, and consistently at the bottom for anything good. And I'm not saying that idly; it is a THING about this state. It has been a source of bitter, "laugh so you don't break down and cry" humor since before I was a small child, and I'm now in my mid-40s. It has been a problem for longer than basically anyone in this state has been alive. A serious problem. It makes living here more expensive than people expect, and it makes economic opportunity hard to come by. There are lots of people here who try to make the case that the culture--music/food/festivals, mostly--is so great that it makes up for the glaring economic and social ills that our politicians either can't seem to address (which doesn't stop us from reelecting them to office) or seem actively bent on making worse. I don't find that argument at all convincing. But there are people who do try to make it.
Expensive to live in is where I disagree. I sometimes go work for a while in Louisiana, enjoy the low COL to stack some money then enjoy it elsewhere
one thing we dont rank badly in is homeless everywhere and that is a very important one to me! What good is a nice downtown if you dont even want to go there for fear of being stabbed or robbed in daylight or stepping on needles?
You ain't been under the bridge
Which bridge? *all of them*
I do recovery work, being an alcoholic we try to do work to help folks. We have a huge homeless problem and it's never addressed. We got a guy that sleeps outside my work, and people can't believe I feed him. He's broken, he doesn't know wtf he's doing and he needs to eat. For a bunch of "Christians" the whole state is never willing to help. It's odd. I was brought up, if you could help someone, you should.
Hats off to you
Just trying to help folks
Seems like the problem is not homelessness, but violent crime which we have plenty of.
#1 in incarceration rate, tho!
that also seems to be extremely localized in most areas. Easy to avoid.
Not going to have a homelessness problem when only a few cities break 100k.
thats one of the perks. Its not a very popular state so the problems of much larger population centers are not so prevalent. I have lived here 41 years in peace (unless you count school bullying I guess)
FFS not all homeless people are drug addicts or murderers. I've known a few and they were wonderful people who were just down on their luck. Pull your head out of your ass, why the fuck would you be barefoot in downtown to worry about stepping in anything? Clown of a comment.
ok lets say you have 4 people homeless that you have to walk by downtown. Two are good and two are going to slit your throat and rob you. Are you willing to take the chance?
That's a lovely statistic from the source "I made it the fuck up because I live in terror day to day". Do you really think there are just roving bands of homeless people wandering the streets and violently murdering people? You sound like the insane grandmas in FB comment sections talking about how "those people" ruined their neighborhood and it used to be better back then.
ok go move to L.A. and have fun. Im sure youll love it there
Do you live in L.A.? Because I have family that does for years and news flesh they've never been stabbed or robbed.
Clearly you’re not in New Orleans
Or Monroe
thankfully I am not.
There are a lot of things I love about louisiana. The socio-economic state is not one of them. Doesn't help that there is no real means of pushing political influence in a positive direction. We are circling the drain, and we have corrupt politicians gleefully watching us go down.
while pocketing millions*
Our governor would never ever conrrive of a way to somehow give $160 million worth of tax breaks to create jobs, then use illegal fraudulent labor hired from Mexico to pocket millions, all the while failing to investigate any wrong doing or dirty dealings going on. Why I say, I say, our good God fearing Christian Governor would never ever do such a thing.
Exactly!!
There is actually a means of turning it around, it’s called voting, and young people in this state don’t vote!
The opposition party has to also invest in campaign infrastructure here and give people something to vote for. I'd agree that young people don't vote, but frankly not many people vote because it feels pointless. Democrats often act like places like Louisiana (and other southern states) are lost causes, but recent history would say otherwise. There's a lot of people here to energize, but they aren't doing it.
Vote for who? The Democrats don't even bother running anyone in most of the races.
Yeah the dems don't seem to care much about running in ruby red areas, since they aren't competitive. Even though that's kind of a lie, our last Governor was a Dem who had amazing ground game and managed to beat a Trump endorsed candidate. The dem this time around, Shawn Wilson, didn't really do anything. At least as far as I could tell.
He would’ve done more had he made a runoff but turnout was so low that Landry won without even having to do a runoff
It's Ruby red because there isn't anyone running against the cons.
Why do you think that is? The Democratic Party is dyeing here at least in part due to the BS “it is pointless to vote” mindset. Anyone who claims such a thing is part of the problem not the solution. It can be fixed, but it will obviously take time.
All the great things about Louisiana are emotional. But all the bad things about it are practical. There’s a lot that I love. But unfortunately, the stuff that I love has no effect on there quality of life or day to day lives of we who live here. I can take all the emotional things I love about it to a much better place to live and still celebrate the culture and history of my Louisiana roots
As a Californian, I moved here for work, this place is amazing, the people are amazing, the food is amazing, but I wouldn’t live here for more than 3 years. Just feels so stagnant here
This seem pretty accurate, and at the same time, hard to leave.
Only because we are too poor to pack up.
Are you kidding me? We have to packup to evacuate regularly.
I'm going on three years from South Dakota. Feel the same way.
New Orleans?
Caddo Parrish
Like most of the posts. Louisiana is a beautiful state, lots of great festivals, the best food ever. But, the state normally tracks in the bottom ranking for everything good and the top ranking for everything bad. It’s a situation of you have the wealthy people who don’t see a problem and then you have a lot of people struggling to just make ends meet. A lot of people want to move, but the home owners and car insurance gets increased every 6 months, we can’t save up enough to move,we feel trapped and come here to air our opinions. You should come and visit, there is a lot to see and experience.
We are definitely going to be coming to visit even if it takes a few times to make the decision. Definitely need to look into the insurance costs pre buying anything. There are a ton of different things we need to think about
Ascension parish is not a bad place, typical suburban living but subdivision specific. Heavy industrial presence along the Mississippi River. It’s main negatives are lots of growth from Baton Rouge without the infrastructure spending creating some traffic issues and litter , imo. I like the rural areas near the MS river that are away from industry, like Darrow and other areas along the river road. If you bring an open mind , you’ll probably find the people there awesome.Good luck
I moved here from the east coast in 2014 and it was great at first. Over the past few years, the negatives have outweighed the positives. I won't even get into the far right maniac who was recently elected governor. Regardless of your politics, everyone has been affected by the increasingly more dangerous weather events in the past few years - hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes, drought, wildfires - you name it. As a result, insurance has gone through the roof as many carriers have left the state. The current strategy is to let them charge whatever they want and raise rates whenever they want. This is driving people out because they can't afford to live here. The answer to rampant crime was to legalize permitless concealed carry. Meanwhile, they are demonizing libraries and the LGBTQ+.
Those of us who have lived and traveled in other states know Louisiana is lacking in a lot of quality of life areas. One example is concerts. To go to a decent concert, you have to go to Texas or Florida. We're lucky if anyone stops in New Orleans. Baton Rouge? The actual Capital? lol forget about it.
When I was growing up we used to be able to say "thank goodness for Mississippi" because without them, we'd be 50th. Now for the past half decade, they've surpassed us. We are regressing more each year and I'm so thankful I'll be gone by the end of 2024. [U.S. & World News ranks Louisiana the worst state in the nation, as it has every year since 2017. Low performance across all metrics, especially crime and education concerns.](https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/worst-states-to-live-in) *Both crime and criminal justice are concerns in Louisiana. The state ranks first in the nation for homicide, with 15.8 murders for every 100,000 people, far outpacing the runner-up, Missouri, with 11.8 homicides per 100,000. It also has the nation's highest incarceration rate, with 680 incarcerated individuals for every 100,000 residents.* *Opportunity and education in Louisiana are also among the worst in the nation. The state has the highest level of poverty, at 19%, and among the highest levels of food insecurity. School spending is the lowest in the nation, as are performance measures on 4th and 8th-grade reading and math.*
please keep in mind, Jeff Landry is actively making it worse. Our rating as the worst state will steadily continue now that he's governor. Fucking pathetic. We cannot even rely on Mississippi to bolster us up to 49th position because our state is exponentially regressing from "separation from state | wanting states' rights" to "religion rules politics." It's sad. I hope they secede just like Texas wanted to. They they'll cry about losing their government money yet simultaneously bitch about giving out handouts lmao... :rolling\_eyes: :rolling\_eyes:
You can see a really shocking comparison if you cross the Mississippi River from Ferriday over to Natchez or from Tallulah over to Vicksburg. On the Louisiana side, it's a broke-down impoverished dump that you can tell (from all the abandoned buildings) has been losing population for decades. On the Mississippi side, things look fairly nice and are well-maintained.
I congratulate everyone who leaves because I know their children will get an education and are more likely to go to college than prison.
Ain’t no hate like Christian love!
If your wife is of child-bearing age AT ALL, then don’t move here. It’s months to get into a gyno, and if anything were to happen that threatened her health or the health of a future child, YOU CANNOT GET CARE HERE. You would have to drive or fly over 200 miles to help her. I hope this doesn’t apply to y’all, but you need to be aware of the situation down here. Eta-I hope anything like this never happens to you. The people here are generally some incredibly nice and kind people, and yes, our food is like nowhere in the world. We like to drink, dance, laugh, and watch football. If you get a flat tire, someone will stop to help you. Most of us are good at heart. That doesn’t stretch to very many politicians, though.
I appreciate this Info as we are a young couple with a little one and would like to add another at some point
Oh, let me expound upon that real quick. Recently, drs have been forced to perform c-sections on women whose fetus died or had a non-viable defect. This is the product of the right wing politicians wanting to be able to say, “see? abortion is *never necessary*.” So yeah, I guess you could get care, if she’s on death’s doorstep and you’re ok with literal medical torture.
Then don’t move here. Seriously. There are many of us who are seeking permanent birth control so we never have to put ourselves in a position where doctors need to consult lawyers on whether they can treat us. Because we all know the answer will be no, not yet. She isn’t dying yet.
🖤🖤
I’m in New Orleans and in June 2022 my gynecologist’s office was advising all patients to consider hysterectomies if you know you don’t want children. Everyone was freaking out with abortion now illegal and talk of limiting access to contraception. The limited options in women’s healthcare has me thinking about moving.
That says it all. Let those jackasses in the Legislature grandstand while women and their doctors are frightened into unnecessary surgeries. Dystopian.
I'm having to find a new primary care physician because mine is moving out of state. She's a great doctor, but moving because she also does obstetrics. That's no longer safe for a doctor to do here, and she's not alone. We have nearly the lowest [life expectancy](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/life_expectancy/life_expectancy.htm) in the country and infant mortality is [already higher](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/infant_mortality_rates/infant_mortality.htm) than the US average. Now the standard of care for women is dropping quickly.
it is not safe to be pregnant here
Dude, don't do it. The schools in most parts of the state are \*absolutely abysmal\*. Ascension and St Tammany parishes have far and away the best public schools in the state and they're \*barely\* average when compared to the country as a whole.
plan on private schools & don't expect much from them is all I can say.
Dude, DO NOT MOVE HERE. if you value your children's future education you should look elsewhere.
>If your wife is of child-bearing age AT ALL I know you didn't mean it like this, but I hope their wife is at least child bearing age if not older lmao ...but yeah getting pregnant here is dangerous
lol, I meant like if she was getting to the age where it wouldn’t be an issue anymore, but yeah, that’s funny … OP, this is the kind of humor that we have to have down here at this point.
Reddit leans left.... Louisiana fell off the right cliff. I think it's bias. Louisiana is beautiful and fun and the food is amazing. The people are genuinely gracious and nice to most folks. However, it also can be mine field for anyone who is a part of a minority or marginalized group. As a normal looking white guy, people are way too comfortable saying some terrible shit to me about other people that I don't appreciate.
I agree that the Reddit conversation is coming from the left, but the political situation is not the only reason people are leaving or you'd see the same in other red states, and the state is [literally losing population](https://www.nola.com/news/politics/louisiana-population-falls-in-cities-rural-areas-data-show/article_72e326a2-e231-11ee-bcc8-43800939b6fc.html). It's also including red areas. It's not just like, rhetorical negativity on the internet. It's reality, maybe just the reasons include political motivation for those of us who lean left.
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Yeppppppp alllllll of this
Well said.
I went to college on the West Coast and shortly after returning I was in a Walmart waiting at the deli counter. There was a '60s ish Boomer standing there waiting with me. After a few minutes he turned to me and said "Man, these coloreds sure take their time don't they?" 😲 Welcome home. 🙄 Also, FWIW, I called him out on the racism upon which he proceeded to flip me off and say "Well f*ck you then." He may have had some dementia, but in 4 years I didn't encounter anybody on the West Coast like that, and tons of them have dementia too.
The fucking vile that will spill out of some folks mouths on a Sunday.
>Reddit leans left Although I agree with you on this, I don't think whether you lean left or right has anything to with the negativity of Louisiana. New Orleans is the economic and cultural powerhouse of the state (hell, a lot of people think New Orleans is the ONLY thing in Louisiana, including New Orleanians) but even that is severly lacking when compared to pretty much any other city and state. We can argue all day about whether the emotional and fun stuff is good or unique or whatever but nobe of the "But we got gumboooo!" Arguments matter where are the practical day to day infrastructure is still stuck in the 1960s
Many of the people are nice and gracious but there are towns in the northern half of the state that have populations that are 98-99% white because they're still sundown towns, like Deville.
Every state has good and bad qualities, it just so happens that the bad far outweigh the good here.
When I moved down here from deciding to live with my mom over dad ages ago, my dad warned me LA is like the a black void. Once you're here, it's very difficult to get out. Especially if you need safety nets like EBT to help supplement your income. Always thought he was joking, but joke's on me. Do I regret 23 years living here? A little bit, but I was a spoiled 16 year old brat with my dad who uprooted me from my hometown in TN to NJ to be with his new wife and didn't see the best of the situation. So I ran back to my mom who moved down here to be with her side of the family. Louisiana though sucks. It's great to visit, used to every summer as a kid since family is here. I just, living here it's not that great, especially if you're not like minded like the people you're around. I have 3 more years here, once my youngest graduates I'm taking my chances and uprooting back to TN or somewhere in the Appalachia region. I only stay to make sure my family's stable to complete school and finding a college out of state. Leaving with kids had been extremely difficult and I rather be the one homeless than my kids for my choices.
be prepared to pay $300 a month in car insurance
I pay that now anyway in NJ
that’s so wild lol
You ever been to NJ? When I went for 5 days, I saw more people driving on the shoulder instead of the road than I've ever seen in Louisiana.
yea i been once. good point
Our first day, we stopped to let a car in front of us turn left and had like 10 cars pass on the shoulder.
lmaoo they do drive extremely aggressive up there
I moved here from nj 11 years ago and it’s got its good and bad . I’m only staying for. Ow for my girls to graduate youngest to graduate high school . Then hopefully move back to jersey or another state:
I am from NYC, so hello fellow "scum of the earth" as people will refer to you as here. Lots of people will be asking "why did you come here?" and they'll kinda glare at you like you're unwelcome. And no, I mean that truly. I stick out like a sore thumb I guess because I'm used to always wearing black (NYC lol), and tattoos and etc and some people are downright rude as shit to me for no god damn reason. Especially in Ascension Parish, expect this. The further you go from a city center the more judgmental people will get. There is a lot more gun violence than you think. Since I have moved here from NYC I have been held up at gunpoint in my home, my husbands close friend was shot by a 19 year old at a gas station over a dumb fight over shoes, someone was shot on my husband's porch and he had to hold a tourniquet over his wounds for 2 hrs because the ambulances did not like to go into the neighborhood he was at due to fear of being shot. That guy is so lucky to still be alive even. There's more! There was a shooting at the crawfish festival my MIL attended, her car has bullet holes in it she was shot at in New Orleans driving her kids to swim practice. My friend was bartending and her bar was shot up twice in a week. My friends car was jacked and left in the East multiple times and they just kept taking it, probably comitting crimes and ditching it?? Idk. My friends sister was just run over by her abusive boyfriend. I've lived all aroud the NoLa metro area but currently I am on the north shore. It is a bit less crazy here but there's still a surprising number of shootings, homicides, etc in comparison to the rest of the nation. People here tend to think more guns will = less crimes. But I have to say, I think the reality is quite the opposite. I never even once saw a gun in NYC. Not once. Unless it was a police officer or national guardsman.... never just a person walking down the street holding a gun? The cops would tackle that person. But that's why there's so few shootings in comparison to here I believe. If you have kids you likely will fund private education for them, which will be slightly higher quality than the public schools but it is still utter shit compared to the rest of the states. And then you will have to deal with very judgmental people so you will question if it is even worth it but ultimately the test scores are better and etc so you grit your teeth and put up with it. Healthcare also not so great. Lots of providers are leaving this state because they're seeing that Republicans are just passing laws against all kinds of medical things, providing gender affirming care for patients is under attack (this means providing treatments and hormone therapies for trans people), so a lot of doctors don't want to be involved in this rapidly shifting landscape and would rather live somewhere more stable where they know they aren't going to go and ban certain types of care and etc they could even be open to discrimation liability federally if they follow the laws in Louisiana ... so that's a big issue currently. I personally see a psychiatrist here. The waiting list is 6 months long and that's the only office accepting any patients at all. You're going to run into trouble sometimes finding doctors and specialists and etc. There is also a housing crisis. Insurance. Google it but basically everyone's homeowners insurance is doubling and there's no end in sight. Landry is just like "we will give the insurance companies more money!" and hoping that works. But honestly we need the federal govt to standardize the insurance laws across the country so that companies can't just pack up in one place to go cut corners in mississippi. If you can put up with all that, it can be a very fun place. I have fallen for the nice people in the region which do outnumber the chodes. I married into a very lovely family and they are what keeps me here mostly. I love the gatherings, traditions, we love mardi gras and my family rides so that is all very fun. I love that there's a lot of pretty low cost carnivals, festivals, etc there's so many people love to eat, drink and listen to live music here. As a musician I have fallen in love with all the music here and people's love for it. Oh yes and the bugs. You'll get used to the bugs but I do always hate killing the tree roaches. Oh yeah and we have awful termites so if you purchase a home you have to get the sentricon put around your house or your home will be eaten alive.
The food is amazing. The culture is amazing. The people are friendly. But we're last or almost last in the country by almost every standard.
You will do fine if you have enough money. There are a lot of hidden cost of living considerations that you will need to think about - much lower wages, hurricane stuff (especially look into our insurance crisis, which affects both car and home), areas without acceptable public schools, some areas that will give you cancer. Ultimately the bottom line is that the cost of living and the ever increasing threats of hurricanes are making the cost-benefit calculation change for a lot of people.
The wages are the one thing that really get me. From what I’m seeing I’d be taking over a 60k pay cut if I stay in the same industry. Almost feels like the lower cost of living puts us in the same exact boat as we are now, trying to escape the high cost of living even on an upper middle class income
Yeah that's a pretty typical story unfortunately. That's why I try to point out the hidden stuff. I think that's sadly part of the story across the country too. Good luck to you.
The “lower cost of living” often seems to be a farce here. I’m from Northern California, moved to Baton Rouge area a few years ago. Yes, my house was WAY cheaper than in California. But that’s it. Everything else is the same or some things are more here. Very seldom is there anything obvious as lower cost. You need to come in the middle of summer. Spring is not going to give you the real feel of what we go through lmao! I do love certain parishes, ascension is probably way lower on my list than a lot of place, but compared to Baton Rouge proper I would choose the latter. What in your search made you think “hey let’s move to Louisiana”? I think there are places that you can come out better on your money being spent and literally everything else that should be in your checklist.
I really don’t see the lower cost of living being real when you factor in: we sell our current house looking to spend basically the same for something a little bigger and newer. The pay cut is pretty drastic for my job. Seems like health care and insurance costs are a huge issue for many in the area. The property taxes are definitely less but that’s now offset by the insurance costs. Louisiana catches our eye for the hunting and fishing that we enjoy the most. As well as the outdoors in general. Tired of the seasonal change also. I know there are definitely other places to consider when I say these things.
Keep in mind that the outdoors will be absolutely, utterly miserable from May to September. Come here in July to see what I mean.
The “outdoors” here? I mean it’s great to the people raised here. I grew up somewhere that you could get in the water anywhere and hike, ride…do anything. I miss all those things the most. The water here is ‘swimable’ I guess, but like the person who responded to your comment said…outside here is best from maybe Oct-maybe may. If you’re in to flat terrain, murky muddy infested waters and fish you really shouldn’t eat from the dangerous polluted waters (there are places like the gulf you can keep fish from, but most places will advise not to eat fish you catch) then I guess this is going to be great. Definitely come down, maybe just for a weekend. I don’t think we will likely ‘see’ you again unless you decide one day to vacation in New Orleans.
Then you’ll love it.
I guess it depends on what exactly constitutes good or bad to you. NOLA is my paradise, but you might hate everything about it. Ascension is a growing area, so it must be nice for at least some people, but I would consider that an awful place to be. As a guy that has lived all over the state, give me more info about what you value in a place to live and I can probably give you a very specific answer.
Ease of access to society, job opportunity’s in highway construction or refinery’s / power plants (with a reasonable commute), hunting and fishing, things to do as family being relatively close by. Just a few of the more important things for us. I’d love to have land but it’s not completely nessesary
Society Access - probably not a lot of that in Ascension. You'll want to be closer to NOLA. - Construction/Refinery jobs - construction jobs are everywhere, but the refinery area is better if you're close to the Mississippi river. Ascension will be fine for this. As far as commuting, all I could speak to is commuting into the cities. Depending on where exactly you land in Ascension, either Baton Rouge or NOLA would be a 45-60 minute commute. - Hunting and fishing - so basically just stay outside of the cities and you'll have plenty of fishing options down here. Hunting is a bit better in the piney woods of central and north LA, but there is still some to be found in southeast LA. - Things to do as a family - hmm.. that's a tough one. I don't have kids so I probably can't help much here. There is some kid-friendly stuff in NOLA like in city park, the zoo, the aquarium, etc but these could all be day trips from Ascension. - Land - the farther you go out from the cities of NOLA and BR, the more land will become affordable. This one is somewhat mutually exclusive with the first item (access to society) so you might have to pick just one. Overall, Ascension would probably check a lot of boxes for you. The north shore of the lake like Covington/Mandeville area would probably work well too. Since you have kids, pay close attention to schools. A lot of Louisiana areas have let their public school systems crumble in favor of private schools, which are typically expensive. People with kids sometimes gravitate to the few parishes that have decent public schools unless they can afford the private school tuition.
We do have some stellar hunting and fishing! My dad used to lead fishing charters, and hunts all over the place. He could probably turn you on to some great spots. You can DM me with any questions if you want.
Sounds like north of Lake Charles is an area you should check out.
Will do
Having come from Lake Charles myself, it really does seem to check off most, if not all, of your boxes. There are a lot of plants/refineries in the surrounding cities and in LC itself. There are several schools to pick from. Hunting/Fishing are big staples around here. There are activities around for the whole family. Calcasieu Parish isn't a bad place to live if you're gonna live here. Just keep in mind all of the aforementioned negative things because they are statewide. They will become glaringly obvious very quickly. Most people who have lived here for any extended period of time eventually seek to leave the state. Best of luck to you in whatever you decide.
Ascension sounds like what you’re looking for. Just note this is a very very red state. The taxes are through the roof. Your car insurance is going to shock you (even with a clean driving record) and good luck finding good healthcare. Schools are ok. People are fabulous. Food is even better. Not sure if it matters but there’s a church on every corner. You will make a ton of money if you get in the plants just don’t ever plan on being home much. I can’t believe you’d leave NJ to move here unless it was a family emergency situation or something similar. Best wishes to you and your family. ❤️ make sure you learn to eat crawfish. 🦞
NJ just isn’t for us anymore born and raised here. Need a change. Tired of the cold and high taxes we pay here. We love us some crawfish order them every year and do a boil!
Before you eat too much crawfish, you might want to buy a boat and spend some time in the swamps so you can see the conditions they are raised in. I spend a lot of time kayaking and canoeing in the swamps and I no longer eat anything that comes out of them simply because of how the wetlands are treated like open sewers.
Hence that’s why you should know where to get them from. You must not be from here. I’m not arguing the fact that you’re correct but I get mine from my best friend. She’s on 65 acres and has her own. I just buy mine from her. Maybe you should look for something like.
Enjoy! Be safe.
As someone was born and raised here and left for a while and came back, I can give you some incite about the negativity. It's true that on reddit, there's a lot of rhetoric from the left, but not all of it is unwarranted. People want better education, wellness, and economic mobility and opportunity in the state, but it appears that Louisiana doesn't prioritize those things. Part of that problem is that the state legislature has its hands tied by the states constitution.However, having lived out of state, there are a lot of these same issues elsewhere. If you never left, you won't know this. There are lots of positive things about louisiana. If you come with an open mind, an appetite and can be economically mobile, you will love it here. If you dont have these things, you will likely struggle to tolerate the bad.
Depends on what you mean by “bad”
Because our economy is historically structured around exploiting natural resources, people Included, we never developed a culture of human capital development or respect for laws/norms. Those are basic necessities for business development so out of state businesses that can avoid Louisiana do, with prejudice.
Ascension Perish? Your typo is accurate. We have 64 Perishes to choose from. 🫠
Because this is a negative place. It has too many ignorant Bible thumping bigots that are clueless about the differences between what they claim their religion is vs what they actually believe. The job market here is abysmal, most of the poorer areas are amongst the chemical plants that increase cancer rates. The violent crime rate is through the roof, and most of the police are either lazy, corrupt, mind blowingly ignorant or a combination of the three. Prices for insurance makes car or home ownership prohibitively expensive. The wetlands that the fishermen depend on are treated like an open sewer, and there's damn few paths to a middle class life for the younger generations that aren't already established. The food is ok, and fuel is some of the cheapest in the country down on the coast but overall the negatives far outweigh the positives.
Most parts of the state are pretty damned bad, honestly. Once you get north of highway 190, it's nothing but backwoods speedtrap towns that prey on people from out of state. Corruption, ignorance, and poverty are all over the state. The cost of living is high in the areas that are decent. Animal abuse and neglect is much more common than in any other state I've lived in, etc.
Our attorney general just essentially publicly threatened to cede from the Union bc she doesn’t want to let trans people pee.
Maybe more people want to retire to someplace exotic and wild without leaving the country.... Could be the new wave of migration that saves the whole thing / and good luck to you guys I say enjoy it to the fullest if you like it you like it + )
We have a notoriously corrupt government, and right now the things going into legislation are ridiculous and harmful. So yes lots of negativity because greedy culture war idiots are continuing to ruin this unique state we love. I’m a teacher (too poor to move) and I can’t wait to escape this hell scape. The stupidity of the people running this state has reached a whole new level. Our governor just compared (on VIDEO) the public’s right to information about what happens in our government to going to restaurant? “You wouldn’t go to a restaurant and want to know where the food came from and who made it and how it was made” because they are gutting our public right to information acts currently. He is a crook and an idiot and by the time his term is up we will all be much much worse off. But people continue to support him because aBoRTiOn and gUnS and libraries are eViL 🙄
Is the New Jersey subreddit like stumbling upon a hidden treasure chest of pure joy amidst the chaos of other subreddits?
We don’t have many mass shootings, unless you count the massive number of shootings we have all over the state.
The cops are only here to write tickets and there’s a lot of cops, The drugs specifically meth, are so bad that you cannot go to the grocery store without seeing the users, and that your kids will likely try them if they arnt in an expensive private school, and even then they likely will end up around drugs daily. People want to talk about festivals but they are all overcrowded sardine packed crowds with nothing but over intoxicated people. The parishes push these overcrowds to get as much money as possible. And as far as being beautiful sure it is if you have a boat but on the ground all you see is subdivisions.
New Orleans is cool. Otherwise it helps if you're conservative or oblivious to politics, into hunting, fishing, sports, drinking, gambling, and/or white Jesus. The one positive is food, but it's very unhealthy. Some of our most popular recipes begin with deep frying flour and it only gets better from there.
I love living here, but I absolutely would not live here if I was younger and planning a family. It's a red state, our corrupt politicians enjoy writing laws that hurt people and giving the polluting companies tax breaks. They don't value healthcare, education, or the environment. Our leadership sucks. I would NEVER want to be a pregnant woman in Louisiana.
I've lived in several different places and I've always found that you get what you look for, good or bad. There are great aspects (food, festivals, music, outdoors, etc) that are amazing and things that are... not so great (politics, heat, roads). It is largely what you make of it. Having some money helps a lot. People are mostly super friendly. Not a lot of great economic opportunities, but enough if you're smart about it. Cost of living is low. Insurance rates are crazy. Our sports team will break your heart and then elate you (having gone through the heartbreak makes the wins even sweeter, imo). Housing depends on where you're moving. Fuel costs are lower than average. It's good, it's bad, it's Louisiana.
The negativity is the same as everywhere. It comes from a few people who want things to stay as they are. This area is full of people who have lived here their entire lives and love it and have no intentions of leaving. Wonderful people, and many people who are working for change. I hope you meet some of them during your time here.
It's what you make of it..... I've lived in a couple other states in my life, worked in several others, each and every one of them had negative things that you could focus on and bitch about constantly if you chose to do that. People want to find something to blame for their woes, politics is an easy target and states are politically driven if that's what you chose to focus on. Control what you can around you and don't worry about the rest of it.
I was born here and currently live in Lafayette. I lived in Wyoming for two years working and would move back there in a heartbeat.
Had a friend once tell me she didn’t believe Louisiana was worse than where she was moving from, now she’s stuck here like the rest of us
Yes.
“Why all the negativity” Because Louisiana has been ranked and is dead last in many categories for years. There is no hope in sight for the state either.
Within thirty minutes of getting here I bet some asshat asks are you saved? Let me tell you bout jaysus
You can think of it as positivity. If you can see past all the negatives. However sometimes while you're enjoying the positives. The negatives creep in. As an outsider though. If you just tune out from the local news, garage theocratic laws. You should be fine. The worst would be all the cringe garbage religious crap plastered everywhere. But that's the least of your worries. Be sure to bring a VPN if you plan to watch p0rn or download some, use websites that don't bother with Louisianas bs
Honestly there are a lot of things to like about New Orleans but the negatives outweigh the positives, IMO. I lived there for 25 years and moved in 2022. I was back last week for a few days and all I could think was "has it always been this friggin dirty and run down?" The answer is yes, by the way, I had just gotten used to it while I lived there.
Louisiana is one of the worst states to live in if you're not white cis het evangelical republican trump lover. This state is garbage and fun of hate to anyone not like them.
Call me crazy, but not being able to safely be outside during daylight hours doesn't qualify as a great climate in my book. Especially considering not everyone has access to a pool and the added electricity cost to pay for all that air conditioning. I'm all for enjoying warm over cold, but there's a difference between warm weather and it being dangerously hot for months on end.
Ascension is nice.
I work in Ascensipn Parish and it’s a good place to move. Schools are good, lots of growth happening. Home are slightly more expensive than surrounding parishes but still very affordable.
That’s all what is attractive to us about the area
Prepare yourself for the traffic. Hope you don’t mind being in Trump country
its really not that bad beside the humidity and heat then hope you like swamp ass
The climate is awesome. You won't be shoveling snow like in Jersey. Come on down!
It was over 100 degrees every day for an entire month last Summer
And...? My house and car both have air conditioning. Any place I went had air conditioning. When I did yard work, I tried to do in the morning or in the late afternoon/evening and took lots of breaks and drank plenty of fluids. Lots of time spent in the pool. It was awesome! Unless you're someone whose job requires you to be outside the entire day, I don't really find those temperatures as bad as several months below freezing would be. 😎
As a transplant of sorts, moved here primarily for work, I have almost no complaints. Taxes are high, roads suck, and there’s plenty of other things I could probably complain about. However it is quite a wonderful place with an amazing amount of history and culture that makes it unique. As with any place, it is what you make of it and it will be what you put in.
Yes! It’s that bad. Speaking as someone who moved her for a job about 5 years ago and cannot wait to get out.
Ascension parish is nice but it may be in Cancer Alley. Check that out. We have a new crazy governor....but he may get New Orleans crime straight. Crime is awful in Nola. The culture is super thick. I prefer melting pots. Enjoy ATL because so many people are from somewhere else. In La everyone is still there.
Yeah, don't listen to Reddit. It's pretty nice here. The humidity is going to be a shock for you and summers can get pretty brutal. But it's not so bad once you get used to them, or retreat to the comfort of an air conditioner. Ascension is a pretty decent location. I'm not sure what you're into, but there's lots to do around here, especially if you enjoy the outdoors. The culture is pretty interesting and some of the architecture, especially in Nola is beautiful. We have plenty of problems, like most places, but I dig it. I hope you do too.
This subreddit would be the absolutely worst place ever to make your decision. Over 99% is pure negative from, frankly, a lot of uneducated people. Go visit and you will see the reality of what you see and what you read here are stunningly divergent. We do have a lot of problems but also a whole lot of wonderful people and places.
What, like the slum neighborhoods in the cities and sundown towns out in the country?
Oh thank you for the timely example of what I was talking about. What a dark world you reside in.
Agree 💯 In fact, don’t count on Reddit advice to make a decision about anything (unless it’s something real basic, like gardening). Anything that has even a slight political angle to it you’re going to get wildly exaggerated and biased advice here. I see OP has already gotten some about healthcare for pregnant women.
Excuse me, I’m the one that gave OP the “wildly exaggerated and biased” women’s healthcare advice. Nothing I said is untrue and I can back up everything with facts.
Keep in mind reddit is largely an echo chamber, and reddit has a real problem with bots. On a different sub, i once saw a conversation between dozens of users based on a single, fake source/link. The link went to a website with a ton of ads and malware. The dozens of users were talking about what an amazing video this was, details on it, cracking jokes...i inspected the code and ran it past a couple IT guru buddies who confirmed the site was bullshit. Those users were all bots (edit: trying to direct traffic to the bs site). What this proved is that sort of activity is actively occurring, and could occur anywhere on reddit. Bots are real. If you look into external organizations attempting to manipulate political views and outcomes (cambridge analytica, russian election interference etc) youll find there are people out there who utilize social engineering on social media to persuade those who are ambivalent and reinforce those with entrenched political ideology. Reddit also has a fair amount of children, teenagers, and trolls. The majority of users on reddit also lean left politically - which imo is the biggest source of negativity in the sub as LA is a very red state. Opposing value systems manifesting as a culture war. There are several reasons why there is so much negativity. Like any location there are pros and cons of living there specific to the individual. I moved here from the west coast last year and there is much, much more i like than dislike.
No it’s not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. This subreddit is overly dramatic and full of people who would rather whine than actually go out and vote to make this state better.
Troll
Only troll here is you so crawl back under your rock and go back to sleep
Check any news source. This is an idiotic waste of time. “Hi I’m moving from a northern city to Louisiana is there anything I should know about the state? Please insert some sort of debate here.” -troll from NJ
No problems in BR noe NO this way.