menu






Real Estate Prices & Overview

Median real estate price in the City Center of Lake Charles is $152,935, which is more expensive than 29.3% of the neighborhoods in Louisiana and 13.9% of the neighborhoods in the U.S.

The average rental price in Lake Charles City Center is currently $977, based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. Rents here are currently lower in price than 88.4% of Louisiana neighborhoods.

Lake Charles City Center is a suburban neighborhood (based on population density) located in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Real estate in the City Center of Lake Charles, LA is primarily made up of small (studio to two bedroom) to medium sized (three or four bedroom) single-family homes and small apartment buildings. Most of the residential real estate is occupied by a mixture of owners and renters. Many of the residences in the City Center neighborhood are established but not old, having been built between 1970 and 1999. A number of residences were also built before 1940.

Vacant apartments or homes are a major fact of life in Lake Charles City Center. The current real estate vacancy rate here is 29.9%. This is higher than the rate of vacancies in 94.6% of all U.S. neighborhoods. In addition, most vacant housing here is vacant year round. This can sometimes be the case in neighborhoods dominated by new construction that is not yet occupied. But often neighborhoods with vacancy rates this high are places that can be plagued by a protracted vacancy problem. If you live here, you may find that a number of buildings in your neighborhood are actually empty.

Notable & Unique Neighborhood Characteristics

Many things matter about a neighborhood, but the first thing most people notice is the way a neighborhood looks and its particular character. For example, one might notice whether the buildings all date from a certain time period or whether shop signs are in multiple languages. This particular neighborhood in Lake Charles, the City Center neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.

Modes of Transportation

Our research shows that more people carpool to work here in the Lake Charles City Center (27.3%) than in 98.1% of the neighborhoods in America.

People

One of the really interesting characteristics about the Lake Charles City Center neighborhood is that, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research, it is an excellent choice in which to reside for college students. Due to its popularity among college students who already choose to live here, its walkability, and its above average safety from crime, the neighborhood is ideal for prospective or already-enrolled college students. Between semesters and during school breaks, you'll notice that the excitement here fluctuates with the college seasons. Despite the excitement however, parents of college-age children can rest easy knowing that this neighborhood has an above average safety rating. For each of these reasons, the neighborhood is rated among the top 3.1% of college-friendly places to live in the state of Louisiana.

In addition, neighborhoodScout's analysis shows that the Lake Charles City Center neighborhood has a greater concentration of residents currently enrolled in college than 96.9% of the neighborhoods in the U.S. With 14.8% of the population here attending college, this is very much a college-focused neighborhood.

Also, one of the most interesting things about the Lake Charles City Center neighborhood is that it has a greater concentration of residents who live alone than most all neighborhoods in America. With 51.4% of the households here made up of people living alone, NeighborhoodScout's research reveals that this is a larger proportion of people living alone than in 96.4% of the neighborhoods in America.

Real Estate

Three-deckers, duplexes, old Victorian homes cut up into apartments. Independent stores on the corner selling pizza. These are some of the hallmarks of neighborhoods with lots of small 2, 3, and 4 unit apartment buildings. The Lake Charles City Center neighborhood really stands out in this regard, however, as it is dominated by such small apartment buildings more than nearly any other neighborhood in America. This is a stunning visual and lifestyle example of this type of neighborhood. In fact, 32.9% of the real estate here are small 2, 3, or 4 unit apartment buildings, which is a higher proportion than found in 95.5% of America's neighborhoods.

Occupations

There are more people living in the Lake Charles City Center neighborhood employed as sales and service workers (62.1%) than almost any neighborhood in the country. From fast-food service workers to major sales accounts, sales and service workers make up the largest proportion of our national employment picture. But despite that size and importance nationally, this neighborhood still stands out as unique due to the dominance of people living here who work in such occupations.

Diversity

Did you know that the Lake Charles City Center neighborhood has more Romanian and Finnish ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 3.8% of this neighborhood's residents have Romanian ancestry and 3.4% have Finnish ancestry.

Lake Charles City Center is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 2.9% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak French at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 95.1% of the neighborhoods in America.

The Neighbors

There are two complementary measures for understanding the income of a neighborhood's residents: the average and the extremes. While a neighborhood may be relatively wealthy overall, it is equally important to understand the rate of people - particularly children - who are living at or below the federal poverty line, which is extremely low income. Some neighborhoods with a lower average income may actually have a lower childhood poverty rate than another with a higher average income, and this helps us understand the conditions and character of a neighborhood.

The neighbors in the City Center neighborhood in Lake Charles are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 87.6% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 52.9% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 95.0% of U.S. neighborhoods.

What we choose to do for a living reflects who we are. Each neighborhood has a different mix of occupations represented, and together these tell you about the neighborhood and help you understand if this neighborhood may fit your lifestyle.

In the Lake Charles City Center neighborhood, 39.3% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants, with 37.9% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (12.4%), and 10.3% in manufacturing and laborer occupations.

Languages

The languages spoken by people in this neighborhood are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in the Lake Charles City Center neighborhood is English, spoken by 93.1% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and French.

Ethnicity / Ancestry

Boston's Beacon Hill blue-blood streets, Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish enclaves, Los Angeles' Persian neighborhoods. Each has its own culture derived primarily from the ancestries and culture of the residents who call these neighborhoods home. Likewise, each neighborhood in America has its own culture – some more unique than others – based on lifestyle, occupations, the types of households – and importantly – on the ethnicities and ancestries of the people who live in the neighborhood. Understanding where people came from, who their grandparents or great-grandparents were, can help you understand how a neighborhood is today.

In the City Center neighborhood in Lake Charles, LA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as French (9.3%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (8.1%), and residents who report German roots (7.4%), and some of the residents are also of Scottish ancestry (4.3%), along with some Romanian ancestry residents (3.8%), among others.

Getting to Work

Even if your neighborhood is walkable, you may still have to drive to your place of work. Some neighborhoods are located where many can get to work in just a few minutes, while others are located such that most residents have a long and arduous commute. The greatest number of commuters in Lake Charles City Center neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (43.2% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.

Here most residents (69.4%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (27.3%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.


Real Estate includes:
Average Home Values
Rental Market
Housing Market Details
Neighborhood Setting
Economics & Demographics include:
Lifestyle & Special Character
Household Types
Commute To Work
Migration & Mobility
Race & Ethnic Diversity
Employment Industries & Occupations
Income & Unemployment Rate
Higher Education Attainment
Crime includes:
Neighborhood Crime Index
Crimes Per Square Mile
Property Crime Comparison
Violent Crime Comparison
Schools include:
School Ratings
Schools In District
Public School Test Scores
School District Enrollment
Educational Expenditures

comparable neighborhoods nearby