Buying a Home in New Orleans and Metairie: Seven Parishes, Two Banks of the River and What Is Being Built

Nobody in New Orleans gives directions in compass points. A place is uptown or downtown, riverside or lakeside, and all four are set by the way the Mississippi bends through the city (NewOrleans.com). The river bends so hard that the west bank is mostly south of the French Quarter. Algiers Point is over on that bank, straight across from the Quarter by ferry, with Creole cottages and double shotguns lining its streets (Experience New Orleans). Carnival begins on Twelfth Night, January 6, and ends on Mardi Gras day, which in 2027 falls on February 9 (Discover Mardi Gras).

I'm Jeff Moran, NMLS #483943, licensed to originate mortgages in Louisiana through C2 Financial Corporation, and I have been in the mortgage business since 1996. I work from Bluffton, South Carolina, and I wrote this page for anyone thinking about buying a home somewhere in the New Orleans area. The New Orleans area runs from Algiers Point, the Marigny and Lakeview in Orleans Parish to Metairie, Kenner and Gretna in Jefferson Parish, then out to Chalmette, the River Parishes and Belle Chasse. That adds up to seven parishes. Louisiana calls its counties parishes, and it is the only state that does (Louisiana.gov). I go through the places first, then the schools, the hospital and the road work. After that comes the homework I would do on any address before comparing it with another: which parish it is in, the homestead exemption, flood insurance, and the rules that come with a historic district. The facts come from public sources linked beside them, and this page was last checked on October 3, 2026.

The parishes, the two banks and the places you will be choosing between

The seven parishes held 970,849 people in July 2025 by the Census Bureau's estimates (The Data Center). The Northshore is not part of this count. St. Tammany Parish, across the Causeway, was taken out of the New Orleans-Metairie metro definition in 2023, so a Mandeville or Covington address belongs to a different metro (The Data Center).

Orleans Parish: the city itself

The City of New Orleans and Orleans Parish cover the same ground, with one government, one assessor and one public school district (Orleans Parish Assessor). Downriver of the French Quarter, Faubourg Marigny is the wedge of streets just past Esplanade Avenue, and it is an official historic district (Experience New Orleans). Bywater follows it along the river, built of shotguns and Creole cottages. A shotgun is a home one room wide, with the rooms in a line front to back, and a double shotgun is two of them under one roof (Experience New Orleans). Marigny, Bywater, Tremé, Algiers Point and Holy Cross are all districts of the Historic District Landmarks Commission. Exterior work on a home in any of them goes through the review I describe in the homework section (City of New Orleans HDLC district list).

The Irish Channel, upriver of downtown, takes its name from the Irish laborers who arrived in the 1830s to dig the New Basin Canal from Lake Pontchartrain toward the growing city. Its blocks are small cottages and shotguns on narrow lots (Experience New Orleans). Farther uptown, Audubon Park runs about 350 acres between St. Charles Avenue and the river (Audubon Nature Institute). The zoo is on the river side of Magazine Street, and the lawns at the river's edge are known as the Fly. The Milton H. Latter Memorial Library is in a mansion on St. Charles Avenue on the streetcar line (New Orleans Public Library). A Trader Joe's opened at 2428 Napoleon Avenue in June 2026, the third in the metro (Axios New Orleans, June 11, 2026).

Mid-City got the first one, at 2501 Tulane Avenue, on August 14, 2025 (WWL-TV). The Lafitte Greenway, a twelve-foot paved path, runs 2.6 miles from Louis Armstrong Park through Tremé and Mid-City to City Park (Explore Louisiana). City Park itself covers about 1,300 acres and is run by the City Park Improvement Association, a state body rather than a city department (New Orleans City Park). Inside it are the New Orleans Museum of Art, the eleven-acre Besthoff Sculpture Garden next door, and the Louisiana Children's Museum, which moved into the park in 2019 (NOMA; Louisiana Children's Museum). Along Bayou St. John, the Pitot House, built in 1799, is open to the public (Pitot House).

Lakeview and Gentilly both flooded in 2005 when the drainage-canal floodwalls failed after Katrina. The rebuilding that followed is why two homes on the same Lakeview street can stand at different heights today. The Advocate described one home rebuilt with its first floor 9.5 feet up, while others on the same streets were raised only 2 to 4.5 feet (The Advocate, 2016). That height is part of how flood insurance gets priced, so when you are comparing two Lakeview properties, each one gets its own quote. On the lake itself, the stepped concrete seawall along Lakeshore Drive is where people fish, crab and relax by the water (The Advocate).

New Orleans East is where the old Six Flags site is being reworked. The project is called Bayou Phoenix, master-developed since 2021 by a partnership led by Troy Henry. Demolition of the old park structures finished in early 2025, updated plans were presented at a public forum on March 6, 2026, and the plans include a youth sports complex, an indoor-outdoor waterpark and a hotel. The developers have said they need at least $50 million in public money, and the City Council approved $5 million to clear the site (NORA; Axios New Orleans, March 12, 2026). NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility, which builds large rocket components for NASA programs, is out here too (NASA). So is the Bayou Sauvage Urban National Wildlife Refuge, about 23,000 acres of fresh and brackish marsh inside the city limits (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).

At the Convention Center end of downtown, the 39-acre River District is going up one building at a time. Shell's Gulf of America headquarters is its first building and the city's first new Class A office tower, the top grade of office space, since 1989, with construction reported nearly complete in 2026 (New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center). The children's hospital in the hospital section below is on the same riverfront.

Jefferson Parish: Metairie, Kenner, Harahan, River Ridge and the west bank

Metairie has no city government of its own. It is unincorporated Jefferson Parish and the parish's largest community, on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain between New Orleans and Kenner (Visit Jefferson Parish). So a Metairie address answers to the parish. The parish has four incorporated cities: Kenner and Harahan on the east bank, Gretna and Westwego on the west bank. River Ridge, Elmwood, Harvey, Marrero, Terrytown and Avondale are all unincorporated, and their rules come from the parish (Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office).

Fat City is about 100 acres of Metairie bounded by Veterans Memorial Boulevard, West Esplanade Avenue, Division Street and Severn Avenue. Over ten years the parish and the Metairie Business Development District bought and demolished eight buildings to assemble land at Hessmer Avenue and 18th Street. The parish is now moving toward breaking ground there on a leisure park and parking (Canal Street Beat; Biz New Orleans). Lafreniere Park covers 155 acres and opened in 1982 (Jefferson Parish Recreation), and the Bonnabel Boat Launch and fishing pier are at the lake end of Bonnabel Boulevard. Zea opened a standalone Metairie restaurant near Target in summer 2026 (Axios New Orleans, June 25, 2026). A request to rezone the 1700 block of Clearview Parkway from single-family to general office went before the parish's Planning Advisory Board in April 2025. If you are looking on that block or the streets behind it, the parish planning office can tell you how it came out (Jefferson Parish Planning Advisory Board agenda, April 17, 2025).

Kenner is the parish's upriver end on the east bank, and Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport is inside it (Visit Jefferson Parish). The $125 million Loyola Drive interchange at I-10 is under construction here, and the airport's 20-year plan is in the roads section. Harahan is named for James Theodore Harahan, president of the Illinois Central Railroad from 1906 to 1911, and River Ridge is the unincorporated stretch between Harahan and Kenner (Visit Jefferson Parish).

Across the river, Gretna holds one of Louisiana's largest National Register historic districts (Visit Jefferson Parish). The Gretna Farmers Market and Art Walk runs under the covered Gretna Market Building between Third and Fourth streets (City of Gretna). Westwego borders the bayous and swamps at the parish's lower edge. Sala Avenue is the spine of its historic district, with the Westwego Historical Museum and the Westwego Farmers and Fisheries Market, where farm produce and Gulf seafood share the same tables (Visit Jefferson Parish). Bayou Segnette State Park, about fifteen minutes across the river, has cabins, campsites and a wave pool that runs from Memorial Day through Labor Day (Louisiana State Parks). South of Marrero, the Barataria Preserve of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park protects more than 20,000 acres of wetlands, forest and bayou (Visit Jefferson Parish). In Avondale, DSLD Homes is building Steeplechase at Homeplace, an active new-construction community (DSLD Homes). In Harvey, a new school called St. Ville is going up on the site of Helen Cox High School, which I cover in the schools section.

St. Bernard Parish: Chalmette and Violet

The 1815 Battle of New Orleans was fought on the ground that is now Chalmette Battlefield, part of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park, with the 17.5-acre Chalmette National Cemetery beside it (Visit St. Bernard). The Los Isleños Museum Complex on Bayou Road is run by the Los Isleños Heritage and Cultural Society, which keeps the story of the Canary Islanders who settled the parish (Los Isleños Heritage and Cultural Society). St. Bernard State Park covers 358 acres of lagoons and trails along the river below the city, with a splash pad that carries no admission charge (Louisiana State Parks).

Violet, downriver, is the site of the Louisiana International Terminal, the Port of New Orleans container terminal planned on about 400 acres. Construction was slated to begin in 2025, with the first berth opening in 2028. The state's analysis projects more than 4,300 direct and indirect jobs, against a parish workforce of fewer than 12,000, and about $33 million a year in parish tax revenue (Louisiana Economic Development; Louisiana International Terminal). The terminal has drawn pushback from some St. Bernard residents, and WWL-TV has reported both sides (WWL-TV). The road that goes with it is in the roads section.

The River Parishes: St. Charles, St. John the Baptist and St. James

In St. Charles Parish the river runs down the middle, and the two banks have their own school attendance areas and their own tax assessments. Destrehan High School serves the east bank and Hahnville High School the west bank (St. Charles Parish Public Schools). Norco is a town named for its plant: Shell's Norco site is one of the largest combined chemical and refining operations in the country (Shell). Along River Road, Destrehan Plantation and Ormond Plantation, built in 1787, both take visitors (St. Charles Parish). The German Coast Farmers Market sets up Saturdays at the East Regional Library on West Campus Drive in Destrehan and Wednesdays at West Bank Bridge Park on River Road in Luling (St. Charles Parish).

LaPlace, in St. John the Baptist Parish, is at the west end of the lake's south shore where I-10 meets I-55, and it has been outside the federal levee system. The West Shore Lake Pontchartrain levee, in the roads section, is what changes that. Marathon's Garyville refinery is the parish's big industrial employer, and the Whitney Plantation in Wallace, open since 2014, centers its tours on the people who were enslaved there (Library of Congress; Wikipedia: Whitney Plantation).

St. James is the smallest parish in the metro, with 18,938 people in July 2025 (The Data Center). On Highway 18, the Great River Road through Vacherie, Oak Alley, Laura and St. Joseph plantations stand within a few miles of each other, and St. Joseph is still a working sugarcane farm (Oak Alley; Laura Plantation; St. Joseph Plantation). A proposed $9.4 billion chemical complex on the parish's west bank, the FG LA Sunshine Project, is not built and still needs federal permits. Groups sued the state over a permit extension in February 2026 (Earthjustice).

Plaquemines Parish: Belle Chasse and the road to Venice

Belle Chasse is the populated upriver end of Plaquemines, reached from the west bank on the LA 23 corridor. If you want new construction, this is one place to look: in September 2026 an aggregator listed six new-home communities from three builders there (NewHomeSource). Venture Global's Plaquemines LNG is an $8.5 billion complex and the parish's dominant new employer, with about 500 permanent operations staff hired, about 75% of them from Plaquemines and nearby parishes (Louisiana Economic Development; Venture Global). Farther down Highway 23, Fort Jackson was built between 1822 and 1832 and is owned and run by the parish (Plaquemines Parish Tourism). The Venice Marina launch is on Sports Marina Road at the lower end of the highway (Plaquemines Parish Tourism). From there the Delta National Wildlife Refuge and the Pass a Loutre Wildlife Management Area are reached by boat (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries).

What school will my child attend if I buy in New Orleans?

In Orleans Parish, your address does not pick the school. The public schools are all charter schools and are not zoned. Living in Orleans Parish is the requirement, and from there families apply through one common application, run by EnrollNOLA, ranking up to 12 choices. Seats are assigned by lottery, with extra weight for living close to a school and for having a sibling there. Living close by generally fills only about half the available seats (WWNO; EnrollNOLA). So if you are moving from a district that zones by address, Orleans works differently, and EnrollNOLA's site walks through how the application and the lottery run. Every public school student in the city is in a building that was built, renovated or refurbished under the post-Katrina School Facilities Master Plan, 89 buildings in all. A property tax that voters renewed in 2014 pays to maintain them (NOLA Public Schools).

Jefferson Parish does zone by address, and its attendance boundaries changed for the 2026-27 school year. The district is building two new schools, each for about 1,000 students in pre-K through eighth grade. Bunche-Washington, in Metairie on the Bunche Elementary site, was set to open for summer 2026, with current Bunche students attending it for 2026-27. St. Ville, in Harvey on the site of Helen Cox High School, is expected to open in January 2027, with its students housed at two other locations until then (Jefferson Parish Schools). The new boundary maps are posted on the district's website and on display at district offices, so please look up the actual address there rather than trusting a zone printed on a listing. In St. Charles Parish, the river is the line: Destrehan High on the east bank, Hahnville High on the west.

The children's hospital going up on the riverfront

Ochsner is building the Gayle and Tom Benson Ochsner Children's Hospital on the New Orleans riverfront, with an opening planned for early 2028. It will have a children-only emergency department and a neonatal intensive care unit, and it brings about 400 jobs to the riverfront. Foundation work started in late January 2026, so if you are looking downtown or along the river, that construction is part of the next two years (Ochsner Health; Hoodline, February 2026). Ochsner Health is the largest private employer in Louisiana, and the two health systems you will hear named across the metro are Ochsner and LCMC Health (Wikipedia: Ochsner Health System; Wikipedia: LCMC Health).

Causeway Boulevard, the Loyola Drive interchange, the airport and the West Shore levee

Causeway Boulevard. Work began in May 2026 on a third lane in each direction over a long stretch of Causeway Boulevard in Jefferson Parish, with drainage improvements built in (Fox 8, May 5, 2026).

Loyola Drive at I-10. The $125 million interchange in Kenner is under construction, with Gilchrist Construction building the ramp embankments and piers for the flyovers (Construction News). On Airline Highway, US 61 from David Drive to Causeway Boulevard is being patched, milled and resurfaced, with new sidewalks. I-10 from I-55 to the Jefferson Parish line has been getting raised markers and new striping since April 2026 (Louisiana DOTD).

The airport. Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport unveiled a 20-year master plan in March 2026 with four expansion areas: a second terminal, 10 to 15 more gates, a rebuilt roadway system and another parking garage. The first phase, the roads, the garage and 15 gates, is targeted for 2031, and the second terminal is tied to passenger-count triggers (Fox 8, March 20, 2026). If you are buying in Kenner, that is the construction you will live next to.

The West Shore Lake Pontchartrain levee. This is 18.5 miles of levees, floodwalls and pump stations from Garyville to LaPlace, built to protect more than 60,000 residents of St. Charles, St. John the Baptist and St. James from hurricane surge. It is designed to hold back a storm surge with a 1-in-100 chance of happening in any given year. Construction began in late 2022, and the biggest piece, the pump stations at the Reserve Relief Canal and I-55, starts construction in 2026. The state now expects it finished in 2028 rather than the 2026 date the Corps of Engineers once gave. I cover what that means for a flood insurance quote in LaPlace in the flood section below (Louisiana CPRA; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers).

The St. Bernard Transportation Corridor. A proposed elevated roadway would connect the Violet terminal directly to I-510 and double as a new hurricane evacuation route. The Louisiana Legislature committed $50 million for planning and design, and the port has hired a firm to deliver it (Port of New Orleans).

Carnival, parades and your closing date

Carnival is the season and Mardi Gras is the day it ends. The 2027 season runs 35 days, one of the shortest in memory, against 43 days in 2026 and 58 in 2025 (Discover Mardi Gras). A krewe is the organization that puts on a parade, and whole neighborhoods along a route close to cars on parade day. On the schedule published so far, Endymion runs a Mid-City route that ends inside the Superdome, Bacchus takes an Uptown route the next night, and Orpheus parades on Lundi Gras, the Monday before Mardi Gras. Final 2027 routes were still to be confirmed when I checked (NewOrleans.com). If your closing or your final walk-through lands in late January or early February, I would pull up that year's parade schedule before you pick the day. The notary's office and the home may both be on the far side of a route.

The homework on any address: parish, millage and the homestead exemption

The first thing I would look up on any address is which parish it is in, and whether it is inside a city as well. In Orleans Parish there is one taxing territory and one assessor. In Jefferson Parish, a Metairie or Harvey address is a parish address, while Kenner, Harahan, Gretna and Westwego each add a city. In St. Charles and St. James, the east bank and the west bank carry different assessments (St. Charles Parish Public Schools).

A property tax rate here is stated in mills. A mill is one dollar of tax for every $1,000 of assessed value. In Louisiana the assessed value of a home is 10% of its fair market value (AARP Property Tax Aide: Louisiana, citing Article VII, Section 20 of the state constitution). The homestead exemption takes the first $75,000 of fair market value out of that math on the home you own and live in, which is $7,500 of assessed value. It is permanent for as long as you own and occupy the home, and it is only for a person rather than an LLC. You apply for it at the parish assessor after you close (City of New Orleans). I walk through the filing, and what the exemption does and does not cover, in how to file for the Louisiana homestead exemption after closing. Owners 65 and older under an income limit can also apply for a special assessment level, which freezes the assessed value. It does not freeze the bill, so if a taxing body raises its millage, the bill can still go up, and a seller's freeze ends when the home sells. That is covered in buying a home in Louisiana at 65 or older.

Numbers below are made up to show the arithmetic, before any exemption:

Fair market value (invented)        $300,000
Louisiana assessment ratio        x      10%
                                  ----------
Assessed value                       $30,000
Total millage (invented)          x 100 mills
                                  ----------
Tax before exemptions                 $3,000

The actual totals differ by parish and by ward. On the Orleans Parish east bank the total was 131.99 mills. Orleans did not reassess in 2025 and held its rates. The total still came down a little, by 2 mills, because the rate that pays off the city's bond debt dropped. Jefferson Parish totals run from 100.18 to 150.75 mills depending on the ward. Most of them were lowered after the 2024 parishwide reassessment raised property values 5.6%, which is how it usually goes: when values go up, the rates come down so the parish collects about the same money (Bureau of Governmental Research). BGR's property tax dashboards, updated for 2026, break the Orleans and Jefferson totals down by taxing body (BGR). For St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. John, St. James and Plaquemines, the parish assessor is the place to get the millage for an address.

Mayor Helena Moreno delivered a proposed 2027 city budget on September 22, 2026 that forecasts no property tax change. The presentation left one question open for the City Council: whether to roll forward eligible millages, which would raise an estimated $20 million for the general fund. A roll forward takes a tax rate that had been lowered and moves it back up toward the maximum voters already approved, so the bill on the same assessed value goes up. That decision was still in front of the Council when I checked (Verite News, September 22, 2026).

Orleans is also the one parish with a documentary transaction tax. Louisiana has no statewide real estate transfer tax, and a 2011 constitutional amendment bars new ones, with New Orleans' existing tax grandfathered (Ballotpedia). It is a flat $325 on a sale document or a mortgage above $9,000, paid when the document is recorded. For a single-family home you live in, the $325 applies no matter how many pages the document runs (Orleans Parish Civil Clerk of Court). It is part of your cash to close, so I include it when I estimate an Orleans Parish purchase. A Louisiana sale closes before a notary rather than an attorney, and the act of sale is signed in front of a notary and two witnesses. The Louisiana page explains that, and why it decides whether you can sign from out of state.

Flood insurance, elevation and the levee that is still being built

The levees around New Orleans were rebuilt after 2005. Congress had the Corps of Engineers build the Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System, which is the ring of levees, floodwalls, gates and pump stations that stands between the city and the river or a hurricane surge. It is built to hold back a flood with a 1-in-100 chance of happening in any given year. In 2011 FEMA worked with the Corps to speed up new flood insurance maps for Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, St. Charles and Plaquemines that take that system into account (FEMA). Inside the city, rain is a separate question from surge. The Sewerage and Water Board runs the pumps that move rainwater out of the streets. Its older pumps run on a kind of electric power the utility does not make, so the board makes its own at a $280 million power complex (Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans). After the pumps lost power during Tropical Storm Arthur on June 18, 2026, the board moved to add a new turbine as well (Fox 8, August 28, 2026). So on a home inside the city, a hard rain is part of the flood conversation along with hurricanes.

FEMA's Community Rating System grades a community on how well it manages flood risk, and each step up the scale takes another 5% off National Flood Insurance Program premiums there (FEMA). Jefferson Parish moved from Class 5 to Class 3 on October 1, 2025. It is the first Class 3 community in Louisiana and one of only about 11 in the country. For a policyholder in the parish, that is a 35% discount on the flood premium, applied at renewal, and the parish projects savings of more than $12 million a year (Insurance Journal, October 6, 2025). Every parish and city has its own rating, so a flood insurance agent can tell you which discount applies to the address you are considering.

The premium itself is priced per property. The NFIP has used Risk Rating 2.0 since 2021, which sets the premium on the home's own elevation, flood history and distance to water (Flood Insurance Guru). That is how two Lakeview homes on the same street end up with different premiums. The neighbor's bill tells you little about the one you are considering. For a property in FEMA's high-risk flood area, the Special Flood Hazard Area, the lender will require flood insurance, and that premium becomes part of your monthly payment. I explain how to get the number on the actual address before you write an offer in buying a home in a flood zone. In LaPlace, Reserve, Garyville and much of St. Charles and St. James, the West Shore levee is anticipated complete in 2028, and no new flood maps for it have been published yet. So the quote on a home there is priced on today's map.

Homeowners insurance, termites and historic district review

Homeowners insurance in Louisiana has been settling down. As of September, the Louisiana Department of Insurance had finalized 16 homeowners rate filings in 2026: 9 reduced rates, 4 increased them and 3 left them unchanged. The nine cutting rates cover more than 100,000 policyholders (Louisiana Radio Network, September 9, 2026). Louisiana Citizens policyholders no longer pay the 10% surcharge on new or renewing policies (Louisiana Illuminator). The Louisiana Fortify Homes Program gives grants toward a fortified roof, and the state added money to it in 2026 (Louisiana Illuminator, May 27, 2026). Published averages for a New Orleans premium are all over the map, so I would get a quote on the specific home as soon as you are serious about it.

A termite bond is a normal line in a New Orleans housing budget. The Formosan subterranean termite is the most destructive structural pest in Louisiana, and without active protection a colony can do severe structural damage within two to three years. They swarm in New Orleans from about mid-May through June, usually at dusk. A bond is an annual contract that includes a yearly inspection and covers retreatment if they come back (LSU AgCenter).

If the home is in one of the city's historic districts, exterior work goes through the Historic District Landmarks Commission. You generally need its written approval, called a Certificate of Appropriateness, before you can pull a building permit for that work. Districts come in two kinds. In a full control district the commission approves all exterior work visible from the street plus new construction. In a partial control district the review is narrower, covering demolition, major alterations, new construction and street-visible changes. Removing original windows, siding or roofing counts as exterior work. Applications go first to an Architectural Review Committee of licensed architects and then to the full commission (City of New Orleans; HDLC guidelines). The district list and its control level are per address, so if you plan to renovate, please check the address against the commission's list and build the review time into your plans.

Short-term rentals and associations

If you are counting on short-term rental income from a home in Orleans Parish, the rules have been changing through 2026. The city has not accepted new commercial short-term rental applications since June 8, 2023. As of May 7, 2026 any new commercial rental needs conditional-use approval, which means the City Council votes on that one property before it can operate. The rules for residential short-term rentals were rewritten in March 2026, with further changes before the Council over the summer (City of New Orleans Short-Term Rental Administration; Stone Pigman). Mayor Moreno's 100-day plan named stronger enforcement as a priority (Fox 8, January 9, 2026). Please read the city's current rules for the exact address before you build rental income into your plan, and remember that Jefferson, St. Bernard and the other parishes each set their own.

Many homes in the older neighborhoods here have no owners' association at all. The newer subdivisions in Avondale, Belle Chasse and Chalmette are where association questions come up. Louisiana's Homeowners Association Act, La. R.S. 9:1141 and following, governs those associations (Louisiana State Legislature). If the home has one, please ask for the association's governing documents and its resale certificate early, because the dues go into the monthly payment a lender qualifies you on.

Your mortgage, and where these facts land in it

Redfin put the median sale price in the City of New Orleans at $340,000 for the three months ending August 2026 (Redfin). The New Orleans Metropolitan Association of Realtors reports on ten parishes, including St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and Washington, so its "New Orleans metro" numbers cover a wider area than these seven parishes and will not match them.

The 2026 conforming and FHA loan limits are the same in all seven parishes, and they are in the box below this article. The conforming limit is the largest loan Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will buy in a parish, and a loan above it is called a jumbo loan. The page on conforming versus jumbo loans explains what changes when a loan crosses that limit.

Property tax, homeowners insurance, flood insurance, a termite bond and any association dues are all inside the monthly payment a lender qualifies you on, and the Orleans documentary transaction tax is part of your cash to close. Pre-approval in Louisiana covers what the letter is based on, and the question to ask in week one about signing from out of state. The Louisiana page covers the notary closing and the rest of the state's rules.

You can run your numbers for a purchase in any of the seven parishes whenever you're ready: rates for your scenario and Louisiana closing costs, with no credit pull and no account. Choose the option that works best for you, and the application opens from there.

Nothing here is a loan approval, a denial or a commitment to lend, and it is not tax advice. The value the parish uses for a specific property, and whether it gets the homestead exemption, are set by that parish's assessor, so please confirm them with the assessor's office.

Common questions

Is Metairie a city?

No. Metairie is unincorporated Jefferson Parish and the parish's largest community, between New Orleans and Kenner on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain. A Metairie address answers to the parish, with no city government of its own. The parish's four incorporated cities are Kenner, Harahan, Gretna and Westwego.

Is Orleans Parish the same as the City of New Orleans?

Yes. The parish and the city cover the same territory, with one government, one assessor and one public school district. If you buy in Orleans Parish, you are buying in the city, and the parish-only items on this page, like the documentary transaction tax and the all-charter school enrollment, apply to you.

Does my address decide which public school my child attends in New Orleans?

Not in Orleans Parish. The public schools are all charter schools and are not zoned, so residency in the parish is the requirement. Families apply through one common application, ranking up to 12 choices, and seats are assigned by a weighted lottery. Jefferson Parish does zone by address, and its boundaries changed for 2026-27, so please check the district's own map for any Jefferson address.

Is flood insurance discounted in Jefferson Parish?

Yes. Jefferson Parish became the first Class 3 community in Louisiana under FEMA's Community Rating System on October 1, 2025, and National Flood Insurance Program policyholders in the parish receive a 35% premium discount at renewal. Every parish and city has its own rating, and the premium itself is priced on the individual property, so a flood insurance agent quotes the specific address.

Is the west bank of New Orleans actually west?

Mostly it is south. The Mississippi bends so sharply through the city that the far bank is south of the French Quarter. Algiers, on the west bank, is part of the City of New Orleans and Orleans Parish, while Gretna, Westwego, Harvey and Marrero are the Jefferson Parish west bank. Locals give directions as uptown, downtown, riverside and lakeside rather than by compass.

Will the West Shore levee change flood insurance in LaPlace?

Not yet. The West Shore Lake Pontchartrain levee runs 18.5 miles from Garyville to LaPlace, construction began in late 2022, and the state's plan now anticipates completion in 2028. No new flood maps reflecting it have been published, so a flood insurance quote in LaPlace, Reserve or Garyville is priced on the current map.

Is there a transfer tax when you buy in New Orleans?

Orleans Parish is the one parish in Louisiana with a documentary transaction tax, a flat charge on a sale document or a mortgage, paid when the document is recorded. The state has no transfer tax and a 2011 constitutional amendment bars new ones, which is why no other parish in the metro charges one. It is part of your cash to close rather than your monthly payment.