Best Place to live in North Louisiana? (Shreveport, Bossier City: apartment complexes, rental)

[SBCmetroguy]

Originally Posted by LOUISIANA'SLEGEND

I swear when i'm in Shreveport I cant find a cop anywhere, but Bossier City's police force is everywhere though, those guys dont play!!!!

I did read your entire post, but I had to comment on this one quote above. Truer words have never been spoken, my friend. I tell people this all time time. Shreveport's cops always either seem too busy to bother with things, or they're nowhere to be found. In Bossier on the other hand, you will see their cops whether you want to or not! They're everywhere. And the Bossier Parish Sheriff's deputies are the same way. Just drive Highway 80 between Bossier and Haughton on any given day, and you will likely encounter at least one along that stretch of road. But more often than not, you will see anywhere from 3-6 along that very short drive.

[C.Harrison]

I am from springhill. better to be from than to move to. i currently live in south bossier with my wife and 4 month old daughter. bossier city is far safer feeling than shreveport. barksdale AFB is lively, lots of air traffic over my house. if not the airplanes, the trains! but it is nice here in my neighbor hood. i have brookshires to the south and kroger a quarter mile from my house. bank nearby, and fairly easy access to 1-20 via the parkway. if i want to go to shreveport, the jimmy davis bridge is close by, getting me to shopping. i do not enjoy the high humidity. it is very hot in the summer, and summer seems to start in march and end in december!

i would choose bossier city or benton out of ruston, shreveport, minden or any other northern louisiana town.

[SBCmetroguy]

Originally Posted by C.Harrison

I am from springhill. better to be from than to move to. i currently live in south bossier with my wife and 4 month old daughter. bossier city is far safer feeling than shreveport. barksdale AFB is lively, lots of air traffic over my house. if not the airplanes, the trains! but it is nice here in my neighbor hood. i have brookshires to the south and kroger a quarter mile from my house. bank nearby, and fairly easy access to 1-20 via the parkway. if i want to go to shreveport, the jimmy davis bridge is close by, getting me to shopping. i do not enjoy the high humidity. it is very hot in the summer, and summer seems to start in march and end in december!

i would choose bossier city or benton out of ruston, shreveport, minden or any other northern louisiana town.

Good post! I didn't have an overall comment, I just wanted to say "I hear ya" about the Summer... starting in March and ending in December. lol Couldn't have said it better myself!

[SwinerBock]

I personally have lived in both North-Central Louisiana and South-Central Arkansas. Both areas have towns and small cities with their own uniqueness.

My early years were spent in Farmerville, a town of about 3,500 to 4,000. Not really familiar with any industry other than the poultry processing plant a few miles outside of town. Since it is the parish seat, though, the town will always be there. Farmerville does seem to be going through a bit of a growth spurt, retail-wise. Farmerville is located roughly 30 miles from Ruston (college), 30 miles from Monroe (shopping and college), and 30 miles from El Dorado, AR (see below). I've heard that because of its central locale, you have some of the well-to-do folks in each of those cities starting to build lakehouse getaways on Lake Darbonne.

El Dorado has struggled for the past 20 years due to loss of manufacturing jobs. However, they have been getting aggressive in the last year or two on the economic development front, passing an economic development tax to (among other things) build a new civic center between the downtown shopping district and the community college. They are also building a new high school. They are home to Murphy Oil (Murphy USA gas stations), which is funding the El Dorado Promise (scholarship money for any El Dorado High School graduate to any accredited 4 yr college in the country or any 2 or 4 yr college in the state of Arkansas). They have a growing medical community, and a vibrant downtown with live music Friday and Saturday nights. Soon, US 167 will be completely 4-laned from El Dorado down to Ruston (and I-20). Hopefully, in about 5 years, US 167 will also be 4-laned from El Dorado to Little Rock. And in about 10 years, contruction of the new Interstate 69 is planned to start in the El Dorado area.

Ruston, LA, and Magnolia, AR, are both college towns, with Ruston being slightly larger and Louisiana Tech being the more prestigious university. Ruston has more shopping opportunities than Magnolia, and it has the interstate connecting it to Monroe and Shreveport, both roughly an hour, give or take, in either direction. Magnolia is only 30 miles from El Dorado, has a pretty decent downtown, and a new Walmart supercenter with a small strip mall nearby. It is also about an hour from Texarkana, and its shopping (mall on the Texas side).

If you prefer the Monroe area, I personally would choose West Monroe or Sterlington. Admittedly, most of my experience of Monroe has been travelling through it to get to I-20 and Pecanland Mall. Nice enough mall. I'm just not all that impressed with the rest of the town. However, I defer to the experience of others on here on that topic, as well as on Minden, Haynesville and those other small North La towns. All I know is that they are about like Farmerville in size. Other than that, I don't know much on them.

Hope this helps.

[1987earthquake]

I am looking at possibly moving to Stonewall. I have a job offer at the paper mill in Mansfield. I was wondering if anyone knew anything about the area. Crime in this area? Recommendations for other areas between mansfield and shreveport? My girlfriend is in the medical field so I was looking at making a trip to shreveport for her and mansfield to me for work. Thanks

[Rosinante]

Originally Posted by TN-rox

We were thinking outside of Shreveport or Monroe. Job oriented move. We were thinking about north LA because we've heard really great things about the outdoor activities and fishing, but it doesn't sound too safe which could be a problem... Leaving where we are now because of the safety... Any information on the area would be greatly appreciated: Oil City, Minden, Stonewall, Farmerville, Springhill, Shrevport, Monroe- its a pretty open move. Thanks so much.

That's a lot of latitude you have there; I mean, it's a pretty good haul from Shreveport to Monroe, so this new job of yours must mean you travel.

When I moved from Memphis to Louisiana 29 years ago, I chose Baton Rouge because it was close to being central to all of the accounts I would be covering statewide.

Crime is certainly an issue in most of our state's cities, so, given your ability to choose where you live, I'd be inclined to pick either the Ruston or Monroe areas as a starting point.

[becoming]

IMO, the safest, friendliest town in Louisiana (possibly in the whole United States!) is Shongaloo, but we have a population of less than 200, so that might be too small for you.

[linicx]

I took a long easly drove through LA from N to S one time. I lived Bosier City and Shreveport, Natchitoches and even Francesville. I loved the Gulf Coast but not the kids that tried to break into my truck in the Walmart parking lot. It's not a place I would like to live as I had no such problems in any other part of the state.

[SBCmetroguy]

Originally Posted by 1987earthquake

I am looking at possibly moving to Stonewall. I have a job offer at the paper mill in Mansfield. I was wondering if anyone knew anything about the area. Crime in this area? Recommendations for other areas between mansfield and shreveport? My girlfriend is in the medical field so I was looking at making a trip to shreveport for her and mansfield to me for work. Thanks

Stonewall is nice. It's a better decision than Mansfield or Shreveport, to be honest. It's a small country town but when the national economy was chugging along at a decent rate, it was growing quite nicely. You'll find a few nice, new subdivisions there.

Shreveport obviously has crime problems, being a decent-sized city, but Mansfield has a huge crime problem for such a small town. Stonewall should suit you nicely.

[sameoldsonganddance]

My family is in Monroe. They wanted me to move back there. I took a look around. It looks run down and dirty in a lot of places. I was born there, and lived there as a youngster. I would never move back there. My family also says the crime is pretty high for the size of the city. That made my mind up. I live in a small Oklahoma town that has the 3rd largest man made lake in the country! Lake Eufaula. Beautiful! Country and small mountains too. My Monroe family comes up here and "OOOHs and AHHH'S"!
I sit on my front porch and look at the mountain and we are a stone's throw from the lake. Good luck.