Best Place to live in North Louisiana? (Shreveport, Bossier City: extended stay, to rent)

[Rainbow Island]

I live in Haynesville. No need in considering moving here or anywhere in Claiborne or Webster Parish for that matter. There's just not much going on here. I'll agree, Minden would be the best choice of these two parishes. But it really don't offer much variety for shopping or dinning. Homer is the parish seat of Claiborne parish and it no longer even has a Wal-Mart. Some would say not having a Wal-Mart is a good thing. I would agree if there was other options. That's just my opinion. I'm sure I'll receive some flaming over it though. I'm certainly not trying to anger anyone from this area.

[Mainegranite]

My son and his girlfriend will be moving to the Shreveport area in late March or early April due to being transferred from West Texas gas fields to the new Northern Louisiana natural gas shalle find. I am wondering if anyone could recommend a town that is offering a good job prospects for his girlfriend. My son will be driving all around the area as he is a technician that goes out to the sites. They can afford $700 to 900 for an apartment or rental house.

And have you seen an improvement in the area with buildings going up and road improvements? Thank you. Dorothea

[SBCmetroguy]

Shreveport, Bossier, Haughton, Benton, Stonewall... any of these would be a good place to live. Haughton is FULL of people who work in the oil industry, every time I stop in at the truck stop for gas, I hear people comparing stories of working for the different oil companies.

Most newer apartment complexes start around $800 for a 1-bedroom, and range up to about $1,500 for a 3-bedroom so if they are looking for a 1-bedroom, they shouldn't have any problems. And even some older, yet still nicer, complexes start around $700 for a 1-bedroom.

Not sure what the buildings and road improvements has to do with anything, but there is always stuff being built. Most of the capital improvements here have nothing to do with the oil industry, they're almost always funded - at least in part - by parish (county) and state casino revenues. One impressive building project that is under construction right now, though, is the Cyber Innovation Center which is the headquarters for the National Cyber Research Park. Companies like Lockheed Martin, Dell, and many others will have a presence in that complex. The complex will work closely with the United States military in cyber ops, and will develop the world's most secure anti-virus, firewall programs, etc.

Also, there are major road improvements occurring in Bossier City due to its rapid northward suburban expansion. The city leaders are considering new north-south thoroughfares and widening existing north-south roads into major arteries as well. In fact, I grew up off Swan Lake Road which right now is a 2-lane road. Less than 10 years ago it was a tucked away, hidden road for the most part but now that there has been major growth on the north end of the road with new subdivisions, new schools, etc, they are in the beginning stages of a project to widen that 2-lane "country road" into a 5-lane artery to help ease traffic congestion on Airline Drive and Benton Road. The city is also currently in the planning stages of a southward extension of their riverfront parkway, and then will go straight into a northward extension as well.

Bossier City's biggest problem is that most of the city is land-locked by Barksdale Air Force Base, so it can only grow to the far north and south. Though on the north and south sides of the base, the city is growing to the east toward Haughton as well. When I was growing up in Bossier City, there was a big gap between it and the town of Benton. Now, however, if you drive north down Benton Road or Airline Drive, there is little to no obvious separation between them.

Anyway, I hope this helps.

[kajunwolf2005]

Looking for a shreveport cop? try the do-nut shop at kings hwy and hearne ave

[Saul_Goode]

I realize this is a reply to a 2-year old thread but having lived in the Shreveport-Bossier City (S-BC) area for over 10 years I also happen to know something about that area.

Not sure why the OP was looking for places "north" of I-20, but "cities" and areas I recommend along/north of I-20 would be:

Bossier City north – Suburban life with a country twist, good schools

Haughton (Red Chute-Eastwood area) - Good schools, just the right distance from the city, the lakes, etc.

Benton – Just the right distance from the city, the lakes, etc.

Minden – Similar to Ruston without college life. Just the right distance for small-town life from S-BC, with some great barbeque

Ruston - College town (LA Tech). One of my favorite places in Louisiana.


"SBCmetroguy" sounds like an excellent source of information for this region.

I basically grew up in S-BC but I don't live there anymore and I've lived in several other major US cities since the early 1990's. I am today an urban planner specialized in regional/land use/transportation planning. I still visit every couple of years and it has changed quite a bit since the 1980's, but S-BC is still today not a very rapidly-growing area. In a lot of way that is a good thing. For the most part, while the movie/entertainment industry has provided positive economic impact in the last 8 years (?), the casinos seem to have been the biggest economic boom for the area over the last 15 years. While it seems there is a bunch of growth, in reality the population and development patterns have simply shifted within the area.

Overall, I remember S-BC to be fairly decent place to live and raise kids.

[ehanks07]

My husband is getting transfered to Shreveport, we have two kids 5 and 2. We do not know anything about Louisiana, except for a couple trips to New Orleans pre-Catrina. Please give any suggested suburbs of Shreveport. I obviously want to place my kids in a good school district, but I can't find much information to help me.

Thanks!!!

[MovingtoPAohmy]

You should consider Bossier Parish schools...Stockwell Place, Legacy, or WT Lewis. Benton also has great schools. You can not go wrong with any of these areas. Bossier is located right next to Shreveport so you will be fine living in Bossier. What is your housing budget? I could give you a couple of neighborhoods names with having that information.

[pdbrooks]

stop lying whoever u are.

Originally Posted by SBCmetroguy

Shreveport deserves extreme caution. I never have been one to admit this much until now; but after having just read that another of my best friends from years back was murdered, I have to say it. If you live in Shreveport, please have the means to live in a decent neighborhood. Anyone who doesn't make much money and will end up living in a low-income area, if you have children, find a low-income area of Bossier to live in. My friend's life got screwed up when he moved from Bossier to Shreveport a few years ago, and he brought that with him when he moved to Benton. He was murdered yesterday in Bossier City as a result of this lifestyle which he learned in Shreveport and brought back across the river with him.

Again I'm not saying Shreveport is necessarily a bad place, but if you are low-income and looking for a safe place for children in a low-income area, do not move to Shreveport. I just can't stress that enough. I know a mother who only wanted the best for her sons, but unfortunately she couldn't provide much. So they moved to Shreveport to be closer to work in order to make their lives somewhat better. A few years later she will be burying a son. This is not the first case where I've known someone to be in this situation; unfortunately it happens too often. I lost a good friend in high school to gang violence after his mother moved his family to a ghetto in Shreveport. She was just trying to do what she could to help her family survive, but in the end she buried her son after he was gunned down in the middle of the street like an animal. He was not an animal, but yet another victim of the ghetto.

Elvis Presley's popular song, In the Ghetto, rings true for Shreveport as well as Chicago.

[coco2]

What about southeast Shreveport? How far down do you need to be to be fairly safe?

[Saul_Goode]

Originally Posted by ehanks07

My husband is getting transfered to Shreveport, we have two kids 5 and 2. We do not know anything about Louisiana, except for a couple trips to New Orleans pre-Catrina. Please give any suggested suburbs of Shreveport. I obviously want to place my kids in a good school district, but I can't find much information to help me.

Thanks!!!

Ehanks07,


From where are you moving to the Shreveport-Bossier City area?

Bossier Parish Schools are quite good. I concur with Stockwell Place and Legacy elementary schools mentioned by a previous poster. Also, have your realtor look in, or you guys look at the neighborhoods "Dogwood", "Dogwood South", "Carriage Oaks", "Sterling Ranch", "Stockwell", "Stonebridge", "Country Place", "Tall Timbers", "Forest Hills", "Crestwood", and along Bellevue Road. These are either new and/or well-taken care of neighborhoods. Bossier City north is also a great place to look for a residence. Look in the area of "Greenacres", "Lakewood", "Palmetto", etc... Benton is a little further to the north but it too is just the right distance from the city, the lakes, etc.

Life in SBC is fairly slow-paced with almost zero traffic congestion and you can reach the extreme N-S-E-W regions of the metro within 25 minutes. The people overall are friendly and polite.

At the same time, you are going to find that Shreveport-Bossier City is very different from New Orleans and Southern Louisiana. New Orleans is older, much larger, far more urban and dense, and obviously is the cultural center of Louisiana. After having lived in Northwest Louisiana for over 10 years I’ve found that SBC has much in common with our friends across the state line in Texas. Dallas-Ft. Worth is just 2.5 hours east and actually has tremendous influence on the SBC area. In fact, Shreveport was part of Texas at one point.

I basically grew up in S-BC (between Haughton & Bossier City) but I don't live there anymore and I've lived in several other major US cities since the early 1990's. I am today an urban planner specialized in regional/land use/transportation planning. I still visit S-BC every couple of years and it has changed quite a bit since the 1980's, but S-BC is still today not a very rapidly-growing area. In some ways that is a good thing. For the most part, while the movie/entertainment industry has provided positive economic impact in the last 8 years (?), the casinos seem to have been the biggest economic boom for the area over the last 15 years. While it seems there is a bunch of growth, in reality the population and development patterns have simply shifted within the area.

Overall, I remember S-BC to be fairly decent place to live and raise kids.

If you can contact "SBCmetroguy" here on the city-data forum, he is an excellent source of information for this region.