St. Charles Parish, Louisiana Eviction Risk: Low

St. Charles Parish carries an average eviction-risk score of 2.6/10, placing it in the Low tier, yet that headline figure requires context for any landlord or investor thinking seriously about operating here. Across the parish's 13 cities, individual scores run from 2 to 2.9, a compressed but real spread that signals meaningful differences in operating conditions block by block. Within Louisiana, the parish ranks 20th of 64 parishes, meaning 19 parishes carry higher risk and 44 are comparatively more landlord-friendly, placing St. Charles in the higher-risk third of the state despite its low absolute score.

The broader economic backdrop reinforces a cautious read. Average rent runs $1,246 per month against an average rent-burden rate of 42.6%, a figure well above the conventional 30% threshold that separates manageable housing costs from financial strain. With only 17.8% of residents renting, the rental market is small relative to most Louisiana eviction laws parishes, which keeps vacancy pressure low but also limits the pool of qualified applicants a landlord can choose from when a unit turns over.

The cities inside St. Charles Parish

The highest-risk zone sits along the parish's eastern edge. Destrehan, with a population of 11,619 and a score of 3.2/10, and Luling, the parish's largest community at 13,960 residents and a score of 3.1/10, account for the bulk of the rental housing stock and the most concentrated exposure. Norco and Boutte each also score 2.8/10, and New Sarpy rounds out the top tier at 2.5/10 as well, so the upper end of the risk range is shared by several distinct communities rather than one outlier.

Lower-risk conditions appear in St. Rose (2.5/10, population 7,644) and Montz (2.3/10), where the combination of lower tenant-stress indicators produces a more stable landlord environment. The gap between a 2.7 in St. Rose and a 3.2 in Destrehan may look narrow on paper, but it reflects genuinely different operating dynamics. Investors comparing submarkets within the parish should run city-level scores rather than relying on the countywide average.

State-level laws that apply here

Every landlord in St. Charles Parish operates under Louisiana state law. Under the Louisiana eviction process governed by La. R.S. § 9:3251 et seq., both non-payment of rent and lease-violation notices require only a 5-day notice period before a landlord may proceed, while an end-of-term or no-cause termination requires 30 days. Uncontested cases typically resolve in 14 to 30 days; contested matters extend to 30 to 90 days. Louisiana requires no just cause to terminate a tenancy, and the state preempts local rent-control ordinances, so no parish or municipality in Louisiana may impose its own rent caps.

Louisiana eviction costs include a court filing fee of $170 to $300, a sheriff lockout fee of $50 to $175, and attorney fees typically ranging from $500 to $3,000 depending on complexity. Source-of-income is not a protected class under Louisiana tenant protections, giving landlords standard screening latitude under state law. Landlords are advised to review current fee schedules with the local court clerk, as court costs vary by parish.

With a poverty rate of 10.6% and renters making up just 17.8% of households, St. Charles Parish is a small, relatively stable rental market where the real variation sits at the city level, so reviewing the individual city scores in the grid above is the most reliable guide to where operating conditions are tightest.