St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana Eviction Risk: Low

St. Tammany Parish scores 2.6/10 (Low) on the eviction-risk index, placing it among the more landlord-friendly markets in Louisiana eviction laws. Across the parish's 11 tracked cities, the average reflects a rental market with a relatively modest renter share of 26.9% and an average rent of $1,308, conditions that tend to limit the tenant-turnover pressure that drives risk higher. Ranked 46th of 64 Louisiana parishes, St. Tammany sits in the lower-risk third of the state: 45 parishes are riskier and only 18 are more landlord-friendly.

That said, a parish average of 2.6 covers real variation. Individual city scores run from 2 to 2.8, a spread that can meaningfully affect holding costs and vacancy exposure depending on exactly where a rental unit sits. Investors treating the entire parish as a uniform bet will find that submarket selection matters more than the headline figure suggests.

The cities inside St. Tammany Parish

Eden Isle carries the highest risk score in the parish at 2.8/10, with a population of roughly 7,683. Mandeville (2.4/10, pop. 12,946) and Covington (2.5/10, pop. 11,658) follow closely. These three communities sit at the top of the intra-parish range and warrant closer due diligence on tenant screening and lease terms before committing capital.

On the more favorable end, Madisonville scores 2.6/10, and Lacombe and Abita Springs each come in at 2.4/10. Slidell, the parish's largest city by population at 28,561, lands at the parish average of 2.6/10, making it a reasonable benchmark for comparing smaller submarkets. Risk is genuinely hyper-local across St. Tammany Parish, and a few miles can separate meaningfully different operating environments.

State-level laws that apply here

Every landlord in St. Tammany Parish operates under Louisiana state law, which is structured favorably for property owners relative to many other states. For non-payment of rent or a lease violation, Louisiana gives tenants a 5-day notice to pay or vacate; for end-of-term no-cause terminations, the required notice is 30 days. Louisiana does not require just cause for non-renewal, and state law preempts any local rent-control ordinance, so no parish or municipality within St. Tammany can impose a rent cap. Understanding the full Louisiana eviction process is worth the time before serving any notice, because the court timeline for an uncontested case runs 14 to 30 days and a contested matter can extend to 90 days.

On the cost side, landlords should budget for court filing fees of $170 to $300, sheriff lockout fees of $50 to $175, and attorney fees that typically range from $500 to $3,000 depending on case complexity. Louisiana eviction costs can therefore reach several thousand dollars in a contested scenario, which reinforces why thorough tenant screening at lease-up pays dividends. All notice and procedure requirements are codified in La. R.S. § 9:3251 et seq. (Louisiana Lease Law); habitability obligations fall under La. Civ. Code art. 2696.

With an average poverty rate of 12.3% and fewer than 27% of households renting, St. Tammany Parish's risk profile stays comfortably in the low tier, but reviewing the city-level scores in the grid above is the fastest way to pinpoint which specific submarkets align best with your investment criteria.