Buras is a very small town located in the state of Louisiana. With a population of 1,109 people and just one neighborhood, Buras is the 225th largest community in Louisiana. Buras has seen a significant amount of newer housing growth in recent years. Quite often, new home construction is the result of new residents moving in who are middle class or wealthier, attracted by jobs, a healthy local economy, or other amenities as they leave nearby or far away areas for greener pastures. This seems to be the case in Buras, where the median household income is $34,518.00.
Unlike some towns where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Buras is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Buras is a town of sales and office workers, professionals, and farmers, fishers, or foresters. There are especially a lot of people living in Buras who work in office and administrative support (24.02%), farm management occupations (14.41%), and teaching (12.91%).
The town is relatively quiet, having a combination of lower population density and few of those groups of people who have a tendency to be noisy. For example, Buras has relatively fewer families with younger children, and/or college students. Combined, this makes Buras a pretty quiet place to live overall. If you like quiet, you will probably enjoy it here.
One downside of living in Buras is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Buras, the average commute to work is 35.20 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average.
As is often the case in a small town, Buras doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.
In terms of college education, Buras ranks among the least educated cities in the nation, as only 0.00% of people over 25 have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.
The per capita income in Buras in 2022 was $24,126, which is middle income relative to Louisiana, and low income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $96,504 for a family of four. However, Buras contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Buras also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 34.85% of its population below the federal poverty line.
Buras is an extremely ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Buras home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Buras residents report their race to be Asian, followed by White. Important ancestries of people in Buras include French, German, Irish, Acadian/Cajun, and Swedish.
Foreign born people are also an important part of Buras's cultural character, accounting for 32.90% of the town’s population.
The most common language spoken in Buras is English. Other important languages spoken here include Vietnamese and Mon-Khmer (Cambodian).
When you see a neighborhood for the first time, the most important thing is often the way it looks, like its homes and its setting. Some places look the same, but they only reveal their true character after living in them for a while because they contain a unique mix of occupational or cultural groups. This neighborhood is very unique in some important ways, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive exploration and analysis.
People
The neighborhood is unique for having just 0.0% of adults here having earned a bachelor's degree. This is a lower rate of college graduates than NeighborhoodScout found in 100.0% of America's neighborhoods.
In addition, of note, 53.4% of the children in this area live in poverty; an extraordinarily high percentage compared to other neighborhoods in the nation. In a nation where approximately one in four children grows up in poverty, this neighborhood stands out for the depth of the problem manifested here.
Modes of Transportation
In the neighborhood, carpooling is still a popular way to get to and from work. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals that 43.1% of commuters carpool here, which is more than in 99.9% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
Length of Commute
Regardless of the means by which residents commute, this neighborhood has a length of commute that is notable. Long commutes can be brutal. They take time, money, and energy, leaving less of you for yourself and your family. The residents of the neighborhood unfortunately have the distinction of having, on average, a longer commute than most any neighborhood in America. 25.0% of commuters here travel more than one hour just one-way to work. That is more than two hours per day. This percentage with two-hour + round-trip commutes is higher than NeighborhoodScout found in 99.8% of all neighborhoods in America.
Real Estate
The neighborhood stands out for having the majority of its residential real estate made up of mobile homes. In fact, 61.4% of the occupied real estate here are mobile homes, which is a greater proportion than is found in 99.6% of the neighborhoods in the U.S. If you like mobile homes, this might be a great neighborhood in which to look for real estate.
In addition, owner-occupied real estate dominates the neighborhood. In fact, according to NeighborhoodScout research, the percentage of residential real estate occupied by its owner is higher here than in 98.2% of neighborhoods in America. Despite all of the residential real estate here in the neighborhood, NeighborhoodScout has discovered that much of it is vacant. In resort or second-home vacation areas, this naturally occurs because homes and apartments are seasonally occupied, and empty for a portion of the year. In non-vacation or resort areas, however, this can be an indicator of property abandonment or a weak real estate market. The vacancy rate here is 35.4%, which is higher than 96.5% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
Furthermore, if you like the look and ambience of new homes and newly built neighborhoods, you will love the neighborhood. A whopping 76.9% of the homes and other residential real estate here were built after 1999, which is a higher proportion of new homes then you will find in 97.0% of the neighborhoods in the U.S. Everything here just feels new.
Occupations
Each year, fewer and fewer Americans make their living as farmers, foresters, or fishers. But the neighborhood truly stands out among U.S. neighborhoods. According to exclusive NeighborhoodScout analysis, this neighborhood has a greater proportion of farmers, foresters, or fishers than 99.1% of all American neighborhoods. This is truly a unique cultural characteristic of this neighborhood.
Diversity
Did you know that the neighborhood has more French and Asian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 13.9% of this neighborhood's residents have French ancestry and 46.2% have Asian ancestry.
is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 20.3% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Mon-Khmer, which is the dominant language of Cambodia, at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 100.0% of the neighborhoods in America.
There are two complementary measures for understanding the income of a neighborhood's residents: the average and the extremes. While a neighborhood may be relatively wealthy overall, it is equally important to understand the rate of people - particularly children - who are living at or below the federal poverty line, which is extremely low income. Some neighborhoods with a lower average income may actually have a lower childhood poverty rate than another with a higher average income, and this helps us understand the conditions and character of a neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in Buras are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 94.3% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 53.4% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 95.2% of U.S. neighborhoods.
The old saying "you are what you eat" is true. But it is also true that you are what you do for a living. The types of occupations your neighbors have shape their character, and together as a group, their collective occupations shape the culture of a place.
In the neighborhood, 24.3% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants, with 23.6% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (21.2%), and 19.5% in manufacturing and laborer occupations.
Languages
The languages spoken by people in this neighborhood are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 62.5% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Mon-Khmer (the dominant language of Cambodia) and Vietnamese.
Ethnicity / Ancestry
Culture is the shared learned behavior of peoples. Undeniably, different ethnicities and ancestries have different cultural traditions, and as a result, neighborhoods with concentrations of residents of one or another ethnicities or ancestries will express those cultures. It is what makes the North End in Boston so fun to visit for the Italian restaurants, bakeries, culture, and charm, and similarly, why people enjoy visiting Chinatown in San Francisco.
In the neighborhood in Buras, LA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Asian (46.2%). There are also a number of people of French ancestry (13.9%), and residents who report German roots (10.0%), and some of the residents are also of Irish ancestry (7.6%), along with some Swedish ancestry residents (1.5%), among others. In addition, 31.3% of the residents of this neighborhood were born in another country.
How you get to work – car, bus, train or other means – and how much of your day it takes to do so is a large quality of life and financial issue. Especially with gasoline prices rising and expected to continue doing so, the length and means of one's commute can be a financial burden. Some neighborhoods are physically located so that many residents have to drive in their own car, others are set up so many walk to work, or can take a train, bus, or bike. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend longer than one hour commuting one-way to work (25.0% of working residents), one of the longer commutes in America, which is a potential downside for residents of this neighborhood.
Here most residents (53.7%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (43.1%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.
