Fort Polk, LA

The affordability dashboard for Fort Polk, LA aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 11,902 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of C (56/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $56,038, median home value of -, median rent of $1,162 per month, and 29.1% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $1,041 per month (studio $788, 1BR $793, 3BR $1,336, 4BR $1,433). Department of Labor data lists infant center-based childcare at $6,933 per year, consuming 12% of the local median household income.

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages, so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Unemployment currently reads 2.1% and poverty 14.7% - numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.