Town · Rapides Parish, Louisiana

Ball, Louisiana

Ball is a town in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, part of the Alexandria, LA metro area. It has 3,869 residents. Ball, Louisiana has a quality-of-life score of 18 out of 100 (very low), ranking #12,880 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Louisiana it ranks #62 of 262 cities and towns. It ranks best on mental health providers (high), pharmacies (high) and effective property tax rate (low). It ranks worst on violent crime rate (high), property crime rate (high) and distance to an airport (high).

18Very low

Quality-of-life score: #12,880 of 15,651 cities and towns
Louisiana: #62 of 262 in LA
Population: 3,869 (2020-2024)
Land area: 8 mi²
Density: 486.6 /mi²
FIPS code: 2204055

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 76 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety1#15,501/15,637
Economy33#10,493/15,631
Housing79#3,157/14,977
Health5#14,790/15,609
Healthcare52#7,492/15,650
Environment44#8,691/15,453
Education15#13,237/15,649
Infrastructure19#12,640/15,650
Community13#13,607/15,651
Leisure & amenities51#7,613/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Ball, Louisiana ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Rapides Parish value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Mental health providers · high593 /100k
92/100Louisiana 365 /100kUnited States 348 /100k2025University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRapides Parish value
Pharmacies · high2.5 /10k
91/100Louisiana 2.7 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsRapides Parish value
Effective property tax rate · low0.46%
91/100Louisiana 0.55%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
Uninsured residents (under 65) · low2.4%
89/100Louisiana 9.2%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010High uncertainty
Home price to income ratio · low2.2×
87/100Louisiana 3.6×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Social associations · high12.6 /10k
80/100Louisiana 9.4 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRapides Parish value

Weaknesses

Violent crime rate · high1,334 /100k
0/100Louisiana 515 /100kUnited States 328 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationCovers part of the area: some reporting agencies or member counties have no figureRapides Parish value
Property crime rate · high3,460 /100k
1/100Louisiana 1,966 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationCovers part of the area: some reporting agencies or member counties have no figureRapides Parish value
Distance to an airport · high155 mi
2/100Louisiana 80 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauRapides Parish value
Food environment index · low5.9
3/100Louisiana 4.8United States 7.62019 & 2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRapides Parish value
Premature death · high15,154 /100k
4/100Louisiana 11,889 /100kUnited States 8,123 /100k2021-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRapides Parish value
Mental health care shortage · high19.0
4/100Louisiana 15.8United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationRapides Parish value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

New homes permittedImproving
0.3 /1k (2021) → 1.0 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+309%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
80.5% (2015-2019) → 93.9% (2020-2024)
+13 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Median household incomeImproving
$54,577 (2015-2019) → $80,074 (2020-2024)
+47%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
19.8% (2015-2019) → 26.8% (2020-2024)
+7 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
20.7% (2015-2019) → 26.2% (2020-2024)
+5.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Uninsured residents (under 65)Improving
7.3% (2015-2019) → 2.4% (2020-2024)
−4.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Ball, Louisiana improved on 1 of 9 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 7 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved1

Household income+47%$54,577 → $80,074

Declined1

Rent / income+7 points19.8% → 26.8%

All 9 measures

Change of every measure of Ball, Louisiana between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	25.9 min2015-2019	20.2 min2020-2024	−5.8 min	Within the margin of error	92%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.7%2015-2019	26.2%2020-2024	+5.5 points	Within the margin of error	71%
Broadband subscriptions	80.5%2015-2019	93.9%2020-2024	+13 points	Within the margin of error	74%
Effective property tax rate	0.31%2015-2019	0.46%2020-2024	+0.1 points	Within the margin of error	4%
High school diploma or higher	93.6%2015-2019	92.0%2020-2024	−1.6 points	Within the margin of error	18%
Home price to income ratio	2.6×2015-2019	2.2×2020-2024	−0.4×	Within the margin of error	91%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4422015-2019	0.4132020-2024	−0.029	Within the margin of error	74%
Median household income	$54,5772015-2019	$80,0742020-2024	+47%	Improved	82%
Rent as share of income	19.8%2015-2019	26.8%2020-2024	+7 points	Declined	15%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Ball, Louisiana five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Ball, Louisiana in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Ball, Louisiana itself moved +7.6 points in standing on average over the same 9 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

3,869 residents (±32)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

1,264 households (±182)

Ball, Louisiana
Louisiana share

Under $25k13%†164
$25k–50k23%†291
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

1,264 households (±182)

Ball, Louisiana
Louisiana share

Own85%1,073
Rent15%†191

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+20.8 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

1,545 workers (±323)

Ball, Louisiana
Louisiana share

Drive alone73%1,126
Carpool3.7%†57
Public transit0.5%†7

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Alexandria, LA

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Rapides Parish, the county holding most of Ball's residents.

Rapides Parish has 3,172 employer establishments, 251 for every 10,000 residents (1.01× the US rate of 248; 1.06× Louisiana's), with 46,374 paid employees at an average annual pay of $49,919. The Census Bureau also counts 9,907 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 3,172; 9,907 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 251; US 248 · Louisiana 236
Paid employees: 46,374
Average annual pay: $49,919; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Rapides Parish by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	403	31.9	1.53×More than typical	3,877	$61,000	653
Restaurants and other eating places	203	16.1	0.87×About typical	4,120	$19,928	41
Offices of physicians	167	13.2	2.04×More than typical	1,552	$81,131	158
Specialty trade contractors	147	11.6	0.75×Fewer than typical	1,567	$60,193	713
Lessors of real estate	142	11.2	0.91×About typical	341	$37,886	802
Religious organizations	132	10.4	1.88×More than typical	1,115	$24,617	—
Limited-service restaurants	112	8.9	1.10×About typical	2,326	$18,444	22
Offices of other health practitioners	112	8.9	1.46×More than typical	567	$44,238	213
Legal services	104	8.2	1.53×More than typical	444	$74,489	98
Gasoline stations	91	7.2	2.22×More than typical	633	$27,434	8
Building equipment contractors	81	6.4	1.06×About typical	1,056	$66,437	154
Banks and credit unions	64	5.1	1.57×More than typical	697	$59,617	—

Rank places for an industry Open Rapides Parish

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 126,442 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Ball, Louisiana: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

45KFY2017
65.7KFY2018
170.1KFY2019
12.5KFY2020
10.4KFY2021
39KFY2022

What was bought

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Ball, Louisiana, so they do not add up across cities.

Ball, Louisiana's figures are part of those of Rapides Parish, LA ($89.9M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Ball is mostly in Rapides Parish.

See federal money in Rapides Parish

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Ball, Louisiana is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Rapides Parish18100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Alexandria, LA13

Other cities and towns in Rapides Parish

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/2204055

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends