Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 18% of U.S. towns · #111 of 161 in Louisiana. What drives it
Most of Cut Off was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1977. Below: maps from 1892 on and the census since 1980.
The Cut Off post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Belle Amie (1904), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 18% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cut Off is more historic than 18% of U.S. towns, #111 of 161 in Louisiana. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
Louisiana towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Louisiana town has 3.8 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Cut Off’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (21% of Louisiana towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cut Off’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cut Off. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Cut Off.
From Wikipedia’s history of Cut Off.
Cut Off had its start by the building of a canal cutoff at that point from Bayou Lafourche northeast to Lake Salvador, to shorten the route to New Orleans. The name (La Coupe, or "The Cut") was French in origin.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyBetween 5,049 and 5,976 people in every census since 1980.
5 censuses, 1980–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cut Off’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Cut Off’s post office has been open since 1875. Another post office, Belle Amie, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Cut Off post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Cut Off is more historic than 18% of U.S. towns, #111 of 161 in Louisiana. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
4% of Cut Off’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.1 points), against a typical 3.4% for a Louisiana town; the median home was built in 1977.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2004