Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
DeRidder gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $194K, 2.9 years of the DeRidder area’s $66K median household income. It grades C overall, 72nd of 161 graded towns in Louisiana. The low prices come with trade-offs. The median household income is $60K, and 19% of residents live below the poverty line, and residents are less healthy than 87% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. On the plus side, its schools rank ahead of 78% of Louisiana towns. 34% of working residents work locally in DeRidder, above both Louisiana’s towns (9.8%) and U.S. towns (8%). DeRidder has 10 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Beauregard Parish Jail and DeRidder Commercial Historic District.
Where DeRidder beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| DeRidder Elementary School | 2–4 | 490 |
| K.R. Hanchey Elementary School | PK–1 | 353 |
| Cornerstone Christian Academy | PK–8 | 153 |
Beauregard Parish Jail
Census counts: 2,100 in 1910, 9,852 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1850 and 4 maps from 1947 on.
10 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Louisiana), ordered by how far DeRidder is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in DeRidder, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Aug 3, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in DeRidder.
DeRidder pairs an A− for schools with modest home prices, carries less natural-hazard risk than most of Louisiana (mostly inland flooding) and draws workers from Rosepine and beyond.
5,788 jobs are based in DeRidder, 1.6 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
About one in 3 of DeRidder’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Lake Charles (6%), Leesville (5%) and Lafayette (2%). Half commute less than 19 miles.
| DeRidder | Louisiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 4.9% | 5.6% | 11% |
| Median household income | $60,000 | $56,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 24 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its A− for schools comes with an A− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $194K.
Its public schools are run by the Beauregard Parish school district. Two of its 6 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is DeRidder High School, with 621 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| DeRidder Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades 2–4 | Grades 2–4 | 490 | – |
| DeRidder High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 8–12 | Grades 8–12 | 621 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within LA on state tests and graduation
Within Louisiana it is healthier than 58% of the 161 graded towns: much of Louisiana scores lower on these measures.
22% of DeRidder adults worry about having enough food. DeRidder tracks Louisiana closely on all 32 CDC measures. 43% of DeRidder adults have high blood pressure.
| DeRidder | Louisiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 26% | 14% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 43% | 44% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 16% | 12% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 34% | 25% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
DeRidder’s property crime rate is 11 per 1,000 residents. Within Louisiana, it does better than 82% of towns. DeRidder’s violent crime rate is 3.9 per 1,000 residents.
| DeRidder | Louisiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 11 per 1,000 residents | 24.2 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.9 per 1,000 residents | 4.4 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
DeRidder has mild winters and hot summers, with plenty of rain. The July high in DeRidder is 92°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Values fell 5.3% in the past year while the Louisiana typical home rose 2.1%. The typical value, about $194K, is 17% below its October 2020 peak.
Typical home values fell 5.3% in the year to September 2026. 44% of renter households spend 30% or more of their income on rent in DeRidder.
| DeRidder | Louisiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 44% | 59% | 48% |
| Households that own their home | 67% | 68% | 73% |
| Median rent | $958 a month | $992 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Louisiana average. DeRidder has lost 4% of its people since 2020, down to 9,503 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 21% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 27% across Louisiana.
| DeRidder | Louisiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 37.6 years | 37.9 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 21% | 20% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 23% | 24% | 22% |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.5 points. Across Louisiana, 51.1% of residents are women. Median age: women 40.8, men 34.3.
| DeRidder | LA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12.4% | 12.6% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.9% | 10.9% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.7% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 16% | 13.3% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.8% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.9% | 11.5% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.8% | 12.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 10.8% | 10.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.7% | 6.5% | 7% |
| No diploma | 10.7% | 12.7% | 10.4% |
| High school | 35.7% | 32.5% | 26% |
| Some college | 24.9% | 20.4% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 7.9% | 7.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 12.9% | 17% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 7.8% | 10.1% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 71% of Louisiana towns, with expected losses of about $174 per resident a year; that rating is what its C for hazard risk is built on. 69 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 10 properties have flooded more than once.
Since 1982, 69 flood insurance claims have been paid out in DeRidder.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Just 48 of its 5,976 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in DeRidder itself; its outdoors grade is C−.
0.2 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is West Park, at 34 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. West Park | — | 34 |
| 2. Beauregard Parish Fair Grounds | — | 29 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
None within 15 miles of DeRidder; the nearest are
About 4 of every 100 DeRidder residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Louisiana.
Where DeRidder’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
10 places in DeRidder on the National Register of Historic Places.
13 notable people were born in DeRidder.
City in Louisiana, United States
DeRidder is a city in and the parish seat of Beauregard Parish, Louisiana, United States. A small portion of the city extends into Vernon Parish. As of the 2020 census, DeRidder had a population of 9,852. It is the smaller principal city of the DeRidder-Fort Polk South CSA, a Combined Statistical Area that includes the Fort Polk South (Vernon Parish) and DeRidder (Beauregard Parish) micropolitan areas, which had a combined population of 87,988 at the 2010 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
DeRidder grades C overall, better than 31% of U.S. towns and #72 of 161 in Louisiana. It grades D for health, C for safety and A− for schools. Jobs & income is its weak spot, with a D.
Within Louisiana, it does better than 82% of towns.
13 notable people were born here, including Jennifer Weiner and Elijah Stewart.
