Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 3,176, settled in 1867.
Rayville earns a D, 117th of 161 graded towns in Louisiana, mostly because of health and incomes. On CDC estimates, its residents' health ranks in the bottom 2% nationally. The median household income is $27K, and 41% of residents live below the poverty line. What it does well: natural-hazard risk is low. 41% of residents live below the poverty line in Rayville, where Louisiana’s towns sit at 20% and U.S. towns at 9.6%. Rayville has 3 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Poplar Chapel AME Church and St. David's Episcopal Church. Among 161 Louisiana towns, just 3 have a lower share of households owning their home than Rayville.
Where Rayville beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
| Widest gap | Rayville | LA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 28.4% | 12.4% |
Where Rayville’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Louisiana), ordered by how far Rayville is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 106 in 1870, a peak of 4,610 in 1980, 3,347 in 2020. The archive holds 7 old photos and papers going back to 1880 and 3 maps from 1935 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Rayville, 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 Rayville.
Rayville carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of Louisiana (mostly inland flooding) and draws workers from Monroe and beyond, but it has poverty well above the Louisiana rate.
42% of Rayville adults say their health is fair or poor. Only 7 of the 161 Louisiana towns we compare have a higher share of adults who report frequent mental distress than Rayville. 22% of Rayville adults report frequent physical distress.
| Rayville | Louisiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 42% | 27% | 19% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 19% | 14% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 52% | 43% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 16% | 12% |
| What stands out | Rayville | LA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer binge drinkers | 11.7% | 16.9% |
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 6.3% | 7.5% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 28.4% | 12.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by the Richland Parish school district. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Rayville High School, with 341 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rayville Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 333 | D− |
| Rayville High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 341 | D |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within LA on state tests and graduation
2,058 jobs are based in Rayville, 1.9 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 19.2 minutes, against 25.7 across Louisiana.
About one in 5 of Rayville’s working residents works in town. Rayville’s average trip to work is 19 minutes. Since 2013, Rayville has lost 424 jobs, to 2,058 in 2023.
| Rayville | Louisiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $27,000 | $56,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 21% | 9.8% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 19 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 92% of Louisiana towns, with expected losses of about $536 per resident a year; that rating is what its A− for hazard risk is built on. 158 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 39 properties have flooded more than once.
The FEMA risk score in Rayville is 22 of 100. Since 1979, 158 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Rayville.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
January nights average 36.2°: milder than most of the country, but colder than 84% of Louisiana places with climate records; July afternoons average 92.7°.
Rayville has mild winters and hot summers, with plenty of rain. Snow is almost unheard of.
| Rayville | Louisiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 93°F | 92°F | 85°F |
| January low | 36°F | 42°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
67.1% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 54.8% across Louisiana. The median property tax bill is $199, against $1,180 across Louisiana, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
The typical Rayville home is worth about $179,000, up 4.8% in a year, 16% below the Louisiana typical home.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
None within 15 miles of Rayville; the nearest are
About 4 of every 100 Rayville residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Louisiana.
3 places in Rayville on the National Register of Historic Places.
11 notable people were born in Rayville.
Town in Louisiana, United States
Rayville is a town in and the parish seat of Richland Parish in northeastern Louisiana, United States. The population was 3,347 in the 2020 census, down nearly 21 percent from 4,234 in 2000. The City Hall, located next to the U.S. Post Office across from U.S. Highway 80, is named for former Rayville Mayor Joe Kalil (1922–1996).
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Rayville grades D overall, better than 15% of U.S. towns and #117 of 161 in Louisiana. It grades D− for health and B− for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D−.
That is 3.5 years of the area's median household income ($51,660 across the Monroe, LA metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.
11 notable people were born here, including Elvin Hayes and Ernie Ladd.
