Rental market · Central, LA · Incorporated city
Central, LA: average rent, home values, and rental yield
West South Central · Population 29,603
How Central ranks nationally
Each bar places Central against all 1,863 ranked U.S. markets: the marker is this city and further right is more favorable to an investor; the tick marks the national median. Inverted measures (crime, vacancy, price-to-income) are already flipped so higher always means better here.
What a deal looks like here
We can't build a representative buy-box for Central yet: no investor-entry price (Zillow Bottom-Tier ZHVI) could be identity-matched to this market. Rather than fabricate numbers, bring your own price and rent to the calculator.
Open the cash-flow calculator →Market Negotiation Leverage
Strong buyer leverage (82nd percentile among 2,222 cities with Redfin coverage)
Equal-weight composite of three Redfin signals’ national percentiles (days on market 72, months of supply 4.2, sale-to-list 98.3%), direction-adjusted so a higher percentile always means more room for a buyer to negotiate. This is a cross-sectional snapshot against every other tracked city today, not a seasonal or historical baseline for this specific city (no multi-year time series is committed for this data). Not a prediction of what any specific seller will accept. Source: Redfin Data Center. See how this is calculated.
Price & rent history
Home value: no Zillow ZHVI series - Zillow does not cover this city (Census-only). Nothing plotted rather than estimated.
Asking rent: no Zillow ZORI series - Zillow does not cover this city (Census-only). Nothing plotted rather than estimated.
ZIP markets in Central
6 Census ZIP Codes (ZCTAs) officially overlap Central by land area · 5 data-eligible for subscores. Overlap is Census land-area share, not a population or address share. Each ZIP Code's overall Rental Investor ZIP Score, grade and canonical national rank are shown below (the two component signals, affordability and rental market, are separate percentiles). There is no city-scoped ZIP rank: city overlap isn't a ranking universe, so only the national rank is shown. These ZIP rankings sit in the ZIP universe only, never mixed with, and not directly comparable to, Central's city ranking. Vintage: the Key metric column below is Census ACS 2020–2024 (5-year), a full survey release newer than the ACS 2019–2023 figures used above for Central itself, so the same measure can legitimately show a different number at the city and ZIP level.
| ZIP Code | Overallgrade · natl rank | Tier · overlap | Affordabilitysignal · natl rank | Rental marketsignal · natl rank | Key metric |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 70739Central | D 39#13,265 nat | RankedPrimary | 58#6,302 of 20,132 · top 31% | 8#19,696 of 20,132 · bottom 2% | 5.1%Survey yield |
| 70770Central | — | ProfilePrimary | — | — | $166kMedian value |
| 70818Central | D 34#15,248 nat | RankedPrimary | 66#3,895 of 20,132 · top 19% | 27#17,462 of 20,132 · bottom 13% | 6.0%Survey yield |
| 70714Central | C 43#11,844 nat | RankedPrimary | 84#795 of 20,132 · top 4% | 36#15,956 of 20,132 · bottom 21% | 7.1%Survey yield |
| 70819Baton Rouge | D 29#16,664 nat | Ranked38% overlap | 88#501 of 20,132 · top 2% | 38#14,975 of 20,132 · bottom 26% | 9.5%Survey yield |
| 70791Zachary | D 31#16,127 nat | Ranked28% overlap | 69#3,146 of 20,132 · top 16% | 23#18,126 of 20,132 · bottom 10% | 6.4%Survey yield |
The honest read
Central scores 52/100 overall (grade B): 84 for Cash Flow, 33 for Growth, and 50 for Stability, each a 0–100 score built from the factors in that category. The scenario above shows what a representative investor-entry purchase pencils out to at today's rates. Everything we can measure is in the table below, with its source.
Every factor, shown
The Overall score blends three category scores built from thirteen measured factors: Cash Flow (35%), Growth (35%), and Stability (30%). The table shows every factor; the tag on each percentile marks which category a scored factor feeds. Untagged factors are shown for context but not scored. Every value carries its source and as-of date. How the score works.
| Factor | Value | National percentile | Source · as-of | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expense-adjusted yield fallback | 3.8% | 78th percentile · Cash Flow | Census ACS · ACS 5-yr 2019-2023 | Annual rent divided by price, net of a modeled vacancy, tax, capex, and management allowance: the core of the Cash Flow category and what the score is actually computed from. The unadjusted gross yield is shown elsewhere on this page. |
| Price to income fallback | 3.0x | 95th percentile · Cash Flow | Census ACS · ACS 5-yr 2019-2023 | Home price over local median income. Lower is cheaper relative to what people earn. Part of the Cash Flow category. |
| Population growth | 0.5%/yr | 53rd percentile · Growth | Census PEP · Census PEP 2020→2024 (vintage 2024) + Census PEP 2014→2024 (vintages 2019+2024) | Census population trend for the place, capped at 4.5%/yr before scoring (diminishing returns above that rate): the heaviest factor in the Growth category. |
| Job growth | 0.1%/yr | 16th percentile · Growth | BLS LAUS (county) · BLS LAUS county annual 2019→2023 (pre-COVID anchor) + BLS LAUS county annual 2013→2023 | County employment trend, capped at 4.0%/yr before scoring (diminishing returns above that rate). A Growth-category factor. |
| Income growth | 3.0%/yr | 7th percentile · Growth | Census ACS · ACS 5-yr 2019-2023 | Local median-income trend. A Growth-category factor. |
| Rent growth fallback | 4.0%/yr | 53rd percentile · Growth | Census ACS · ACS 5-yr 2019-2023 | A 40/60 blend of 3-year and 10-year rent trend (the model's own weighting). A Growth-category factor. |
| Home-value growth | not measured | - | Census ACS · ACS 5-yr 2019-2023 | A 40/60 blend of 3-year and 10-year price trend (the model's own weighting). A small Growth-category factor. |
| Unemployment | 3.7% | 40th percentile · Stability | BLS LAUS (county) · BLS LAUS county annual 2023 | County unemployment rate. Lower is steadier, a Stability-category factor. |
| Rental vacancy | 4.9% | 45th percentile · Stability | Census ACS B25004 · ACS 5-yr 2019-2023 | Share of rentals empty. Lower means more pricing power. A Stability-category factor. |
| Property tax rate | 0.6% | 83rd percentile · Stability | Census ACS B25103/B25077 · ACS 5-yr 2019-2023 | Median tax over median value. A direct drag on cash flow, scored in the Stability category as carrying-cost burden. |
| Months of supply | 4.2 mo | 18th percentile · Stability | Redfin Data Center · 2026-05-01 | Listings over sales pace. Under about 4 is a seller market, over 6 a buyer market. A Stability-category factor. |
| Days on market | 72 days | 9th percentile | Redfin Data Center · 2026-05-01 | How fast homes sell. Lower means more liquidity and an easier exit. Shown for context, not scored. |
| Sale-to-list ratio | 98.3% | 26th percentile | Redfin Data Center · 2026-05-01 | Sale price over asking. Above 100% means homes clear over ask. Shown for context, not scored. |
| Net domestic migration | -6.8/1k | 24th percentile | Census PEP (county) · PEP vintage 2024 | Net people moving in or out of the county, per 1,000 residents. Shown for context, not scored. |
| Building permits | 9.9/1k | 57th percentile | Census BPS (county) · BPS 2023 | New-construction permits per 1,000 homes. More means more supply coming. Shown for context, not scored. |
| Rent burden | 51% | 0th percentile | Census ACS B25071 · ACS 5-yr 2019-2023 | Median rent as a share of income. Higher means less headroom for increases. Shown for context, not scored. |
| Median year built | 1988 | 70th percentile | Census ACS B25035 · ACS 5-yr 2019-2023 | Age of the housing stock. Older stock carries more capex. Shown for context, not scored. |
| Max drawdown | not measured | - | derived | Worst peak-to-trough home-value decline on record. Shown for context, not scored. |
| Violent crime | not reported | - | FBI CDE | No agency reported this place to the FBI. We never impute a crime number; where it is missing, the Stability category renormalizes over its remaining factors. |
- † Job growth and unemployment are county-level (BLS LAUS, county FIPS 22033); large multi-county cities inherit their dominant county’s figures.
- Yield uses ACS median gross rent and home value (Census survey data, 2019–2023 average) because Zillow does not cover this city - not directly comparable to Zillow-based yields.
- Data flag: cashYield: ACS fallback (no Zillow rent+value).
- Data flag: rentGrowth: ACS CAGR fallback.
- Data flag: appreciation: ACS CAGR fallback.
Related cities
Nearby in the Louisiana rankings · all Louisiana cities
Similar overall grade, elsewhere in the country
Compare Central head-to-head
Side by side, the three category scores plus every measured column with sources - the same shown math as this page.
Underwrite a Central deal
For learning, not advice. A market screen from public data - not a forecast, not underwriting, not a recommendation to buy anywhere.