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Retire in Youngsville, Louisiana?
Overview: Just 10 miles from downtown Lafayette and 40 miles north of Louisiana's central coast, Youngsville got its start as a French Acadian farming settlement in the early-1800s. It retains a country quality but is one of the state's fastest growing communities.
Signs of the town's rural history include the 1859 St. Anne's Catholic Church and Nu Nu's Fresh Market, a third generation, family-owned grocery known for its award-winning boudin (a combination of cooked rice, pork, onions, green peppers and seasonings in a sausage casing). And while Youngsville is still surrounded by sugarcane fields, more and more of these fields are giving way to new subdivisions, roads and parks. Many of Youngsville's new master planned communities even have their own amenities. One such community, Sugar Mill Pond, which is a neo-traditional neighborhood with single family homes, manages its own town center and amphitheatre.
The Youngsville Sports Complex contains soccer fields, baseball diamonds, softball fields, tennis courts, a walking path and a fully stocked fishing pond. Les Vieux Chenes, a public golf course, stretches across 160 acres, and the Acadiana Cane Cutters, a collegiate league baseball team, play at Fabacher Field. Lake Fausse Pointe State Park is a nearby getaway. Once part of the Atchafalaya Basin, the site is crowded with fishing, boating, and canoeing opportunities.
Population: 12,000 (city proper)
Age 45 or Better: 22%
Cost of Living: 4% below the national average
Median Home Price: $199,000
Climate: Summer temperatures are in the 80s and 90s, and winter temperatures are in the 40s, 50s and 60s. On average, the area receives 60 inches of rain per year.
At Least One Hospital Accepts Medicare Patients? No, but Lafayette has a hospital that accepts Medicare patients.
At Least One Accredited by Joint Commission? No, but Lafayette has an accredited hospital.
Public Transit: No
Crime Rate: Below the national average
Public Library: Yes
Political Leanings: Very, very conservative
College Educated: 38%
Is Louisiana Considered Tax Friendly for Retirement? Yes
Cons: The tornado risk is 120% higher than the national average.
Notes: Youngsville has grown by 65% in the last decade and has a good reputation, although not all long-time locals are happy with its transformation from a sleepy agricultural hub into a rapidly growing bedroom community.
Recommended as a Retirement Spot? Yes
Louisiana:
Louisiana is unique in that it is divided into parishes, which in other states are known as counties. In its early days, it was home to American Indians and was a French colony and a Spanish colony and saw an influx of African slaves. Even the British and Germans settled in the area in the 1700s. This mix of cultures gives many modern Louisiana towns a heritage not found anywhere else in the U.S.
In the early-1800s, President Thomas Jefferson, worried about having a foreign nation on the western border of the up and coming United States, wanted to purchase the port of New Orleans. Instead, his representatives negotiated for a land package that doubled the size of the U.S. literally overnight, and on October 20, 1803, the U.S. Congress ratified the Louisiana Purchase. The deal cost the U.S. 3 cents per acre and dramatically enlarged the young country without a shot on either size ever being fired.
People known as Cajuns and Creoles are dominant in the southern part of the state. Cajuns are descendants of French-speaking people who were expelled from Acadia (now Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, Canada) and then settled in what is now southwestern Louisiana in 1765. White Creoles are predominantly of French and Spanish ancestry, and Creoles of color are descendants of slaves who were born in either the French and Spanish colonies. Today, the term Louisiana Creole usually refers to people who are of mixed-race.
Stats:
Population - 4,681,666
Persons 65 years old and over - 20%
High school graduates, persons age 25+ - 83%
Bachelor's degree or higher, persons age 25+ - 22%
Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin - 5%
White persons, not Hispanic - 59%
Median household income - $45,065
Median home value - $144,100
Social Security taxed? No
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
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