USDA Loans
Zero down payment for eligible rural and suburban areas — income limits and property location apply.
USDA loans are backed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and offer no down payment for qualifying buyers in eligible rural and many suburban areas. There's an upfront guarantee fee and an annual fee, but no traditional monthly PMI. USDA does charge an annual fee that is generally included in the monthly payment. Income and property location requirements apply — I can help you see if you qualify and what your payment could look like.
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USDA Income Limits Across Louisiana
USDA sets income limits by parish and household size, and those limits shift year to year. For most of Louisiana, a household of four falls somewhere in the $110,000–$130,000 range for the USDA Guaranteed Loan program — but the exact number depends on where you're buying and how many people live in the home.
Here's what surprises a lot of buyers: USDA counts everyone in the household, whether they're on the loan or not. If you have an adult child working part-time, a parent living with you on Social Security, or a family member contributing to rent, that income counts. It's one of the first things I check when I run USDA numbers for a Louisiana family, because it's the number that nationwide calculators almost always get wrong.
If your household income is over the limit for your parish, we can look at FHA or conventional options instead — often at very similar monthly payments once you factor in your down payment.
Which Louisiana Parishes Have USDA-Eligible Areas
Because USDA is tied to population density, most of Louisiana actually qualifies — but the eligible zones look different depending on where you are in the state.
Largely eligible outside the main city cores: Vernon, Sabine, Natchitoches, Beauregard, Allen, Evangeline, St. Landry, Tangipahoa, Washington, Vermilion, Iberia, St. Mary, Lafourche, Terrebonne, Assumption, and much of North Louisiana. If you're targeting small-town or rural Louisiana, USDA is usually on the table.
Where it usually doesn't work: most of Orleans, Jefferson, and East Baton Rouge parishes, and the population centers of Lafayette Parish. If you're set on buying in New Orleans, Metairie, Baton Rouge proper, or the middle of Lafayette, USDA usually won't fit — but the surrounding parishes often will.
USDA updates its eligibility map every few years based on Census data, so an address that wasn't eligible five years ago might qualify today (or vice versa). Always check the current USDA eligibility map or ask me to verify a specific address before you fall in love with a home.
The USDA Guarantee Fee and Annual Fee
Instead of monthly PMI, USDA charges two fees that make the zero-down structure work:
- Upfront guarantee fee: 1.00% of the loan amount. Rolled into the loan, so you don't pay it out of pocket at closing.
- Annual fee: 0.35% of the loan balance, billed monthly the way PMI would be.
On a $200,000 USDA loan, that's $2,000 rolled in upfront and about $58 per month at the start — well below what FHA's mortgage insurance would cost on the same loan amount.
USDA reviews these percentages each fiscal year (they've been at 1.00% and 0.35% since 2016), so I always double-check the current numbers when I run a scenario for you.
USDA Streamlined Assist Refinance
If you already have a USDA loan, you may qualify for the USDA Streamlined Assist refinance program. It's designed to lower your rate and payment without needing a new appraisal, without a new credit check for most files, and without re-verifying income beyond confirming you're still within limits.
The main requirements: you've had your current USDA loan for at least 12 months, you're current on payments, and the new loan lowers your principal and interest payment by at least $50 per month.
It's one of the simpler refinances out there — I've closed streamlines where the borrower didn't need to gather a single new document beyond a payoff statement. If you're on a USDA loan you took out three or four years ago and rates are meaningfully lower today, it's worth a five-minute conversation to see if it makes sense. Our guide to whether it's a good time to refinance walks through the broader math.
USDA vs Louisiana Housing Corporation (LHC) Programs
Louisiana has its own housing programs through the Louisiana Housing Corporation — the Mortgage Revenue Bond (MRB) programs and MRB Assist for down payment assistance. They're not the same as USDA, and buyers often confuse the two.
Quick contrast:
- USDA — zero down, income limits, property must be in an eligible area, no monthly PMI (annual fee instead).
- LHC MRB / MRB Assist — down payment assistance layered onto FHA, VA, or conventional loans, income limits, first-time buyer or targeted-area rules, works in any Louisiana location.
If USDA doesn't fit — either because of the property location or your household income — LHC is often the next option I look at, especially for first-time buyers. Some buyers actually qualify for both, and we compare which one leaves them with a better total payment and less cash at closing. Our guide to Louisiana first-time homebuyer programs walks through the LHC options in more detail.
Louisiana-Specific USDA Details Worth Knowing
A few things unique to buying in Louisiana that most out-of-state lender websites won't tell you:
Flood insurance
Louisiana has more flood-zone real estate than almost any state in the country. If the property you're buying is in an SFHA (Special Flood Hazard Area), you'll need flood insurance — and that premium counts in your debt-to-income ratio for USDA qualification. On a rural property that looks perfect on paper, a $2,400/year flood policy can be the deciding factor. I check flood status before we get too far into a USDA file.
Homestead exemption
Once you close on your primary residence in Louisiana, you can file for the homestead exemption, which knocks $75,000 off the assessed value for parish property tax purposes. It doesn't change your USDA qualification, but it does affect the monthly escrow portion of your payment after the first year. Our guide to the Louisiana homestead exemption walks through the filing process.
Property condition
USDA appraisers apply HUD-style standards for peeling paint, missing handrails, exposed wiring, and safety items. A lot of the older rural housing stock in Louisiana has cosmetic issues that USDA won't finance until they're repaired. It's fixable, but you need to know upfront so you can negotiate repairs with the seller.
Manufactured homes
USDA will finance manufactured homes, but only new units (not previously titled), on permanent foundations, meeting HUD codes. That's a common question in rural Louisiana and the answer surprises people.
Buying Near Shreveport, Bossier City, or Barksdale AFB?
If you're focused on the northwest corner of the state, USDA works in a lot of the communities around Shreveport and Bossier City — Haughton, Benton, Blanchard, Stonewall, Greenwood, Keithville, and much of DeSoto Parish. Head over to my USDA loans near Shreveport-Bossier page for a neighborhood-level breakdown, Barksdale AFB context, and the specific scenarios I see most often in northwest Louisiana.
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