Stephen S. Gaines / Staff Intern

It would appear that the summer of 2017 has been a booming time for Ascension Parish. For the second time since 2016, Ascension has ranked second in the SmartAssets most income investments in Louisiana.

SmartAsset is a company based in New York, that estimates area around the country that have the most incoming investments in business, real estate, government, and the local economies. With people starting their businesses here, Ascensions business growth has grown to 6.0%. Ascension shows the second highest percent of growth next to Calcasieu Parishs 6.1%. West Baton Rouge was ranked first in most income investments in Louisiana, yet has 3.8% in business growth.

In Gross Domestic product or GDP growth in millions, Ascension Parish has a decrease of -$23 million dollars. West Baton Rouge has a decrease of -$6 million dollars in their GDP, with Lafayette having a decrease of -$90 million dollars the lowest of any parish. This generally means that the local and state economies are beginning to slow down. Last year our GDP growth was $53 million dollars, while other parishes were between 5 and 200. Lafayette had the highest at $204 million dollars. Market value grosses maybe decreasing, but these numbers could begin to rise again.

In new building permits, Ascension parish ranked second with 19.8 (per 1,000 homes). West Baton Rouge ranks first at 26.6 (per 1,000 homes). Lafayette is the lowest on the chart at 12.3 (per 1,000 homes). These numbers represent the growth of subdivisions and housing within the parishes. Subdivisions like Bayou View Estates on Boudreaux Road and Lake Summerset on Duplessis Road are just two of many fast growing subdivisions in Ascension. Developing subdivisions, like New River Oaks and Dutchtown Meadows may raise Ascensions ranking.

When it comes to Federal Funding per capita, Ascension Parish has around $20 dollars per capita. This score however, is the 4th lowest, with De Soto parish being the lowest at $0 per capita. West Baton Rouge ranks first again at $3,924 per capita. This federal funding is in the form of contracts awarded to businesses in each parish, which is divided by the population.

Lastly, there is the Incoming Investment Index. This is an assessment of each chart place in an overall number. Ascension Parish ranks second with 47.77 in incoming investments. West Baton Rouge ranks first with an income investment of 54.10. Cameron parish ranks last with an income investment of 34.92. These ratings show that Ascension is still as strong as it has been in the previous two years. Ascension was ranked the strongest parish for incoming investments in Louisiana in 2015, and the second strongest in Louisiana in 2016.

Now in 2017, Ascension is still ranked the second strongest parish in the Louisiana and the 155th strongest county in the United States.

"SmartAsset does research like this to get people to think and talk about their personal finances, community finances and what matters to them in the future," Managing Editor AJ Smith of SmartAsset said.

Ascension Parish is one of the strongest places to be for investors, and surely Ascension will achieve new highs in the future.

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Parish income investments rank second in La. - Post South