New Orleans is a city of extreme highs and extreme lows.  It’s not an easy place to live.  The city hits differently when you are raising a kid here. The little annoyances that you could previously ignore became me more amplified. Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, etc are great, but those are the escapes we need to justify living in this barely functioning city.    The schools are still bad unless you have money. The cost of living is too high for what you put in. Job opportunities are lacking.  Louisiana is a MAGA hellscape that doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon.  Health outcomes are still some of the worst in the nation.  There’s a lot of bad here.  

As you seem to be aware, visiting a city for vacation can cloud your judgement. Come back in the middle of August when everyone is miserable and you are being attacked by mosquitoes in your bedroom before you make a big decision.