St. Landry Parish, LA

County Profile

81,670 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for St. Landry Parish, LA.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

49out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 8% of 1,225 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity1222nd of 1,255 counties measured20
Schools656th of 973 counties measured37
Growth948th of 1,226 counties measured35
Housing affordability632nd of 1,255 counties measured93
ClimateTop 14% of 1,254 counties measured77
Physical resilience896th of 1,255 counties measured44
AccessTop 34% of 1,255 counties measured88
Economic stability1189th of 1,255 counties measured24
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published profiles: unemployment is 5.9% and the Opportunity signal places St. Landry Parish in the bottom 3%.

In the public schools here, 23% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 12.6 students for every teacher.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by inland flooding, hurricane and drought.

At a glance

Population
81,670
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$44,462
Bottom 8% nationally
Density
88/sq mi
923.4 sq mi of land
Median age
37.8
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
St. Landry Parish
Louisiana
Metro area
Opelousas, LA
Nearest major airport
LFT
26 mi · Lafayette Rgnl/Paul Fournet Fld
Median home value
$142,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.9% is lower than 7% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment fell 0.6% over the past year, to 31,661 employed residents.

Median household income of $44,462 is below 92% of measured US locations.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$2,416$44,462Bottom 8%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,110$25,412Bottom 9%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate26.8%Top 6%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute29.8 minTop 24%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher14.9%Bottom 12%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Employment31,661Bottom 41%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-1.4%Bottom 28%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.6%Top 48%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force33,645Bottom 42%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force participation52.8%Bottom 23%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.3%Top 33%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate5.9%Top 7%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/067.73.9
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 5.9% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202446k41k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $44,462 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

23% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 36% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 12.6 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
36
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
12.6
across all schools here
Math proficiency
22.6%
Bottom 19% in Louisiana
Reading proficiency
35.6%
Bottom 31% in Louisiana
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Beau Chene High SchoolSt. Landry Parish76715.3
Opelousas Senior High SchoolSt. Landry Parish69812.2
Leonville Elementary SchoolSt. Landry Parish61615.434%52%
Eunice High SchoolSt. Landry Parish60613.2
Northwest High SchoolSt. Landry Parish57514.0
Lawtell Elementary SchoolSt. Landry Parish56714.513%33%
Park Vista Elementary SchoolSt. Landry Parish53313.017%24%
Cankton Elementary SchoolSt. Landry Parish50412.922%35%
JS Clark Leadership Academy · charterJS Clark Leadership Academy43414.07%38%
Port Barre Elementary SchoolSt. Landry Parish42713.849%42%
Grolee Elementary SchoolSt. Landry Parish40412.65%10%
Port Barre High SchoolSt. Landry Parish35410.7

79.9% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Louisiana’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $748 takes 20% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.2 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
20.2%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.2×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$748
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$142,500
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income3.20Top 41%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate70.1%Bottom 29%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±12237,229Top 22%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$35$748Bottom 23%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$9,546$142,500Bottom 27%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income20.2%Top 20%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate13.6%Bottom 47%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
35/ 100
Ranks 948 of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing, measured from 2022 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has fallen 2% since 2020, reaching 80,869 in 2024.

Permitting has turned upward after moving the other way the year before.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 1.7 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
140
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.7
Bottom 30% nationally
Year over year
−4%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202482k81k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2022202320242025179142
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−16%).

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 92°F and January a low of 44°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 62.8 inches.

30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station LAFAYETTE RGNL AP, 26.1 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND7.1"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation62.8"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low44°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high92°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing31°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

44 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, hurricane and drought.

DroughtHigh
HurricaneElevated
Inland floodingElevated
Winter weatherModerate

Low or minimal exposure: lightning, tornado, cold wave, heat wave, ice storm, wildfire, strong wind, earthquake, hail, coastal flooding, landslide.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA National Risk Index county record. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

St. Landry Parish records 12.3 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 24.6 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 19.6 per 100,000 residents in St. Landry Parish.

Homicide
12.3
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
24.6
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
19.6
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
19.6
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for St. Landry Parish as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around St. Landry Parish rather than St. Landry Parish itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 26 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Lafayette Rgnl/Paul Fournet FldLFT26 mi8,000 ft
Acadiana RgnlARA38 mi8,002 ft
Alexandria IntlAEX61 mi9,352 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
49
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

Cities in St. Landry Parish, LA