Webster Parish, LA

County Profile

35,820 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Webster 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.

42out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 2% of 1,225 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity1206th of 1,255 counties measured22
Schools915th of 973 counties measured13
Growth1171st of 1,226 counties measured19
Housing affordability784th of 1,255 counties measured88
ClimateTop 45% of 1,254 counties measured70
Physical resilience851st of 1,255 counties measured47
Access706th of 1,255 counties measured79
Economic stability1230th of 1,255 counties measured14
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published profiles: unemployment is 5.6% and the Opportunity signal places Webster Parish in the bottom 4%.

In the public schools here, 18% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 15.5 students for every teacher.

Residential permitting has slowed: 32 units authorized over the past twelve months, 50% below the prior year.

At a glance

Population
35,820
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$41,182
Bottom 5% nationally
Density
60/sq mi
593.3 sq mi of land
Median age
41.1
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Webster Parish
Louisiana
Metro area
Minden, LA
Nearest major airport
SHV
35 mi · Shreveport Rgnl
Median home value
$114,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.6% is lower than 10% of the 1,255 measured US locations.

Employment fell 0.5% over the past year, to 12,930 employed residents.

Median household income of $41,182 is below 95% of measured US locations.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$1,410$41,182Bottom 5%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,717$25,664Bottom 9%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income$54,500Bottom 43%of 1,2062023
Poverty rate23.1%Top 10%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute28.3 minTop 32%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher13.3%Bottom 7%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Employment12,930Bottom 9%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-0.5%Bottom 40%of 1,255June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.5%Top 45%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force13,693Bottom 9%of 1,255June 2026
Labor force participation49.3%Bottom 14%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.1%Top 48%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate5.6%Top 10%of 1,255June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/067.13.6
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 5.6% 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
202120222023202441k31k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $41,182 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.

18% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 29% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 15.5 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
14
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.5
across all schools here
Math proficiency
17.6%
Bottom 4% in Louisiana
Reading proficiency
28.6%
Bottom 8% in Louisiana
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Minden High SchoolWebster Parish68914.1
Lakeside Junior-Senior High SchoolWebster Parish54617.122%62%
Webster Junior High SchoolWebster Parish46114.017%27%
J. A. Phillips Elementary SchoolWebster Parish42914.8
Central Elementary SchoolWebster Parish42718.618%15%
North Webster High SchoolWebster Parish42114.5
Doyline High SchoolWebster Parish38515.413%21%
North Webster Junior High SchoolWebster Parish32014.522%32%
J. L. Jones Elementary SchoolWebster Parish31818.712%12%
E. S. Richardson Elementary SchoolWebster Parish27517.215%22%
Browning Elementary SchoolWebster Parish25215.8
Brown Upper Elementary SchoolWebster Parish18614.311%15%

72.5% 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 $795 takes 23% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.8 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
23.2%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.8×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$795
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$114,500
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income2.78Bottom 42%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate66.8%Bottom 20%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3818,377Top 38%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$29$795Bottom 33%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$8,323$114,500Bottom 14%of 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income23.2%Top 8%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate22.0%Top 22%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
19/ 100
Ranks 1171 of 1,226 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing — 2 consecutive years, 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 5% since 2020, reaching 35,184 in 2024.

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

At 0.9 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US locations.

Units permitted
32
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.9
Bottom 13% nationally
Year over year
−50%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202437k35k
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
20222023202420256134
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+69%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 95°F and January a low of 39°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 48.9 inches.

30°50°70°90°110°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station SHREVEPORT DWTN AP, 27.0 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.8"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation48.9"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low39°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high95°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing37°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

47 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are ice storm, strong wind and hail.

Ice stormHigh
Strong windElevated
HailElevated
HurricaneModerate
EarthquakeModerate
LightningModerate
Winter weatherModerate
LandslideModerate
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: heat wave, tornado, inland flooding, drought, wildfire.

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.

Webster Parish records 13.3 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 25.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 16.4 per 100,000 residents in Webster Parish.

Homicide
13.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
25.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
16.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
18.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

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 Webster 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 Webster Parish rather than Webster 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
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. 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

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 35 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Shreveport RgnlSHV35 mi8,348 ft
East Texas RgnlGGG83 mi10,000 ft
Alexandria IntlAEX108 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
42
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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)
IncomeU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023Annually, each December
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
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 Webster Parish, LA