Regional Dashboard

Since 1970, Lafayette has grown faster than any other large city in Louisiana. While that growth has flattened in recent years, Lafayette’s year-over-year change lags only Bossier City among the top 10 largest cities in Louisiana.

The population of Lafayette Parish has more than doubled since 1970. In recent years, the parish’s smaller municipalities have grown at an explosive rate. Between 2020-2021, Carencro grew more than 15%, the fastest growth in the state.

Seven out of nine parishes in Acadiana have seen a population decline over the past decade and past year. The two parishes that grew were Lafayette and Jeff Davis. The largest population loss for both the decade and year was in St. Mary Parish.

After a decline in total employment due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of those employed in the Acadiana region increased by 3.8% from 2020 to 2021.

The rate of Acadiana’s working-age population in the labor force slowly ticked down from 2015 to 2020. Over that time, all parishes saw a decline in total labor force.

Unemployment in the Lafayette MSA peaked at 11.5% in April 2020 but quickly fell over the remainder of 2020 and 2021. As of April 2022 data, it is at a record low level of 3.1%.

Mastery of 3rd grade ELA (reading and writing) is critical; 75% of students who are poor readers in 3rd grade never catch up. Mastery of 3rd grade ELA varies across Acadiana parishes from 27% (St. Landry) to 51% (Vermilion).

The average four-year high school graduation rate for Acadiana parishes is ahead of the statewide average (84%). It has increased by 14.1 percentage points since 2012 when it was 73.4%.

While 87.5% of Acadiana students graduate high school within four years, only 47.7% of those graduates enroll in college the first fall after graduating, trailing the state (53.8%) and national (66.2%) averages.

The child poverty rate varies across Acadiana, from 19.8% in Jeff Davis Parish to 40% in Evangeline Parish. For 2020, poverty is defined as an annual income below $26,200 for a family of four.

Of Louisiana’s nine MSAs, the Lafayette MSA had the lowest property crime rate and the second lowest violent crime rate, as of 2019 data. The FBI rolled out a new data reporting system in 2020, and they advise against using more recent data for trend comparison yet.

Lafayette MSA home values are on the rise, a 12.5% increase year-over-year, compared to a 19.8% increase nationally. The Lafayette MSA’s average home value ($194k) is a little more than half of the national average ($354k), according to the Zillow Home Value Index.