Lake Charles vs Westlake

A side-by-side comparison of Lake Charles and Westlake: population, income, housing, and more.

Lake Charles and Westlake are places in Louisiana. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Lake Charles has the higher population (81,679 vs 4,794 in Westlake). Westlake has the higher median household income ($67,691 vs $56,864 in Lake Charles). Lake Charles has the higher median home value ($204,000 vs $168,200 in Westlake).

Population, income & housing

	Lake Charles	Westlake
Population	81,679	4,794
Median age	36.2 yrs	37.8 yrs
Median household income	$56,864	$67,691
Median home value	$204,000	$168,200
Median gross rent	$1,090	$960
Housing units	40,146	2,460
Homeownership rate	61.1%	78.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	29.4%	21.6%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	0.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lake Charles	Westlake
Population	77,283 → 81,679 (+5.7%)	4,727 → 4,794 (+1.4%)
Median household income	$42,942 → $56,864 (+32.4%)	$42,156 → $67,691 (+60.6%)
Median home value	$155,700 → $204,000 (+31.0%)	$114,400 → $168,200 (+47.0%)
Median gross rent	$816 → $1,090 (+33.6%)	$630 → $960 (+52.4%)

Lake Charles

Population

77,28381,679

Median household income

$42,942$56,864

Median home value

$155,700$204,000

Median gross rent

$816$1,090

Westlake

Population

4,7274,794

Median household income

$42,156$67,691

Median home value

$114,400$168,200

Median gross rent

$630$960

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lake Charles	Westlake
Under 5	6.5%	7.1%
5 to 17	15.9%	13.6%
18 to 24	11.0%	4.4%
25 to 34	15.2%	21.9%
35 to 44	11.8%	11.9%
45 to 54	10.5%	9.8%
55 to 64	12.2%	10.6%
65 to 74	9.7%	12.5%
75 and over	7.3%	8.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lake Charles	Westlake
White (non-Hispanic)	46.5%	76.8%
Black or African American	42.8%	13.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	2.5%	5.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.9%	2.1%
Hispanic or Latino	4.7%	1.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lake Charles	Westlake
No high school diploma	9.8%	9.7%
High school graduate	30.1%	34.4%
Some college or associate's	30.7%	34.4%
Bachelor's degree	18.3%	18.5%
Graduate or professional degree	11.1%	3.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lake Charles	Westlake
Drove alone	81.4%	74.6%
Carpooled	9.4%	20.7%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	2.7%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.8%	2.6%
Other means	1.3%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lake Charles	Westlake
1-unit, detached	68.1%	82.0%
1-unit, attached	2.6%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	8.2%	3.5%
5 to 19 units	10.8%	3.6%
20 or more units	8.1%	0.9%
Mobile home & other	2.1%	10.0%

Poverty & households

	Lake Charles	Westlake
Poverty rate	23.2%	10.6%
Average household size	2.49	2.35
Mean commute (minutes)	18	25
Median year structure built	1979	1975