Central vs Merrydale

A side-by-side comparison of Central and Merrydale: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Central has the higher population (29,603 vs 9,149 in Merrydale). Central has the higher median household income ($90,091 vs $41,986 in Merrydale). Central has the higher median home value ($270,700 vs $124,300 in Merrydale).

Population, income & housing

	Central	Merrydale
Population	29,603	9,149
Median age	40.3 yrs	35.6 yrs
Median household income	$90,091	$41,986
Median home value	$270,700	$124,300
Median gross rent	$1,373	$1,187
Housing units	12,116	3,705
Homeownership rate	89.3%	76.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	32.7%	16.9%
Unemployment rate	1.2%	25.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Central	Merrydale
Population	29,107 → 29,603 (+1.7%)	8,903 → 9,149 (+2.8%)
Median household income	$80,015 → $90,091 (+12.6%)	$36,916 → $41,986 (+13.7%)
Median home value	$217,700 → $270,700 (+24.3%)	$109,600 → $124,300 (+13.4%)
Median gross rent	$928 → $1,373 (+48.0%)	$915 → $1,187 (+29.7%)

Central

Population

29,10729,603

Median household income

$80,015$90,091

Median home value

$217,700$270,700

Median gross rent

$928$1,373

Merrydale

Population

8,9039,149

Median household income

$36,916$41,986

Median home value

$109,600$124,300

Median gross rent

$915$1,187

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Central	Merrydale
Under 5	5.2%	7.8%
5 to 17	20.9%	22.3%
18 to 24	6.9%	7.1%
25 to 34	8.6%	12.7%
35 to 44	15.7%	15.6%
45 to 54	9.8%	5.4%
55 to 64	15.0%	14.1%
65 to 74	10.7%	9.8%
75 and over	7.1%	5.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Central	Merrydale
White (non-Hispanic)	78.3%	0.6%
Black or African American	11.6%	97.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.4%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.2%
Two or more races	4.7%	0.2%
Hispanic or Latino	4.8%	1.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Central	Merrydale
No high school diploma	3.9%	13.3%
High school graduate	33.9%	31.9%
Some college or associate's	29.6%	37.9%
Bachelor's degree	21.8%	12.4%
Graduate or professional degree	10.9%	4.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Central	Merrydale
Drove alone	85.3%	66.3%
Carpooled	5.5%	21.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.7%
Walked	1.1%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.8%
Worked from home	6.8%	11.0%
Other means	1.3%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Central	Merrydale
1-unit, detached	84.3%	90.2%
1-unit, attached	0.5%	0.4%
2 to 4 units	2.2%	0.5%
5 to 19 units	1.4%	2.8%
20 or more units	2.7%	2.6%
Mobile home & other	8.9%	3.6%

Poverty & households

	Central	Merrydale
Poverty rate	5.7%	29.9%
Average household size	2.61	2.92
Mean commute (minutes)	29	23
Median year structure built	1988	1975