De Soto Parish vs West Baton Rouge Parish

A side-by-side comparison of De Soto Parish and West Baton Rouge Parish: population, income, housing, and more.

De Soto Parish and West Baton Rouge Parish are counties in Louisiana. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

West Baton Rouge Parish has the higher population (27,666 vs 26,897 in De Soto Parish). West Baton Rouge Parish has the higher median household income ($87,320 vs $46,077 in De Soto Parish). West Baton Rouge Parish has the higher median home value ($225,900 vs $150,700 in De Soto Parish).

Population, income & housing

	De Soto Parish	West Baton Rouge Parish
Population	26,897	27,666
Median age	40.1 yrs	36.6 yrs
Median household income	$46,077	$87,320
Median home value	$150,700	$225,900
Median gross rent	$719	$1,021
Housing units	12,560	11,827
Homeownership rate	75.2%	75.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.9%	23.1%
Unemployment rate	6.1%	6.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	De Soto Parish	West Baton Rouge Parish
Population	27,289 → 26,897 (-1.4%)	26,101 → 27,666 (+6.0%)
Median household income	$46,006 → $46,077 (+0.2%)	$65,385 → $87,320 (+33.5%)
Median home value	$117,300 → $150,700 (+28.5%)	$200,000 → $225,900 (+13.0%)
Median gross rent	$635 → $719 (+13.2%)	$884 → $1,021 (+15.5%)

De Soto Parish

Population

27,28926,897

Median household income

$46,006$46,077

Median home value

$117,300$150,700

Median gross rent

$635$719

West Baton Rouge Parish

Population

26,10127,666

Median household income

$65,385$87,320

Median home value

$200,000$225,900

Median gross rent

$884$1,021

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	De Soto Parish	West Baton Rouge Parish
Under 5	6.0%	6.2%
5 to 17	18.0%	17.4%
18 to 24	7.4%	6.1%
25 to 34	11.9%	17.0%
35 to 44	13.2%	15.6%
45 to 54	11.8%	10.2%
55 to 64	13.3%	13.1%
65 to 74	11.0%	8.9%
75 and over	7.5%	5.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	De Soto Parish	West Baton Rouge Parish
White (non-Hispanic)	59.2%	53.0%
Black or African American	34.7%	40.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.6%	0.0%
Asian	0.2%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.1%	1.6%
Hispanic or Latino	3.1%	4.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	De Soto Parish	West Baton Rouge Parish
No high school diploma	15.0%	10.6%
High school graduate	39.5%	36.2%
Some college or associate's	30.6%	30.2%
Bachelor's degree	9.6%	17.1%
Graduate or professional degree	5.3%	5.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	De Soto Parish	West Baton Rouge Parish
Drove alone	82.7%	84.4%
Carpooled	8.9%	8.8%
Public transit	1.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.4%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.5%	4.0%
Other means	2.4%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	De Soto Parish	West Baton Rouge Parish
1-unit, detached	56.3%	67.0%
1-unit, attached	0.2%	1.1%
2 to 4 units	8.4%	4.8%
5 to 19 units	1.8%	1.3%
20 or more units	0.2%	3.7%
Mobile home & other	33.2%	22.2%

Poverty & households

	De Soto Parish	West Baton Rouge Parish
Poverty rate	21.8%	16.0%
Average household size	2.59	2.58
Mean commute (minutes)	27	25
Median year structure built	1989	1993