Lafayette Parish vs Orleans Parish

A side-by-side comparison of Lafayette Parish and Orleans Parish: population, income, housing, and more.

Lafayette Parish and Orleans Parish are counties in Louisiana. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Orleans Parish has the higher population (376,035 vs 245,075 in Lafayette Parish). Lafayette Parish has the higher median household income ($67,660 vs $55,339 in Orleans Parish). Orleans Parish has the higher median home value ($296,400 vs $234,200 in Lafayette Parish).

Population, income & housing

	Lafayette Parish	Orleans Parish
Population	245,075	376,035
Median age	36.4 yrs	38.4 yrs
Median household income	$67,660	$55,339
Median home value	$234,200	$296,400
Median gross rent	$1,022	$1,211
Housing units	110,400	194,758
Homeownership rate	66.1%	50.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	34.9%	42.0%
Unemployment rate	5.0%	7.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lafayette Parish	Orleans Parish
Population	241,973 → 245,075 (+1.3%)	390,845 → 376,035 (-3.8%)
Median household income	$56,999 → $67,660 (+18.7%)	$41,604 → $55,339 (+33.0%)
Median home value	$185,300 → $234,200 (+26.4%)	$231,500 → $296,400 (+28.0%)
Median gross rent	$874 → $1,022 (+16.9%)	$998 → $1,211 (+21.3%)

Lafayette Parish

Population

241,973245,075

Median household income

$56,999$67,660

Median home value

$185,300$234,200

Median gross rent

$874$1,022

Orleans Parish

Population

390,845376,035

Median household income

$41,604$55,339

Median home value

$231,500$296,400

Median gross rent

$998$1,211

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lafayette Parish	Orleans Parish
Under 5	6.6%	5.5%
5 to 17	17.5%	14.2%
18 to 24	8.1%	8.9%
25 to 34	15.2%	15.7%
35 to 44	14.2%	14.9%
45 to 54	11.6%	11.5%
55 to 64	12.3%	12.8%
65 to 74	9.1%	10.4%
75 and over	5.3%	6.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lafayette Parish	Orleans Parish
White (non-Hispanic)	62.5%	30.1%
Black or African American	25.3%	54.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	1.9%	2.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.8%
Two or more races	3.3%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	6.5%	7.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lafayette Parish	Orleans Parish
No high school diploma	10.1%	10.9%
High school graduate	28.9%	21.3%
Some college or associate's	26.1%	25.9%
Bachelor's degree	24.3%	22.5%
Graduate or professional degree	10.6%	19.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lafayette Parish	Orleans Parish
Drove alone	81.8%	63.2%
Carpooled	5.4%	8.7%
Public transit	0.6%	4.5%
Walked	1.7%	5.6%
Bicycle	0.2%	1.9%
Worked from home	9.1%	13.7%
Other means	1.1%	2.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lafayette Parish	Orleans Parish
1-unit, detached	67.8%	45.8%
1-unit, attached	2.2%	10.0%
2 to 4 units	5.5%	22.9%
5 to 19 units	8.8%	8.4%
20 or more units	5.4%	12.4%
Mobile home & other	10.3%	0.5%

Poverty & households

	Lafayette Parish	Orleans Parish
Poverty rate	17.4%	22.6%
Average household size	2.43	2.34
Mean commute (minutes)	23	23
Median year structure built	1988	1959