Lafayette Parish vs St. Tammany Parish

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

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

St. Tammany Parish has the higher population (269,331 vs 245,075 in Lafayette Parish). St. Tammany Parish has the higher median household income ($79,277 vs $67,660 in Lafayette Parish). St. Tammany Parish has the higher median home value ($272,200 vs $234,200 in Lafayette Parish).

Population, income & housing

	Lafayette Parish	St. Tammany Parish
Population	245,075	269,331
Median age	36.4 yrs	40.4 yrs
Median household income	$67,660	$79,277
Median home value	$234,200	$272,200
Median gross rent	$1,022	$1,305
Housing units	110,400	112,414
Homeownership rate	66.1%	78.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	34.9%	36.6%
Unemployment rate	5.0%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lafayette Parish	St. Tammany Parish
Population	241,973 → 245,075 (+1.3%)	255,155 → 269,331 (+5.6%)
Median household income	$56,999 → $67,660 (+18.7%)	$68,905 → $79,277 (+15.1%)
Median home value	$185,300 → $234,200 (+26.4%)	$218,500 → $272,200 (+24.6%)
Median gross rent	$874 → $1,022 (+16.9%)	$1,086 → $1,305 (+20.2%)

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

St. Tammany Parish

Population

255,155269,331

Median household income

$68,905$79,277

Median home value

$218,500$272,200

Median gross rent

$1,086$1,305

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lafayette Parish	St. Tammany Parish
Under 5	6.6%	5.8%
5 to 17	17.5%	18.0%
18 to 24	8.1%	7.6%
25 to 34	15.2%	11.2%
35 to 44	14.2%	13.3%
45 to 54	11.6%	12.5%
55 to 64	12.3%	13.6%
65 to 74	9.1%	11.1%
75 and over	5.3%	6.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lafayette Parish	St. Tammany Parish
White (non-Hispanic)	62.5%	73.3%
Black or African American	25.3%	12.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	1.9%	1.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.3%
Some other race	0.4%	0.8%
Two or more races	3.3%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	6.5%	7.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lafayette Parish	St. Tammany Parish
No high school diploma	10.1%	8.6%
High school graduate	28.9%	24.0%
Some college or associate's	26.1%	30.8%
Bachelor's degree	24.3%	23.7%
Graduate or professional degree	10.6%	12.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lafayette Parish	St. Tammany Parish
Drove alone	81.8%	77.4%
Carpooled	5.4%	7.6%
Public transit	0.6%	0.1%
Walked	1.7%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	9.1%	12.4%
Other means	1.1%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lafayette Parish	St. Tammany Parish
1-unit, detached	67.8%	77.4%
1-unit, attached	2.2%	2.5%
2 to 4 units	5.5%	4.2%
5 to 19 units	8.8%	4.9%
20 or more units	5.4%	4.2%
Mobile home & other	10.3%	6.8%

Poverty & households

	Lafayette Parish	St. Tammany Parish
Poverty rate	17.4%	12.2%
Average household size	2.43	2.58
Mean commute (minutes)	23	31
Median year structure built	1988	1995