Ouachita Parish vs Rapides Parish

A side-by-side comparison of Ouachita Parish and Rapides Parish: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Ouachita Parish has the higher population (158,916 vs 128,470 in Rapides Parish). Rapides Parish has the higher median household income ($55,946 vs $51,241 in Ouachita Parish). Ouachita Parish has the higher median home value ($183,000 vs $179,100 in Rapides Parish).

Population, income & housing

	Ouachita Parish	Rapides Parish
Population	158,916	128,470
Median age	36.6 yrs	37.8 yrs
Median household income	$51,241	$55,946
Median home value	$183,000	$179,100
Median gross rent	$923	$942
Housing units	70,667	58,321
Homeownership rate	59.5%	65.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.5%	22.4%
Unemployment rate	6.6%	4.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ouachita Parish	Rapides Parish
Population	155,494 → 158,916 (+2.2%)	130,970 → 128,470 (-1.9%)
Median household income	$41,121 → $51,241 (+24.6%)	$47,269 → $55,946 (+18.4%)
Median home value	$146,700 → $183,000 (+24.7%)	$143,100 → $179,100 (+25.2%)
Median gross rent	$768 → $923 (+20.2%)	$821 → $942 (+14.7%)

Ouachita Parish

Population

155,494158,916

Median household income

$41,121$51,241

Median home value

$146,700$183,000

Median gross rent

$768$923

Rapides Parish

Population

130,970128,470

Median household income

$47,269$55,946

Median home value

$143,100$179,100

Median gross rent

$821$942

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ouachita Parish	Rapides Parish
Under 5	6.5%	6.5%
5 to 17	18.3%	18.6%
18 to 24	9.6%	8.2%
25 to 34	13.6%	12.8%
35 to 44	12.7%	12.6%
45 to 54	11.7%	11.5%
55 to 64	12.2%	13.1%
65 to 74	9.3%	10.0%
75 and over	6.1%	6.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ouachita Parish	Rapides Parish
White (non-Hispanic)	55.6%	59.7%
Black or African American	37.0%	31.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.4%
Asian	1.0%	1.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.3%
Two or more races	2.3%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	3.6%	4.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ouachita Parish	Rapides Parish
No high school diploma	12.0%	12.6%
High school graduate	31.2%	37.1%
Some college or associate's	29.2%	27.9%
Bachelor's degree	17.6%	14.1%
Graduate or professional degree	10.0%	8.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ouachita Parish	Rapides Parish
Drove alone	80.3%	79.8%
Carpooled	9.0%	6.8%
Public transit	0.9%	2.2%
Walked	1.4%	2.4%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.3%
Worked from home	7.1%	4.8%
Other means	1.0%	3.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ouachita Parish	Rapides Parish
1-unit, detached	65.7%	67.6%
1-unit, attached	1.5%	1.6%
2 to 4 units	9.9%	7.0%
5 to 19 units	5.7%	5.6%
20 or more units	2.9%	2.6%
Mobile home & other	14.3%	15.6%

Poverty & households

	Ouachita Parish	Rapides Parish
Poverty rate	24.0%	18.9%
Average household size	2.53	2.56
Mean commute (minutes)	22	24
Median year structure built	1983	1980