St. James Parish vs Union Parish

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

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

Union Parish has the higher population (20,914 vs 19,797 in St. James Parish). St. James Parish has the higher median household income ($64,536 vs $45,743 in Union Parish). St. James Parish has the higher median home value ($197,800 vs $115,400 in Union Parish).

Population, income & housing

	St. James Parish	Union Parish
Population	19,797	20,914
Median age	40.8 yrs	43.5 yrs
Median household income	$64,536	$45,743
Median home value	$197,800	$115,400
Median gross rent	$821	$758
Housing units	8,651	10,416
Homeownership rate	85.5%	76.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.2%	16.0%
Unemployment rate	5.4%	5.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	St. James Parish	Union Parish
Population	21,308 → 19,797 (-7.1%)	22,353 → 20,914 (-6.4%)
Median household income	$51,603 → $64,536 (+25.1%)	$44,100 → $45,743 (+3.7%)
Median home value	$158,500 → $197,800 (+24.8%)	$89,200 → $115,400 (+29.4%)
Median gross rent	$644 → $821 (+27.5%)	$568 → $758 (+33.5%)

St. James Parish

Population

21,30819,797

Median household income

$51,603$64,536

Median home value

$158,500$197,800

Median gross rent

$644$821

Union Parish

Population

22,35320,914

Median household income

$44,100$45,743

Median home value

$89,200$115,400

Median gross rent

$568$758

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	St. James Parish	Union Parish
Under 5	5.7%	6.2%
5 to 17	16.7%	15.4%
18 to 24	7.6%	7.5%
25 to 34	11.4%	10.9%
35 to 44	13.9%	11.2%
45 to 54	10.8%	11.8%
55 to 64	15.0%	14.9%
65 to 74	11.5%	13.5%
75 and over	7.5%	8.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	St. James Parish	Union Parish
White (non-Hispanic)	49.1%	69.1%
Black or African American	48.4%	23.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.6%	1.6%
Hispanic or Latino	1.9%	5.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	St. James Parish	Union Parish
No high school diploma	11.4%	13.6%
High school graduate	40.8%	43.7%
Some college or associate's	27.7%	26.7%
Bachelor's degree	15.0%	11.9%
Graduate or professional degree	5.2%	4.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	St. James Parish	Union Parish
Drove alone	84.1%	85.3%
Carpooled	6.9%	8.6%
Public transit	0.3%	0.0%
Walked	1.3%	1.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.3%	3.6%
Other means	1.1%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	St. James Parish	Union Parish
1-unit, detached	75.0%	57.6%
1-unit, attached	0.1%	0.1%
2 to 4 units	6.2%	2.1%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	1.8%
20 or more units	0.5%	0.9%
Mobile home & other	18.2%	37.5%

Poverty & households

	St. James Parish	Union Parish
Poverty rate	10.5%	28.6%
Average household size	2.64	2.47
Mean commute (minutes)	28	33
Median year structure built	1985	1988