Rapides Parish, LA
Demographic and economic profile of Rapides Parish, LA, sourced from the US Census Bureau (American Community Survey) via Data USA.
AI Overview
Rapides Parish is a mid-sized Louisiana parish of 128,470 residents centered on healthcare, retail, and regional services for central Louisiana, with a labor force participation rate of 57.9% and an unemployment rate of 4.9%. The workforce skews toward lower-credentialed occupations, with 22.4% holding a bachelor's degree or higher and median worker earnings of $37,211. Housing costs remain low—median home value of $179,100 and median gross rent of $942/month—though the parish has shed population at a rate of -2.3% over five years, and a poverty rate of 18.9% points to persistent income constraints.
Claude Sonnet 4.6 · generated Jul 6, 2026 · derived from cached Census, BEA & ACS data on this page
Population Growth (5-year)
-2.3% since 2018
Rapides Parish lost population at this rate over the prior 5-year ACS5 window.
Demographics
Race & Ethnicity
- White Alone77,228 (60.6%)
- Black or African American Alone39,248 (30.8%)
- Two Races Excluding Some Other Race, & Three or More Races4,284 (3.4%)
- Two Races Including Some Other Race3,123 (2.4%)
- Some Other Race Alone1,538 (1.2%)
- Asian Alone1,433 (1.1%)
Top Languages Spoken at Home
- 1.Spanish3,378
- 2.French (incl. Cajun, Haitian)575
- 3.Other Indo-European510
- 4.Other Asian and Pacific Island501
- 5.Arabic445
Economy
Cost of Living Index
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Not yet cached
Top Industries
- 1.Educational Services, & Health Care & Social Assistance16,447
- 2.Retail Trade (Group)7,253
- 3.Arts, Entertainment, & Recreation, & Accommodation & Food Services5,476
- 4.Professional, Scientific, & Management, & Administrative & Waste Management Services4,318
- 5.Public Administration (Group)4,034
Top Occupations
- 1.Management, Business, Science, & Arts Occupations18,937
- 2.Sales & Office Occupations12,207
- 3.Service Occupations10,922
- 4.Production, Transportation, & Material Moving Occupations6,983
- 5.Natural Resources, Construction, & Maintenance Occupations5,496
Specialized Industries (Location Quotient)
- 1.Public Administration (LQ 1.66×)4,292
- 2.Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting, & Mining (LQ 1.42×)1,240
- 3.Wholesale Trade (LQ 1.32×)1,670
- 4.Educational Services & Health Care (LQ 1.25×)16,022
- 5.Arts, Entertainment, Recreation, & Accommodation (LQ 1.25×)6,005
Housing
Education
Workforce
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More on FDI Connect
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Data: US Census Bureau American Community Survey, served via Data USA and the Census Bureau API. See each metric tile for the specific dataset.