Ouachita Parish, Louisiana Population and Demographics

In this article, we'll explore the population statistics for Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, including popular demographics data like median age, number of households, household income, gender, employment and unemployment rates, occupations, religion, and more.

We are using the latest American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year survey data from the US Census Bureau, which is accurate up to 2021.

Table of Contents

Population

There is a lot of data that lets us see how many people live in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana. The most basic data is the total population, which is the total number of people living in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana. The estimated population of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana is 160,227 people, with a median age of 36.4.

We can look at the total population in Ouachita Parish over the last 5 years to see how much it has changed.

Year Population Change 5-Year Change
2021
160,227
+3.59%
+2.43%
2020
154,679
 -0.52% -
2019
155,494
 -0.37% -
2018
156,075
 -0.23% -
2017
156,433
 - -

Population of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana by Race and Ethnicity

We can also look at how the population has changed over the last 5 years by each of the race/ethnicity types as defined by the US Census Bureau.

Race 2021 2017 Change
White
57%
58.3%
 -2.23%
Black/African American
37.4%
37.4%
 0.00%
Native
0.1%
0.2%
 -50.00%
Hispanic
2.3%
2.2%
 +4.55%
Asian
1.1%
1%
 +10.00%
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
0%
0%
 0.00%
Two Or More Races
1.7%
0.8%
 +112.50%
Other
0.4%
0.1%
 +300.00%

This data can be very important for a number of reasons, including social and economic research, planning and development, and marketing to a multi-cultural population.

Note that the Native group includes both Native American and Alaskan Native people.

Population of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana by Age and Gender

The age and gender of a population is another interesting demographic statistic because it lets us track trends in the population over time. For example, we can see how the population has changed over the last 5 years by median age as a total, and also by male and female.

Year Total Male Female
2021 36.4 +0.55% 34.8 +1.46% 37.9 +0.26%
2020 36.2 +1.4% 34.3 +0.59% 37.8 +2.16%
2019 35.7 +0.85% 34.1 +0.89% 37 +0.82%
2018 35.4 +0.85% 33.8 +0.3% 36.7 +0.55%
2017 35.1 - 33.7 - 36.5 -

The median age of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana gives you an idea of the age distribution, with half of the population being older than the median age and half being younger.

This can then be used to infer and compare against birth rates, parent ages, and more metrics to understand the population. For example, an increasing median age indicates an aging population, which can be a sign of a declining population in terms of birth rates and workforce participation.

Age 2021 2017
(Years) Male Female Male Female
0 to 9 11,343 -5.25% 11,018 -1.97% 10,753 10,775
10 to 19 11,199 +5.38% 10,743 +3.43% 11,777 11,104
20 to 29 11,335 -4.04% 12,001 -5.57% 10,882 11,342
30 to 39 9,723 +3.87% 10,088 +2.67% 10,091 10,340
40 to 49 8,975 +4.12% 10,201 +5.64% 9,322 10,758
50 to 59 9,146 0.19% 10,195 +0.75% 9,139 10,259
60 to 69 7,395 +12.24% 8,757 +5.26% 8,310 9,222
70+ 5,903 +11.21% 8,411 +13.28% 6,590 9,563

Median Household Income

The latest median household income of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana is $46,021.00.

In simple terms, the median income is the middle income of a group of people. Half of the people in the group make more than the median income, and half make less. The median income is a good indicator of the overall income of a group of people, and can be used to compare against other metrics such as the average income, per capita income, and more.

Median Income by Age

We can also look at the median income by age to see how the median income varies by age, and how it compares to the overall median income for Ouachita Parish.

  • Under 25
    $27,619.00
  • 25 to 44
    $48,295.00
  • 45 to 64
    $55,339.00
  • 65 and over
    $35,214.00

Average Household Income

Whenever we ask what is the average household income in Ouachita Parish, we are actually talking about the mean household income.

This is calculated by adding up all the incomes of all the households in Ouachita Parish, and then dividing that number by the total number of households. This is a good way to get a general idea of the average income of a group of people, but it can be skewed by a very high or very low incomes.

The average household income of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana is currently $68,925.00.

In terms of accurately summarizing income at a geographic level, the median income is a better metric than the average income because it isn't affected by a small number of very high or very low incomes.

If you had an area where the average income was greater than the median, it can mean that there is significant income inequality, with income being concentrated in a small number of wealthy households.

4.76% of households in Ouachita Parish are classed as high income households (making $200,000+ per year).

Household Income Tiers

The US Census Bureau divides households into income tiers based on the median income for the area. This is a good way to compare the income of Ouachita Parish against other areas.

  • Less than $24,999
    30.72%
  • $25,000 to $49,999
    21.78%
  • $50,000 to $74,999
    16.50%
  • $75,000 to $99,999
    9.59%
  • $100,000 to $149,999
    11.68%
  • $150,000 to $199,999
    4.97%
  • $200,000 or more
    4.76%

Per Capita Income

The per capita income in Ouachita Parish is $26,695.00.

Per capita income is the average income of a person in a given area. It is calculated by dividing the total income of Ouachita Parish by the total population of Ouachita Parish.

This is different from the average or mean income because it includes and accounts for all people in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, including people like children, the elderly, unemployed people, retired people, and more.

Education Levels

We can also look at the education levels in Ouachita Parish to see how many people have a high school degree, a bachelor's degree, or a graduate degree.

Educational attainment is a good indicator of the overall education level of a population, and can be used to compare against other metrics such as the average income, per capita income, and more to see how education levels affect income, unemployment rates, and more.

  • Master's degree or higher
    10.43%
  • Bachelor's degree
    28.00%
  • Some college or associate's degree
    11.23%
  • High school diploma or equivalent
    47.66%
  • Less than high school diploma
    2.68%

Employment

Employment rates are all based around the total population in Ouachita Parish that are over the age of 16.

The total population of Ouachita Parish over the age of 16 is 125,062.

Of those people, a total of 57.50% are working or actively looking for work. This is called the labor force participation rate.

The participation rate is a useful market measure because it shows the relative amount of labor resources available to the economy.

The employment to total population rate in Ouachita Parish is 54.00%.

Employment by Age

We can look at the employment rates by age to see how it compares to the overall employment rate.

Age Population Participation Unemployment Rate
16 to 19 years 9,244 25.20% 18.70%
20 to 24 years 11,082 64.40% 6.20%
25 to 29 years 11,142 70.50% 7.90%
30 to 34 years 10,985 73.80% 5.20%
35 to 44 years 19,943 77.40% 6.40%
45 to 54 years 19,029 76.90% 3.20%
55 to 59 years 9,952 67.30% 3.20%
60 to 64 years 9,825 56.20% 5.40%
65 to 74 years 14,347 24.30% 9.00%
75 years and over 9,513 6.90% 4.10%

Employment by Race

Another very interesting employment statistic we can look at is the employment and unemployment rates by race in Ouachita Parish. The table below shows the rates for each of the ethnicity groups types defined by the US Census Bureau.

Age Population Participation Unemployment Rate
White 75,810 57.50% 3.60%
Black or African American 44,389 57.20% 9.50%
American Indian and Alaska Native 227 39.60% 0.00%
Asian 1,470 65.90% 4.10%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 24 100.00% 0.00%
Other 1,203 49.40% 1.90%
Two or more races 1,939 63.00% 14.50%
Hispanic or Latino 2,462 64.00% 6.30%
Not Hispanic or Latino 74,722 57.30% 3.50%

Occupations

In this section we can look at the most common occupations in Ouachita Parish as well as the gender breakdown and earnings of them.

The total population of civilian employees that are 16 years old or older in Ouachita Parish is 67,524, with median earnings of $34,931.00.

Women in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana earning approximately 72.80% of the men's earnings.

Population Earnings
Total 67,524 $34,931.00
Male 32,431 $42,282.00
Female 35,093 $30,762.00

Occupations by Category

In the table below, we can break down the population and earnings even further by occupation. The list of occupation categories below will show you how many people are employed in each category and the median earnings of each profession.

Occupation Employed Earnings
Management 5,219 $68,712.00
Business and Financial 2,681 $51,422.00
Computer and Mathematical 1,324 $58,829.00
Architecture and Engineering 823 $55,625.00
Life, Physical, and Social Science 553 $63,917.00
Community and Social Service 2,044 $47,947.00
Legal 840 $49,375.00
Educational and Library 4,721 $39,336.00
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media 726 $33,056.00
Healthcare Practitioners 5,408 $58,674.00
Healthcare Support 3,231 $20,285.00
Firefighters and Protective Service 893 $41,207.00
Law Enforcement 1,292 $51,004.00
Food Preparation and Serving 4,324 $12,808.00
Building and Grounds Cleaning 2,255 $16,419.00
Personal Care and Service 1,517 $17,489.00
Sales 7,523 $22,242.00
Office and Administrative Support 7,806 $30,373.00
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry 105 $32,981.00
Construction and Extraction 3,024 $42,979.00
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair 2,202 $43,023.00
Production 3,056 $35,828.00
Transportation and Material Moving 3,872 $39,603.00

Occupations by Gender

The table below shows the same occupations from the list above, but we have split them by male and female to see how many male and females work in each occupation, the median earnings, and the male to female ratio of earnings.

That last metric is important because it can be used to look at the gender pay gap between men and women.

Occupation Male Female
Population Earnings Population Earnings
Management 2,837 $74,309.00 2,382 $54,028.00
Business and Financial 953 $74,688.00 1,728 $39,409.00
Computer and Mathematical 698 $58,032.00 626 $61,250.00
Architecture and Engineering 675 $51,839.00 148 $71,538.00
Life, Physical, and Social Science 279 $85,337.00 274 $59,612.00
Community and Social Service 615 $50,299.00 1,429 $43,656.00
Legal 196 $156,016.00 644 $40,160.00
Educational and Library 1,045 $53,359.00 3,676 $36,000.00
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media 394 $24,904.00 332 $40,417.00
Healthcare Practitioners 1,393 $73,438.00 4,015 $54,195.00
Healthcare Support 361 $13,852.00 2,870 $20,818.00
Firefighters and Protective Service 670 $40,961.00 223 $42,415.00
Law Enforcement 962 $55,976.00 330 $36,875.00
Food Preparation and Serving 2,231 $15,188.00 2,093 $10,493.00
Building and Grounds Cleaning 1,256 $22,078.00 999 $13,532.00
Personal Care and Service 215 $13,517.00 1,302 $18,386.00
Sales 3,709 $34,171.00 3,814 $19,397.00
Office and Administrative Support 1,482 $32,237.00 6,324 $30,220.00
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry 55 $34,261.00 50 $0.00
Construction and Extraction 2,974 $43,239.00 50 $26,552.00
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair 2,082 $43,412.00 120 $41,967.00
Production 2,461 $42,016.00 595 $22,271.00
Transportation and Material Moving 3,145 $42,928.00 727 $21,509.00

Households and Family Size

A household defined bu the US Census Bureau is a group of people who occupy a housing unit. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, group of rooms, or single room occupied as separate living quarters.

There are currently 58,493 households in Ouachita Parish, with an average household size of 2.63 people.

A family is defined as a group of two or more people related by birth, marriage, or adoption who live together in the same household.

There are 36,838 families in Ouachita Parish with an average family size of 3.37 people.

Households by Marital Status

The four categories of household by marital status are:

  • Married-couple family
  • Male householder with no spouse present
  • Female household with no spouse present
  • Nonfamily household

The table below shows the total number of households and families, with the average sizes of each.

Married Male Female Nonfamily
Total Households 24,194 2,847 9,797 21,655
Average Household Size 3.3 3.76 3.8 1.21
Total Families 24,194 2,847 9,797 0
Average Household Size 3.27 3.33 3.63 0

Poverty

Of the 36,838 families in Ouachita Parish, 19.30% are considered to be below the poverty threshold.

The table below shows the latest poverty thresholds in Ouachita Parish:

Household Size Poverty Threshold
1 Person $14,580.00
2 People $19,720.00
3 People $24,860.00
4 People $30,000.00
5 People $35,140.00
6 People $40,280.00
7 People $45,420.00
8 People $50,560.00

Housing

There are 69,676 housing units in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana.

The table below shows the split between occupied and vacant units:

Total Percentage
Occupied 58,493 83.95%
Vacant 11,183 16.05%

30.61% of the total 69,676 housing units in Ouachita Parish are rental units. This is approximately 21,325 properties.

For owner-occupied housing units, a total of 35,099 are occupied by the owner - or 50.37% of the total.

Rental Rates

The median rent for a property in Ouachita Parish is $814.00.

In the chart below, we can look at the number of rental properties in Ouachita Parish that fall into a particular rent range. These can then be used to compare with other areas, or to see how they have changed over time.

  • No rent paid
    2,069
  • Less than $500
    3,339
  • $500 to $999
    12,354
  • $1,000 to $1,499
    4,674
  • $1,500 to $1,999
    628
  • $2,000 to $2,499
    189
  • $2,500 to $2,999
    56
  • $3,000 or more
    85

Property Value

The median value of a property in Ouachita Parish is $156,700.00.

Just like with rental rates, we can look at the number of properties in Ouachita Parish that fall into a particular value range.

  • Less than $50,000
    4,803
  • $50,000 to $99,999
    6,012
  • $100,000 to $149,999
    5,848
  • $150,000 to $199,999
    5,918
  • $200,000 to $299,999
    7,214
  • $300,000 to $499,999
    3,983
  • $500,000 to $999,999
    1,043
  • $1,000,000 or more
    278

Property Age

We can also look at the age of properties in Ouachita Parish. The chart below shows the number of properties in Ouachita Parish that fall into a particular age range.

  • 1939 or earlier
    2,125
  • 1940 to 1949
    2,353
  • 1950 to 1959
    6,565
  • 1960 to 1969
    9,584
  • 1970 to 1979
    13,454
  • 1980 to 1989
    9,876
  • 1990 to 1999
    9,656
  • 2000 to 2009
    9,635
  • 2010 to 2013
    6,323
  • 2014 or later
    105

Vehicles per Household

The number of vehicles available per household can be a good indicator of the level of affluence in an area. The chart below shows the number of households in Ouachita Parish that have a particular number of vehicles available.

  • No vehicles available
    5,222
  • 1 vehicle available
    22,735
  • 2 vehicles available
    20,722
  • 3 or more vehicles available
    9,814

Commuting to Work

In this section, we can also look at how people in Ouachita Parish get to work. The chart below shows the number of people in Ouachita Parish that commute to work in a particular way.

21.8 minutes is the average travel time to work for people in Ouachita Parish.

These commute times can be compared to other date like income and educational levels to see how they relate to each other and if there are any trends in the data that might suggest a correlation.

  • Less than 5 minutes
    1,428
  • 5 to 9 minutes
    6,870
  • 10 to 14 minutes
    12,977
  • 15 to 19 minutes
    13,519
  • 20 to 24 minutes
    10,852
  • 25 to 29 minutes
    3,442
  • 30 to 34 minutes
    7,156
  • 35 to 39 minutes
    830
  • 40 to 44 minutes
    910
  • 45 to 59 minutes
    2,328
  • 60 to 89 minutes
    1,779
  • 90 or more minutes
    1,257

Summary

We've covered a LOT of demographic and population data for Ouachita Parish, Louisiana in this article! Hopefully you have found it very useful in your research of the area.

If you use any of the data found on this page, please consider linking back to USPopulation.org as the source and if you have any feedback or data requests, click here to contact us.

Places in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana

We have data for 16 places in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana. Click on a place below to see more information about the demographics of that place.