27,274 people (2024 Census estimate, +1.6% since 2020)
876 square miles of land · 31 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
9 active community water systems list De Soto Parish in the area they serve, reporting 33,699 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| NORTH DESOTO WATER SYSTEM groundwater · private · LA1031011 | 7,608 served |
| CITY OF MANSFIELD WATER SYSTEM surface water · local government · LA1031009 | 7,512 served |
| DESOTO PARISH WATER WORKS DISTRICT 1 surface water · local government · LA1031030 | 7,173 served |
| KEATCHIE WATER SYSTEM groundwater · private · LA1031007 | 4,446 served |
| TOWN OF LOGANSPORT WATER SYSTEM surface water · local government · LA1031008 | 2,448 served |
| EAST DESOTO WATER SYSTEM groundwater · private · LA1031005 | 1,455 served |
| RAMBIN-WALLACE WATER SYSTEM groundwater · private · LA1031012 | 1,161 served |
| SOUTH DESOTO WATER SYSTEM groundwater · private · LA1031029 | 963 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 111 people were held in De Soto Parish's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 669 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 128.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
1 school district has its office in De Soto Parish. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $106.7 million — $92.9 million to run schools, about $18,116 per student, plus $11.8 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $96.1 million local (mostly property tax), $19.6 million state, $13.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $40.7 million.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Very Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost De Soto Parish about $9.1 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Low; social vulnerability: Very High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
201 bridges in De Soto Parish: 54 in good condition, 132 fair, and 15 poor (7.5%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
| US0084 over BAYOU CASTOR · built 1951 | 6,314 vehicles a day |
| LA0175 over LITTLE BAYOU NA BONCHASS · built 1957 | 4,306 vehicles a day |
| LA0175 over CANEY BAYOU REL · built 1957 | 4,051 vehicles a day |
| LA0764 over DRAIN · built 1971 | 1,933 vehicles a day |
| LA0175 over TENMILE BAYOU · built 1974 | 1,770 vehicles a day |
| LA3015 over BAYOU CASTOR RELIEF · built 1971 | 1,157 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $16.6 million of work in De Soto Parish in fiscal 2025, about $620 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for Louisiana are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for De Soto Parish come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have De Soto Parish built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Louisiana: the state government and every county in Louisiana.
Nearby counties: Red River Parish (23 mi) · Shelby County, TX (30 mi) · Panola County, TX (34 mi) · Sabine Parish (36 mi) · Caddo Parish (37 mi) · Natchitoches Parish (45 mi).