254,241 people (2024 Census estimate, +5.0% since 2020)
269 square miles of land · 946 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.
58 active community water systems list Lafayette Parish in the area they serve, reporting 303,353 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| LAFAYETTE UTILITIES WATER SYSTEM groundwater · local government · LA1055017 | 169,389 served |
| LPWDN NORTH REGION buys groundwater · local government · LA1055191 | 16,833 served |
| LPWD SOUTH buys groundwater · local government · LA1055156 | 15,132 served |
| CITY OF CARENCRO WATER SYSTEM groundwater · local government · LA1055005 | 11,301 served |
| CITY OF YOUNGSVILLE PURCHASE WS buys groundwater · local government · LA1055195 | 10,281 served |
| CITY OF BROUSSARD PURCHASE WATER SYSTEM buys groundwater · local government · LA1055193 | 10,242 served |
| MILTON WATER SYSTEM groundwater · private · LA1055046 | 10,200 served |
| CITY OF SCOTT WATER SYSTEM buys groundwater · local government · LA1055026 | 9,696 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 674 people were held in Lafayette Parish's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 418 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 792.
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 Lafayette Parish. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $553.7 million — $401 million to run schools, about $12,386 per student, plus $120.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $276.6 million local (mostly property tax), $165.9 million state, $100.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $73 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: Relatively High compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Lafayette Parish about $189.8 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Relatively Low.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
319 bridges in Lafayette Parish: 144 in good condition, 150 fair, and 25 poor (7.8%). “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.
| I0010 over I0049/US0167 · built 1968 | 56,748 vehicles a day |
| JOHNSTON STREET over COULEE MINE BR · built 1958 | 29,320 vehicles a day |
| US0167 over COULEE MINE · built 1958 | 27,213 vehicles a day |
| LA0093-1 over Bayou Ile Des Cannes · built 1956 | 8,559 vehicles a day |
| Gloria Switch Rd over COULEE · built 1983 | 8,240 vehicles a day |
| LA0343 over INDIAN BAYOU · built 1957 | 3,757 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $97.3 million of work in Lafayette Parish in fiscal 2025, about $403 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 Lafayette 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 Lafayette Parish built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Louisiana: the state government and every county in Louisiana.
Nearby counties: Acadia Parish (21 mi) · St. Landry Parish (26 mi) · St. Martin Parish (28 mi) · Vermilion Parish (32 mi) · Evangeline Parish (41 mi) · Iberville Parish (42 mi).