157,874 people (2024 Census estimate, −1.4% since 2020)
610 square miles of land · 259 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.
26 active community water systems list Ouachita Parish in the area they serve, reporting 186,438 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| CITY OF MONROE WATER SYSTEM surface water · local government · LA1073031 | 57,000 served |
| CITY OF WEST MONROE WATER SYSTEM groundwater · local government · LA1073056 | 16,005 served |
| GOWC WEST HWY 80 ARK ROAD WS groundwater · private · LA1073055 | 14,649 served |
| GOWC NORTH WATER SYSTEM groundwater · private · LA1073120 | 13,287 served |
| GOWC EAST WATER SYSTEM groundwater · private · LA1073121 | 11,742 served |
| CHENIERE DREW NORTH WATER SYSTEM groundwater · private · LA1073100 | 11,280 served |
| SOUTHWEST OUACHITA WATERWORKS, INC groundwater · private · LA1073047 | 10,725 served |
| GOWC BROWNVILLE WATER SYSTEM groundwater · private · LA1073004 | 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 1,315 people were held in Ouachita Parish's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 1,312 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 2,001.
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.
2 school districts have their office in Ouachita Parish. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $279.7 million — $249.7 million to run schools, about $13,051 per student, plus $24.6 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $115.4 million local (mostly property tax), $124.6 million state, $49.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $144.9 million.
Spent $146.7 million — $130.5 million to run schools, about $15,090 per student, plus $12.8 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $55.5 million local (mostly property tax), $52.5 million state, $43.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $45.6 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 Moderate compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Ouachita Parish about $50.3 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively High; social vulnerability: Very High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
331 bridges in Ouachita Parish: 78 in good condition, 211 fair, and 42 poor (12.7%). “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.
| I0020 over YOUNGS BAYOU · built 1965 | 31,285 vehicles a day |
| LA0617 over I-20 · built 1986 | 31,200 vehicles a day |
| US0165 over YOUNGS BAYOU · built 1966 | 29,759 vehicles a day |
| US0165 over PINE BAYOU · built 1963 | 17,565 vehicles a day |
| LA0594 over I-20 · built 1965 | 12,786 vehicles a day |
| LA0034 over CHENIERE CREEK · built 1970 | 8,694 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $82.7 million of work in Ouachita Parish in fiscal 2025, about $516 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 Ouachita 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 Ouachita Parish built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Louisiana: the state government and every county in Louisiana.
Nearby counties: Richland Parish (24 mi) · Caldwell Parish (26 mi) · Jackson Parish (27 mi) · Union Parish (27 mi) · Lincoln Parish (31 mi) · Morehouse Parish (31 mi).