45,819 people (2024 Census estimate, −5.8% since 2020)
1,327 square miles of land · 35 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.
15 active community water systems list Vernon Parish in the area they serve, reporting 65,026 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| FORT POLK SOUTH WATER SYSTEM groundwater · federal · LA1115065 | 10,902 served |
| CITY OF LEESVILLE WATER SYSTEM groundwater · local government · LA1115019 | 10,545 served |
| FORT POLK NORTH WATER SYSTEM groundwater · federal · LA1115064 | 9,420 served |
| EAST CENTRAL VERNON WATER SYSTEM groundwater · private · LA1115117 | 6,363 served |
| VERNON PARISH WATER AND SEWER COMMISSION groundwater · local government · LA1115071 | 5,295 served |
| WEST VERNON PARISH WATERWORKS DISTRICT groundwater · local government · LA1115121 | 4,365 served |
| SOUTH VERNON PARISH WATERWORKS DISTRICT groundwater · local government · LA1115118 | 4,083 served |
| TOWN OF NEW LLANO WATER SYSTEM groundwater · local government · LA1115022 | 3,300 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 116 people were held in Vernon Parish's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2021), or 373 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2016 it was about 203.
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 Vernon Parish. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $123 million — $115.2 million to run schools, about $12,743 per student, plus $6.8 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $36.6 million local (mostly property tax), $56.4 million state, $31.6 million federal. Long-term debt: $19 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 Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Vernon Parish about $21.6 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very Low; social vulnerability: Relatively High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
337 bridges in Vernon Parish: 195 in good condition, 114 fair, and 28 poor (8.3%). “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.
| JEAN ST over CASTOR BAYOU TRIB. · built 1970 | 3,600 vehicles a day |
| LA0008 over CREEK · built 1956 | 1,700 vehicles a day |
| LA0117 over BLACKLAND BRANCH · built 1954 | 1,513 vehicles a day |
| LA0008 over FORKER CREEK · built 1950 | 1,229 vehicles a day |
| LA0399 over BR. OF WHISKEY CHITTO CR · built 2001 | 938 vehicles a day |
| LA0399 over BR. OF WHISKEY CHITTO CR · built 2001 | 938 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $27.8 million of work in Vernon Parish in fiscal 2025, about $571 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 Vernon 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 Vernon Parish built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of Louisiana: the state government and every county in Louisiana.
Nearby counties: Beauregard Parish (33 mi) · Allen Parish (38 mi) · Sabine Parish (38 mi) · Rapides Parish (39 mi) · Newton County, TX (39 mi) · Sabine County, TX (43 mi).