Southwest Louisiana (SWLA) is a five- parish area intersecting the Acadiana and Central Louisiana regions in the U.S. state of Louisiana . It is composed of the following parishes (counties): Allen , Beauregard , Calcasieu , Cameron , and Jefferson Davis . As of 2020, the combined population of the five parish area was 313,951.
6-498: Southwest Louisiana has one metropolitan area: Lake Charles . The southwestern portion of Louisiana is also geographically and culturally attached to Southeast Texas . Three of the parishes — Calcasieu, Cameron, and Jefferson Davis — are also part of Acadiana , the region of French and Acadian influence defined by the Louisiana State Legislature in 1971. "Southwest Louisiana" is often used to represent
12-576: A 2023 census estimate, the MSA had a population of 240,082. It is also part of the larger Lake Charles–DeRidder combined statistical area which had a population of 276,909 in 2023. The Lake Charles MSA also shares borders with the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area to the west. Metropolitan Lake Charles , the principal city, is commonly referred to as the Lake Area . By 2021, its population
18-897: A broader region that includes parishes farther east. The most prominent example is the college now known as the University of Louisiana at Lafayette . Until 1998, UL was known as the University of Southwestern Louisiana, the Southwestern Louisiana Institute, and the Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute — despite being located in Lafayette , a city roughly 40 miles east of the five-parish area defined here. Its athletic teams were often referred to simply as "Southwestern." The Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Festival,
24-781: The Greater Southwest Louisiana Mardi Gras Association, and the Greater Southwest Louisiana Black Chamber of Commerce are all based in Lafayette or the surrounding area, not near Lake Charles. Lake Charles metropolitan area The Lake Charles metropolitan statistical area is a metropolitan area in the Acadiana region of southwest Louisiana that covers three parishes — Calcasieu , Cameron , and Jefferson Davis . According to
30-435: The population. In 2000, the median income for a household in the MSA was $ 34,802, and the median income for a family was $ 40,783. Males had a median income of $ 33,868 versus $ 20,252 for females. The per capita income for the MSA was $ 16,529. At the 2021 ACS census-estimates, its median household income increased to $ 58,736 with a per capita income of $ 30,000. Approximately 18.7% of the metropolitan population lived at or below
36-595: Was 208,680 according to statistics from the American Community Survey . In 2021, the racial and ethnic makeup was an estimated 67% non-Hispanic white, 24% African American or Black, 1% Asian, 3% two or more races, and 4% Hispanic or Latino of any race. At the 2000 census , its racial makeup was 74.63% White , 22.94% African American , 0.31% Native American , 0.63% Asian , 0.03% Pacific Islander , 0.44% from other races , and 1.02% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.38% of
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