Assumption Parish is a parish in Louisiana, United States, on the west side of the Atchafalaya Basin between the Mississippi River and Bayou Lafourche. It had a population of 21,039 at the 2020 census and covers 365 square miles (950 km2), of which 339 square miles (880 km2) is land, centred near 29°54′N 91°04′W.
Napoleonville is the parish seat and its postal code is 70390. The parish has one incorporated village, six census-designated places, and a large number of unincorporated communities and historic plantation settlements strung along Bayou Lafourche and the parish’s back roads. Assumption Parish sits in the Central time zone (UTC−6, UTC−5 during daylight saving) and carries FIPS code 22007.
Towns & Villages in Assumption Parish
The table below lists close to 60 named places in Assumption Parish, carried over from the parish’s community list and cross-checked against Wikipedia’s community roster. Napoleonville is the only incorporated village; Bayou Corne, Bayou L’Ourse, Belle Rose, Labadieville, Paincourtville, Pierre Part and Supreme are Census Bureau-designated places (CDPs); everything else is an unincorporated community, historic plantation site, or landing. Two duplicate entries from the parish’s old listing (a second “Freetown” and a misspelled repeat of Paincourtville as “Plaincourtville”) and a redundant “Elm Hall Junction” entry next to Elm Hall have been merged rather than listed twice.
| Place | Type | Pop. | ZIP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Napoleonville | Village · seat | — | 70390 |
| Bayou Corne | Unincorp. | — | 70339 |
| Bayou L’Ourse | CDP | — | 70339 |
| Belle Rose | CDP | — | 70341 |
| Labadieville | CDP | — | 70372 |
| Paincourtville | CDP | — | 70391 |
| Pierre Part | CDP | — | 70339 |
| Supreme | CDP | — | — |
| Plattenville | Unincorp. | — | 70393 |
| Albemarle | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Attakapas Canal | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Attakapas Landing | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Bayou Crab | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Belle Alliance | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Belle River | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Belle Terre | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Bellewood | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Bertie | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Boeuf | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Brule | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Brulie Maurin | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Bruly Saint Martin | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Brusle Saint Vincent | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Cancienne | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Cedar Grove Plantation | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Chula | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Church Spur | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Dwight Fields | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Elm Hall | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Elmfield | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Enola | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Foley | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Freetown | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Georgia | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Glenwood | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Grand Bayou | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Himalaya | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Ingleside | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Kessler | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Klotzville | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Leche | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Little Texas | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Lower Texas | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Upper Texas | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Lula | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Madewood | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Magnolia | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Monty | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Munsons | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Oakley | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Percle | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Ratliff | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Rosedale | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Saint Thomas | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Star | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Sweet Home | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Ursa | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Westfield | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Wildwood | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Woodlawn | Unincorp. | — | — |
Labadieville is a straddler: the community sits across the Assumption–Lafourche parish line, with its historic core and post office on the Assumption side. Little Texas, Lower Texas and Upper Texas are three separately named settlements along the same stretch of road near Napoleonville, not one place under three names.
ZIP Codes
- 70390 — Napoleonville (also serves Belle Alliance, Bellewood and the parish courthouse area)
- 70339 — Pierre Part (also serves Bayou Corne, Bayou L’Ourse and Grand Bayou)
- 70341 — Belle Rose (also serves Belle River and Church Spur)
- 70372 — Labadieville (also serves the Assumption-side edge of the community)
- 70391 — Paincourtville (post-office-box ZIP)
- 70393 — Plattenville
Smaller unincorporated communities such as Klotzville, Foley, Cancienne and Westfield do not have their own ZIP code and are served by the nearest post-office town above.
Geography
Assumption Parish lies on the west side of the Atchafalaya Basin, split between the natural levee ridge along Bayou Lafourche — where most of its towns sit — and low, swampy basin land to the west that drains into Lake Verret and Grand Bayou. About 7 percent of the parish is water. The parish borders Iberville Parish and Ascension Parish to the north, St. James Parish to the northeast, Lafourche Parish to the east, Terrebonne Parish to the southeast, St. Mary Parish to the southwest, Iberia Parish to the northwest, and St. Martin Parish to the west. Iberville Parish and Ascension Parish both border the parish’s northern edge.
Demographics
Assumption Parish had 21,039 residents at the 2020 census. The parish’s largest population centers are the Pierre Part area, on Lake Verret in the west, and Labadieville and Belle Rose in the east along Bayou Lafourche; Napoleonville, the seat, is comparatively small. Median household income in the parish runs below the Louisiana median of $58,229, reflecting the area’s dependence on agricultural and support-industry wages. Population density across the parish’s 339 square miles of land works out to roughly 62 people per square mile, concentrated almost entirely along the bayou ridges rather than the basin interior.
Economy & Local Life
Sugar cane is the parish’s signature crop — Assumption Parish produces more sugar relative to its size than any other parish in Louisiana — and cane fields line much of the Bayou Lafourche corridor between Napoleonville and Belle Rose. Oil and gas support services, particularly around the salt-dome operations near Pierre Part and Bayou Corne, and commercial fishing and crawfishing on Lake Verret round out the local economy. Pierre Part in particular is known regionally for crawfish, catfish and bass fishing and hosts recreational boat traffic out of the Basin.
History
Assumption Parish was organized in 1807 as one of the original parishes of the Territory of Orleans, taking its name from the Catholic parish of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Napoleonville. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation named Assumption Parish among the Louisiana parishes still in rebellion and therefore excluded from immediate emancipation. In August 2012, a collapsed underground salt cavern near Bayou Corne, worked by Texas Brine Company, opened a sinkhole that swallowed cypress swamp and forced the evacuation of the small community — one of the longest-running man-made sinkhole disasters in U.S. history.
Getting There
Louisiana Highway 1 runs the length of the parish along Bayou Lafourche, linking Napoleonville, Plattenville, Paincourtville and Belle Rose; LA 70, LA 308 and LA 1000 provide the parish’s other main connections, and a future Interstate 49 corridor is planned to cross the area.
- Baton Rouge — about 45 miles north
- New Orleans — about 65 miles east
- Houma — about 30 miles southeast
- Thibodaux — about 20 miles east
The nearest commercial airport is Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport (BTR).
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Assumption Parish?
It is in south-central Louisiana, on the west side of the Atchafalaya Basin between Baton Rouge and Houma.
What is the population of Assumption Parish?
It had a population of 21,039 at the 2020 census.
How big is Assumption Parish?
It covers 365 square miles (950 km2), of which 339 square miles is land.
What is the county seat of Assumption Parish?
Napoleonville is the parish seat.
How many towns are in Assumption Parish?
One incorporated village (Napoleonville), six census-designated places, and roughly fifty smaller unincorporated communities.
What ZIP codes are in Assumption Parish?
70390, 70339, 70341, 70372, 70391 and 70393.
What is Assumption Parish known for?
Sugar cane farming along Bayou Lafourche and crawfish and bass fishing on Lake Verret near Pierre Part.
More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Louisiana.