East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana

East Baton Rouge Parish is a parish in Louisiana, United States, centred on Baton Rouge, the
state capital. It had a population of 456,781 at the 2020 census, an estimated 456,180 by 2025,
and covers 470 square miles (1,200 km2) centred near 30°32′N 91°05′W.

Baton Rouge is the parish seat; its postal code is 70801. The parish holds 5 incorporated
cities and 4 unincorporated census-designated communities, and it runs on Central Time. Its FIPS
code is 22033.

Towns & Villages in East Baton Rouge Parish

East Baton Rouge Parish has 9 named places on record: 5 incorporated cities, one of them the
parish’s newest, and 4 census-designated places (CDPs) with no local government of their own.
Dozens of subdivision names appear in older gazetteers — Broadmoor, Goodwood, Sherwood
Forest and similar — but these are residential neighborhoods inside Baton Rouge’s city
limits, not separate places, and are not listed as towns here.

St. George is the parish’s newest and second-largest city. Its 2020 population figure
(86,316) predates incorporation, since it was still six separate CDPs — Inniswold, Oak
Hills Place, Old Jefferson, Shenandoah, Village St. George and Westminster — at that
census. Those six names no longer appear on maps as separate CDPs; all six are now inside St.
George’s city limits. Gardere, a seventh CDP considered for the same incorporation, opted
to stay unincorporated and keeps its own listing above.

ZIP Codes

• 70801 — downtown Baton Rouge (the parish’s central ZIP, one of 30-plus Baton
  Rouge codes running 70801–70898)
• 70714 — Baker
• 70739 — Central (also serves 70770, 70791, 70818 and 70837 in outlying areas)
• 70791 — Zachary

Gardere, Merrydale, Monticello and Brownfields have no ZIP code of their own; mail there is
delivered under the neighboring Baton Rouge or Central code, and St. George’s six former
CDPs kept their existing Baton Rouge-area ZIPs after incorporation rather than being assigned a
new one.

Geography

East Baton Rouge Parish sits on the east bank of the Mississippi River in Louisiana’s
southeastern Florida Parishes region, a flat, low-lying landscape of river terraces and
pine-hardwood flatwoods. Of its 470 square miles, 455 are land and 15 are water, about 3.2
percent. The Mississippi River forms the parish’s western edge, and the Comite and Amite
rivers cross the eastern half, the Comite forming Central’s western boundary and the Amite
its eastern one with Livingston Parish.

East Feliciana Parish and West Feliciana Parish lie to the north, Livingston Parish and Saint
Helena Parish to the east, Iberville Parish and Ascension Parish to the south, and West Baton
Rouge Parish, across the Mississippi River, to the west. East Feliciana Parish, West Feliciana Parish, Livingston Parish, Saint Helena Parish, Iberville Parish, Ascension Parish and West Baton Rouge Parish all
border East Baton Rouge directly.

Demographics

East Baton Rouge Parish had a population of 456,781 at the 2020 census, and the latest
estimate puts the parish near 456,180 residents, essentially flat. Baton Rouge and St. George are
by far the two largest communities, together holding well over two-thirds of the parish’s
population. Median household income runs $54,948, below Louisiana’s statewide figure of
$58,229. Population density works out to roughly 1,004 people per square mile of land, the
highest of any parish in the state, reflecting the parish’s position at the core of the
Greater Baton Rouge metropolitan area.

Economy & Local Life

Louisiana’s state government is the parish’s largest single employer, with thousands of workers at
the Capitol Park complex around the Louisiana State Capitol in downtown Baton Rouge. Louisiana
State University, on the parish’s south side, employs more than 5,000 academic and support
staff and anchors a large share of the local economy on its own. ExxonMobil operates its Baton
Rouge refinery along the Mississippi River north of downtown, the fifth-largest refinery in the
country, part of a wider petrochemical-manufacturing corridor that also supports jobs in medical
research and film production. The parish’s biggest annual event is the Baton Rouge Blues
Festival each April, held in downtown’s Repentance Park.

History

The Louisiana territorial legislature created East Baton Rouge Parish in 1810, and it took its
modern boundaries after Louisiana became a state in 1812. Baton Rouge itself was settled by
French colonists in 1721 and incorporated on 16 January 1817; its name comes from a red pole,
“le bâton rouge,” that French explorer Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville
recorded in 1698 marking a boundary between two Native American territories. The city and parish
governments consolidated into a single city-parish government in 1947, one of the earliest such
mergers in the country.

Baton Rouge’s most consequential local event of the twentieth century took place at the
Louisiana State Capitol on 8 September 1935, when Governor-turned-Senator Huey Long was shot in a
Capitol corridor and died two days later — a killing that ended one of the state’s
most powerful political careers. More recently, the parish’s southeastern suburbs spent
more than a decade seeking their own city. Voters in the area backed incorporation as St. George
in 2019, the effort was tied up in court for years, and the Louisiana Supreme Court upheld it in
a 4–3 ruling on 26 April 2024. Governor Jeff Landry appointed Dustin Yates interim mayor on
14 May 2024, making St. George the parish’s fifth city.

Getting There

Interstate 10 crosses the parish east–west through downtown Baton Rouge, Interstate 12
branches off it toward the eastern parishes, and Interstate 110 runs north from downtown toward
Zachary and Baker. US 61 and US 190 also cross the parish, along with several state highways.

• New Orleans — about 80 miles southeast
• Lafayette — about 55 miles west
• Hammond — about 45 miles east
• Natchez, Mississippi — about 75 miles north

Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, on the city’s north side, is the parish’s
commercial airport, with service to regional and national hub cities. Amtrak does not currently
serve Baton Rouge directly; the nearest station is in Hammond, about 45 miles east.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is East Baton Rouge Parish located?
It sits on the east bank of the Mississippi River in southeastern Louisiana, bordered by the
Felicianas, Livingston, Saint Helena, Iberville, Ascension and West Baton Rouge parishes.

What is the population of East Baton Rouge Parish?
456,781 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 456,180.

How big is East Baton Rouge Parish?
470 square miles (1,200 km2), of which 455 square miles are land.

What is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish?
Baton Rouge, the Louisiana state capital, is the parish seat and largest city.

How many towns and cities are in East Baton Rouge Parish?
Five incorporated cities — Baton Rouge, St. George, Central, Zachary and Baker —
plus four census-designated places: Gardere, Merrydale, Monticello and Brownfields.

What ZIP codes does East Baton Rouge Parish use?
70801 through 70898 for Baton Rouge, 70714 for Baker, 70739 for Central and 70791 for
Zachary; the CDPs use a Baton Rouge or Central ZIP depending on location.

What is East Baton Rouge Parish known for?
The Louisiana State Capitol and Huey Long’s 1935 assassination there, Louisiana State
University, and the 2024 incorporation of St. George, the newest city in the state.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Louisiana.