St. Landry Parish, Louisiana

St. Landry Parish is a parish in Louisiana, United States, in the south-central part of the
state, about 26 miles north of Lafayette. It had a population of 82,540 at the 2020 census, an
estimated 80,765 by 2025, and covers 939 square miles (2,432 km2) centred near 30°36′N 92°00′W.

Opelousas is the parish seat and the parish’s largest city; its postal code is 70570. The
parish holds 2 cities, 8 incorporated towns, 2 incorporated villages and 3 census-designated
places, and it runs on Central Time. Louisiana parishes are divided into wards rather than the
civil townships used further north, so this profile has no Townships section.

Towns & Villages in St. Landry Parish

St. Landry Parish has 15 named places with an official Census Bureau designation: 12
incorporated cities, towns and villages, and 3 unincorporated census-designated places (CDPs).
Many smaller rural localities appear on maps and in local use — Bristol, Frozard,
Plaisance, Whiteville and others — but the Census Bureau has never assigned them a
population count or formal boundary, so they are not listed in the table below.

Two places on this list cross parish or ZIP boundaries. Eunice’s citywide population figure
includes residents in neighboring Acadia and Evangeline parishes, since the city sits across all
three; most of its area and population, though, is inside St. Landry. Arnaudville is split with
St. Martin Parish to its southeast, and its 1,009 residents are similarly divided between the two
parishes. Cankton has no ZIP code of its own — the Postal Service delivers there under
neighboring Sunset’s 70584 code, and zip-codes.com lists Cankton as an alias name for Sunset
rather than a separate ZIP area. Lebeau was only designated a CDP by the Census Bureau in 2023, so
it has no 2020 population figure to report.

ZIP Codes

• 70570 — Opelousas (the parish’s most populous ZIP)
• 70535 — Eunice
• 70584 — Sunset (also serves Cankton, listed as an alias name)
• 70577 — Port Barre
• 70550 — Lawtell
• 70512 — Arnaudville
• 70551 — Leonville
• 70541 — Grand Coteau
• 71353 — Melville (also serves the smaller localities of Bayou Current, Bayou Rouge, Elba,
  Goodwood and Woodside)
• 70750 — Krotz Springs
• 70589 — Washington
• 71356 — Morrow
• 71358 — Palmetto
• 71345 — Lebeau

Every incorporated place and CDP in the parish has its own ZIP except Cankton, which shares
Sunset’s 70584 code.

Geography

St. Landry Parish lies in the Acadiana region of south-central Louisiana, on flat to gently
rolling coastal-plain terrain that gives way to prairie in the west and bottomland forest along
its eastern rivers. Of its 939 square miles, 924 are land and 15 are water, about 0.6 percent.
The Atchafalaya River forms much of the parish’s eastern edge, passing the towns of Melville
and Krotz Springs, and the Bayou Teche watershed drains the parish’s southern reaches near
Arnaudville and Leonville.

Avoyelles Parish lies to the north, Pointe Coupee Parish to the east, St. Martin Parish to the
southeast, Lafayette Parish to the south, Acadia Parish to the southwest, and Evangeline Parish to
the west and northwest. Avoyelles
Parish, Pointe Coupee Parish,
St. Martin Parish, Lafayette Parish, Acadia Parish and Evangeline Parish all border St.
Landry directly.

Demographics

St. Landry Parish had a population of 82,540 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts
the parish near 80,765 residents by 2025, a small decline. Opelousas and Eunice are by far the two
largest communities, together accounting for roughly a third of the parish’s population.
Population density works out to about 89 people per square mile of land, moderate for a
predominantly rural parish with two mid-sized cities anchoring it. The parish is central to
Louisiana’s Creole and Cajun culture, reflected in the French-language place names and
church parishes that structure much of its rural settlement pattern.

Economy & Local Life

Opelousas markets itself as the “spice capital of the world,” a nod to Tony
Chachere’s, the Creole seasoning company headquartered there, and the parish’s
agriculture, oil, manufacturing, wholesale and retail base. Evangeline Downs Racetrack and Casino
in Opelousas employs more than 600 workers, and a Walmart distribution center on the city’s
edge, opened in 1999, employs another 600-plus full time. Eunice is home to Louisiana State
University Eunice, a two-year public college, and to the Prairie Acadian Cultural Center, part of
the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park, which anchors the town’s Cajun-heritage tourism.
The parish’s biggest annual event is the Original Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Festival in
Opelousas, held the Saturday before Labor Day each year; Eunice separately hosts a weekly Saturday
night Cajun music broadcast from the restored Liberty Theatre.

History

St. Landry Parish was created on 10 April 1805 as one of Louisiana’s original county-era
divisions and was reorganized into a parish under the state’s 1807 parish system. It takes
its name from St. Landry Catholic Church in Opelousas, itself named for Landericus, a 7th-century
Bishop of Paris venerated in the French Catholic tradition that early settlers carried into
Louisiana.

In 1868, during Reconstruction, a wave of racial violence known as the Opelousas Massacre
killed an estimated 200 to 300 Black residents of the parish over roughly two weeks in
September, one of the deadliest episodes of the Reconstruction era in the United States. The town
of Washington, meanwhile, prospered as a steamboat port through the mid-19th century; after
Captain George W. Haygood completed a turning basin there in 1848, Washington briefly grew larger
than Opelousas and ranked as the largest inland port between New Orleans and St. Louis.

Getting There

Interstate 49 runs the length of the parish north to south through Opelousas, Sunset and Grand
Coteau. US Highways 71, 167 and 190 also cross the parish, along with Louisiana Highways 10, 13,
29, 31, 35, 91, 93, 103, 107 and 182.

• Lafayette — about 26 miles south
• Alexandria — roughly 50 miles north
• Baton Rouge — about 59 miles east
• Lake Charles — roughly 70 miles southwest

Lafayette Regional Airport, about 26 miles south of Opelousas, is the nearest commercial
airport; Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, roughly 59 miles east, is the next-closest option.
Amtrak’s Sunset Limited stops at the Lafayette station, the nearest passenger rail service to
the parish; freight service inside St. Landry runs on the Union Pacific Railroad and the Acadiana
Railway shortline.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is St. Landry Parish located?
It sits in south-central Louisiana’s Acadiana region, about 26 miles north of Lafayette,
bordered by Avoyelles, Pointe Coupee, St. Martin, Lafayette, Acadia and Evangeline parishes.

What is the population of St. Landry Parish?
82,540 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 80,765.

How big is St. Landry Parish?
939 square miles (2,432 km2) total, of which 924 square miles are land.

What is the parish seat of St. Landry Parish?
Opelousas, the parish’s largest city, is the parish seat.

How many towns and cities are in St. Landry Parish?
Twelve incorporated places — Opelousas, Eunice, Sunset, Port Barre, Arnaudville, Leonville,
Grand Coteau, Melville, Krotz Springs, Washington, Cankton and Palmetto — plus three
census-designated places: Lawtell, Morrow and Lebeau.

What ZIP codes does St. Landry Parish use?
70570 for Opelousas, 70535 for Eunice, 70584 for Sunset and Cankton, 70577 for Port Barre, 70550
for Lawtell, 70512 for Arnaudville, 70551 for Leonville, 70541 for Grand Coteau, 71353 for
Melville, 70750 for Krotz Springs, 70589 for Washington, 71356 for Morrow, 71358 for Palmetto and
71345 for Lebeau.

What is St. Landry Parish known for?
Its Creole and Cajun culture, Opelousas’s title as the “spice capital of the
world,” and Eunice’s Cajun music scene centered on the Liberty Theatre.

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