Photo: Falkonry at English Wikipedia · Public domainAbout two in five of Carencro’s working residents commute to Lafayette
Jobs & income C: better than 26% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access · #80 of 161 in Louisiana.
Walkability C+: more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns · #96 of 161 in Louisiana.
Household incomes here are lower than in 68% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 30 minutes each way (Louisiana 26, U.S. 26). Only 5% work in Carencro; the top destination outside it is Lafayette (43%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Carencro
Carencro trades workers with the towns around it
Carencro has about as many jobs (3,370) as working residents (3,840), but they are mostly different people: 3,646 residents leave for work each day while 3,176 people come in. Only 6% of the jobs in Carencro are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
43% of Carencro works in Lafayette
1,662 working residents, 43%, have their main job in Lafayette, 7.3 miles away across the town line. That’s 9 times as many as work in Carencro itself. The commute map ↓
Short distances, slow trips
Half of Carencro’s working residents have a job less than 9 miles away, yet the average commute still takes 30 minutes, longer than the Louisiana average of 26. Time on the road ↓
Young people hold many of the jobs here
38% of the jobs based in Carencro are held by workers 29 or younger, against 23% of Carencro’s own working residents. The jobs ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Carencro
51% of Carencro residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 33% of the jobs based in Carencro pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 95% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
What’s behind Carencro’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Carencro is better than 26% of U.S. towns, #80 of 161 in Louisiana. Job access by car holds Carencro’s grade up (ahead of 73% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (24.5%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Carencro could be anywhere from D to B+.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 3,646 residents head out to work, 194 work right here, and 3,176 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.88 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
43% of working residents work in Lafayette
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Carencro clocks in
43% of workers
4% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
About 30 minutes each way, longer than most of Louisiana
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Carencro workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,326 commuters (the 15% who work from home are left out). Across Louisiana: 85% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
What the 3,370 jobs in Carencro are
3,370 jobs are based in Carencro. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Carencro’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Carencro, 2013 → 2023: 2,850 → 3,370. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Half of Carencro commutes less than 9 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 23% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Most trips from Carencro start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Carencro is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns, #96 of 161 in Louisiana. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.3% across Louisiana.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,104 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 8.1% of Carencro households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Carencro’s commuters take a bus or train.
Carencro is 2,068th of 2,526 U.S. towns of 9,000 to 18,000 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Carencro, the top three, the last and three more from Louisiana.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 345 | Belle Chasse LA | 10,934 | $115K | 6.1% | 2.5% | 16% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 727 | Mandeville LA | 12,918 | $94K | 7.1% | 2.9% | 16% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 855 | Moss Bluff LA | 12,482 | $92K | 8.9% | 1.1% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,066 | Pendleton OR | 16,989 | $67K | 15.0% | 4.9% | 47% | C |
| 2,067 | Milford DE | 14,723 | $59K | 17.2% | 5.1% | 22% | C |
| 2,068 | Carencro LA | 13,224 | $63K | 24.5% | 6.7% | 5% | C |
| 2,069 | Minden LA | 11,103 | $34K | 26.7% | 2.7% | 34% | C |
| 2,070 | Thibodaux LA | 15,573 | $52K | 19.6% | 4.3% | 24% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,526 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
43% of Carencro works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Lafayette (43%). Darker towns draw more of Carencro’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Carencro: questions
What is the median household income in Carencro?
$63,401 (±$19,282) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Carencro?
24.5%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Carencro?
30 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Carencro work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lafayette (43%, 7 mi), Baton Rouge (4%, 55 mi), Broussard (4%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Carencro walkable?
Carencro is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Carencro without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Carencro, from the people who make the trip.
More of Carencro
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.