Photo: TheLionHasSeen · CC BY-SA 4.0There are 2.0 jobs in Lafayette for every working resident, and 67,656 people commute in
Lafayette has 92,462 jobs, against 46,737 working residents. Jobs and income earn Lafayette C+; getting around on foot earns it A−. More than half work in Lafayette itself; outside it, Baton Rouge draws the most (4%, 56 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Lafayette
Lafayette is where the jobs are
Lafayette has 92,462 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Lafayette are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 26 across Louisiana. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Louisiana worker. Time on the road ↓
Lafayette draws workers from far and wide
The 92,462 jobs in Lafayette are filled from a wide area. Lafayette’s own residents hold 27% and the ten next-biggest home towns 15%; the other 58% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
Income, poverty and work: Lafayette’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lafayette is better than 37% of U.S. towns, #59 of 161 in Louisiana. Job access by car holds Lafayette’s grade up (ahead of 79% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (18.3%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lafayette could be anywhere from C to C+.
Lafayette fills up on a workday
On a workday 21,931 residents head out to work and 24,806 work right here.
About 169,000 people are in Lafayette on a workday afternoon, 37% more than live here.
2.0 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
About 20 minutes each way for Lafayette’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lafayette workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 52,776 commuters (the 10% who work from home are left out). Across Louisiana: 85% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Where the people who work in Lafayette live
Where Lafayette clocks in
4% of workers
4% of workers
2% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
The kinds of work in Lafayette
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lafayette, 2013 → 2023: 98,484 → 92,462. 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.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Lafayette’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Lafayette
About 24% 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.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Lafayette is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lafayette is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns, #29 of 161 in Louisiana. Both inputs place Lafayette near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 58,577 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). 8.0% of Lafayette households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Lafayette’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
How Lafayette ranks: 264th of 334 U.S. towns of 86,000 to 166,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Jordan UT | 87,614 | $134K | 3.7% | 2.4% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Carmel IN | 105,634 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| 3 | Clay Township IN | 104,932 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 177 | Metairie LA | 139,729 | $73K | 12.5% | 4.6% | 25% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 262 | Tuscaloosa AL | 114,316 | $51K | 25.1% | 7.7% | 46% | C+ |
| 263 | Santa Maria CA | 111,390 | $85K | 17.3% | 7.3% | 39% | C+ |
| 264 | Lafayette LA | 123,311 | $62K | 18.3% | 5.2% | 53% | C+ |
| 265 | Topeka KS | 125,795 | $57K | 15.7% | 4.9% | 66% | C+ |
| 266 | Wichita Falls TX | 101,951 | $60K | 17.7% | 3.8% | 62% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 334 | Macon-Bibb County GA | 157,556 | $51K | 24.7% | 8.1% | 53% | 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.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Lafayette, the top three, the last and three more from Louisiana.
Lafayette and its neighbors
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Broussard. Darker towns draw more of Lafayette’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 Lafayette: questions
What is the median household income in Lafayette?
$61,915 (±$2,564) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lafayette?
18.3%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lafayette?
20 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lafayette work?
53% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Baton Rouge (4%, 56 mi), Broussard (4%, 6 mi), Scott (2%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lafayette walkable?
Lafayette is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lafayette without a car?
1% 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 Lafayette, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lafayette
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.