Muller's Department Store · Photo: CTtcg · CC BY-SA 4.0Unemployment in Lake Charles (6.6%) is higher than in 79% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Lake Charles is better than 24% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (B+). Household incomes here are lower than in 75% of U.S. towns. More than half stay in Lake Charles for work; outside it, Sulphur is the main destination (4%, 9 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Lake Charles: the figures worth knowing
Commutes from Lake Charles are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 26 across Louisiana. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Louisiana worker. Time on the road ↓
Lake Charles is where the jobs are
Lake Charles has 46,491 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
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.
Jobs & income in Lake Charles: the grade in detail
Job access by car holds Lake Charles’ grade up (ahead of 71% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (23.3%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lake Charles could be anywhere from C− to C.
The trip to work from Lake Charles: about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lake Charles workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 35,130 commuters (the 5% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Lake Charles
On a workday 12,477 residents head out to work, 14,932 work right here, and 31,559 people come in from elsewhere.
About 102,000 people are in Lake Charles on a workday afternoon, 23% more than live here.
1.7 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.
Where the people who work in Lake Charles live
Where Lake Charles clocks in
2% 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.
Jobs in Lake Charles: what the 46,491 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lake Charles, 2013 → 2023: 48,016 → 46,491. 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 Lake Charles’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Lake Charles
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.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Driving is how Lake Charles gets around
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 36,963 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). 10.5% of Lake Charles households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Lake Charles’ commuters take a bus or train.
Lake Charles and other U.S. towns of 58,000 to 112,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 439 | Kenner LA | 65,136 | $64K | 15.4% | 6.6% | 16% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 513 | Bossier City LA | 63,259 | $56K | 20.8% | 6.5% | 26% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 518 | Fort Smith AR | 90,855 | $55K | 18.3% | 6.5% | 61% | C− |
| 519 | Kissimmee FL | 85,591 | $54K | 20.4% | 7.5% | 8% | C− |
| 520 | Lake Charles LA | 82,676 | $59K | 23.3% | 6.6% | 54% | C− |
| 521 | Trenton NJ | 91,506 | $53K | 21.6% | 10.1% | 18% | C− |
| 522 | Portage Township IN | 94,293 | $53K | 23.2% | 6.7% | 26% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 555 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | 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 Lake Charles, the top three, the last and three more from Louisiana.
Next door to Lake Charles
The biggest share goes to Prien (1%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lake Charles workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Charles | – | C− | B+ | 17 min | $59,235 |
| Prien | 1% | B | C | 17 min | $87,292 |
| Moss Bluff | 1% | A− | C− | 25 min | $92,036 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lake Charles’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 Lake Charles: questions
What is the median household income in Lake Charles?
$59,235 (±$3,575) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lake Charles?
23.3%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lake Charles?
17 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lake Charles work?
54% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sulphur (4%, 9 mi), Lafayette (2%, 71 mi), Baton Rouge (2%, 125 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lake Charles walkable?
Lake Charles is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lake Charles without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lake Charles, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lake Charles
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.