Lawtell has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.1 for each
For 0% of workers, the job is at home, against 8% across Louisiana. Employers in Lawtell report 21 jobs, and 400 of its residents work somewhere. Getting around Lawtell on foot earns B−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Lawtell apart
Lawtell is a place people come home to
There are 21 jobs based in Lawtell, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Lawtell has about 790 people in it, 32% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Lawtell and Opelousas trade workers both ways
Opelousas is the top workplace for Lawtell residents (19%) and also where the most people who work in Lawtell come from (10% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 400 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Who commutes out of Lawtell, and who commutes in
On a workday 400 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 21 people come in from elsewhere.
About 790 people are in Lawtell on a workday afternoon, 32% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
19% of working residents work in Opelousas
Where Lawtell clocks in
19% of workers
18% of workers
3% 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 Lawtell
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lawtell, 2014 → 2024: 34 → 21. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Lawtell’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 22 minutes from Lawtell
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lawtell workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 402 commuters (the 0% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Lawtell
About 26% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
The commute in Lawtell is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lawtell is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.3% across Louisiana, on an EPA index of 3.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 402 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). 13.8% of Lawtell households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 8% of Lawtell’s commuters take a bus or train.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, 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 Lawtell: questions
What is the poverty rate in Lawtell?
22.3%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lawtell?
22 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lawtell work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Opelousas (19%, 6 mi), Lafayette (18%, 23 mi), Baton Rouge (3%, 63 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Lawtell walkable?
Lawtell is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 3.9 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lawtell without a car?
8% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lawtell, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lawtell
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.