Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Opelousas earns a D, 146th among Louisiana's 161 graded towns, mostly because of health and safety. On CDC health estimates it is near the bottom nationally. It reports more crime per resident than 99% of U.S. towns, including 210 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. It also has a long history, with 13 places on the National Register. 37% of residents live below the poverty line in Opelousas, where Louisiana’s towns sit at 20% and U.S. towns at 9.6%. Its National Register listings include St. Landry Catholic Church and Opelousas Historic District. The median household income is $33K, and 37% of residents live below the poverty line.
Where Opelousas beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Michel Prudhomme House| Widest gap | Opelousas | LA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 26.8% | 12.4% |
Its founding year, 1720, comes before those of 97% of the Louisiana towns we grade with a known year.
Census counts: 786 in 1860, a peak of 22,860 in 2000, 15,786 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1800 and 4 maps from 1939 on.
13 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Louisiana), ordered by how far Opelousas is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Opelousas, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Aug 3, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Opelousas.
Opelousas draws workers from Lafayette and beyond and has milder winter nights than nearly all U.S. towns, but it reports violent crime at 3 times the Louisiana rate.
Opelousas beats the Louisiana average on 2 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 21. 39% of adults say their health is fair or poor in Opelousas.
| Opelousas | Louisiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 27% | 19% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 19% | 14% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 16% | 12% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 43% | 34% | 25% |
| What stands out | Opelousas | LA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer binge drinkers | 13.1% | 16.9% |
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 6.2% | 7.5% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 26.8% | 12.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by the St. Landry Parish school district. Three of its 10 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Park Vista Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–4 | Grades PK–4 | 533 | C |
| Opelousas Senior High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 698 | C− |
| Magnet Academy for Cultural ArtsTop results in townGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 289 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within LA on state tests and graduation
Violent crime runs at 14 per 1,000 residents, 3 times the Louisiana rate; the Safety Grade counts each violent crime four times, so this weighs most on its D−. Property crime runs at 46.1 per 1,000 residents, about twice the Louisiana rate, most of it theft.
Opelousas reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 99% report less. The violent crime rate in Opelousas is 14 per 1,000 residents. Only 5 of the 53 Louisiana towns we compare have a higher property crime rate than Opelousas.
| Opelousas | Louisiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 14 per 1,000 residents | 4.3 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 46.1 per 1,000 residents | 23.7 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
9,923 jobs are based in Opelousas, 1.8 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
About one in 4 of Opelousas’s working residents works in town. Jobs based in Opelousas fell to 9,923 in 2023, 572 fewer than in 2013. The top destinations are Lafayette (16%), Baton Rouge (5%) and Broussard (2%).
| Opelousas | Louisiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 25% | 9.8% | 8% |
| Median household income | $33,000 | $56,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 5% | 5.6% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The typical value, about $131K, is 23% below its June 2023 peak. At about $131K, home values are down 17% in five years, against a rise of 1% across Louisiana.
The typical Opelousas home is worth about $131,000, down 0.8% in a year, 39% below the Louisiana typical home. 53% of Opelousas households own their home.
| Opelousas | Louisiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 53% | 68% | 73% |
| Median rent | $717 a month | $992 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
January nights average 41°, milder than in 95% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 91.7°.
Opelousas has warm winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. Opelousas’ January low is 41°F. Snow is almost unheard of.
| Opelousas | Louisiana towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 41°F | 42°F | 22°F |
| July high | 92°F | 92°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
70 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 13 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 66% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 70 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Opelousas.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Just 77 of its 6,170 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Opelousas itself; its outdoors grade is C−.
0.0 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is South Park, at 55 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. South Park | — | 55 |
| 2. North Park | — | 11 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
None within 15 miles of Opelousas; the nearest are
About 2 of every 100 Opelousas residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Louisiana.
Where Opelousas’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
13 places in Opelousas on the National Register of Historic Places.
28 notable people were born in Opelousas.
City in Louisiana, United States
Opelousas (; French: Les Opélousas; Spanish: Los Opeluzás) is a small city in and the parish seat of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. Interstate 49 and U.S. Route 190 were constructed with a junction here. The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2025 estimated population for Opelousas is 15,098. According to the 2020 census, Opelousas has a population of 15,786, a 6.53 percent decline since the 2010 census, which had recorded a population of 16,634. Opelousas is the principal city for the Opelousas-Eunice Micropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 80,808 in 2020. Opelousas is also the fourth largest city in the Lafayette-Acadiana Combined Statistical Area, which has a …
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Opelousas grades D overall, better than 6% of U.S. towns and #146 of 161 in Louisiana. It grades D− for health, D− for safety and B for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D−.
That is 2.9 years of the area's median household income ($44,462 across the Opelousas, LA area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.
28 notable people were born here, including Rod Milburn and Charles E. Nash.
