Parks has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
The average commute takes 23 minutes each way, next to 26 for Louisiana and 26 for the U.S. Parks has 44 jobs for 281 working residents. Hardly any work in Parks; the top destination outside it is Lafayette (27%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Parks apart on work
How a workday changes Parks
On a workday 279 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 42 people come in from elsewhere.
About 430 people are in Parks on a workday afternoon, 35% 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 2023, primary jobs.
Where Parks goes to work
Where Parks clocks in
27% of workers
8% of workers
8% 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 Parks: what the 44 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Parks, 2013 → 2023: 81 → 44. 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 Parks’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Parks takes about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Parks workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 472 commuters (the 4% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Parks
About 20% 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.
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 Parks: questions
What is the median household income in Parks?
$86,458 (±$33,020) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Parks?
8.6%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Parks?
23 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Parks work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lafayette (27%, 12 mi), St. Martinville (8%, 6 mi), Breaux Bridge (8%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Parks without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Parks, from the people who make the trip.
More of Parks
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.