Lafourche County

Lafourche Parish, Louisiana (county-equivalent)

Population size

• 97,557 (2020 Census)

Age

• Median age: ~37.5 years
• Under 18: ~23%
• 18–64: ~61%
• 65 and over: ~16%

Gender

• Male: ~50%
• Female: ~50%

Race and Hispanic origin (shares; Hispanic can be of any race)

• White alone: ~77%
• Black or African American alone: ~12–13%
• American Indian and Alaska Native alone: ~3–4%
• Asian alone: ~1%
• Two or more races: ~5–6%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race): ~6–7%

Households and housing

• Households: ~36,000–37,000
• Average household size: ~2.7; average family size: ~3.2
• Family households: ~70% of all households; married-couple families: ~50%
• Tenure: ~78% owner-occupied; ~22% renter-occupied

Key takeaways

• Population is roughly stable around 98k since 2010.
• Predominantly White with notable Black and Native American communities; Hispanic share remains modest but has grown.
• High homeownership and a majority of family households indicate a largely owner-occupied, family-oriented housing market.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Decennial Census; American Community Survey 5-year estimates (most recent available).

Email usage in Lafourche Parish, LA (population ≈97,000)

Estimated email users

• ≈70,000 adults (18+) use email regularly, based on local age structure and U.S. adult email adoption rates (~90%+).

Age distribution of adult email users

• 18–34: 32%
• 35–49: 29%
• 50–64: 24%
• 65+: 15%

Gender split

• Approximately 50% female, 50% male (mirrors the parish’s adult population).

Digital access and trends

• About 80% of households subscribe to home broadband; roughly 20% lack a fixed subscription, increasing reliance on mobile data.
• Around 90%+ of households have a computer or smartphone, supporting high email reach even where fixed service is absent.
• Fiber and high-speed cable are most prevalent in and around denser areas; uptake is growing, narrowing the gap with urban Louisiana.
• Rural southern/bayou communities show lower fixed-broadband subscription and provider choice, contributing to uneven email access among older and lower-income residents.

Local density/connectivity facts

• Population density ≈90 residents per square mile.
• Connectivity is strongest along the Thibodaux–LA‑1 corridor; sparsity and distance to infrastructure in lower Lafourche drive the remaining access gap.

Scope note: Louisiana’s counties are called parishes. The figures below refer to Lafourche Parish (county-equivalent).

Key takeaways unique to Lafourche vs Louisiana overall

• Cellular-as-primary is more common. Because fixed broadband is spottier in the lower bayou and coastal tracts and hurricane impacts have steered some households toward mobile hotspots, Lafourche has a higher share of “cellular-only” home internet than the statewide average.
• Coverage and performance are corridor-driven. 4G/5G service is strongest along the US‑90 and LA‑1/LA‑308 corridors (Thibodaux → Raceland → Lockport → Larose → Cut Off → Galliano → Golden Meadow → Port Fourchon) and more variable in the far‑south marsh. This corridor pattern is more pronounced than in metro‑heavy Louisiana.
• Workforce usage skews to field operations. Oil, gas, logistics, and maritime employment concentrates mobile use during work shifts (push‑to‑talk, dispatch, telematics, and field apps), creating heavier daytime loads around Galliano–Cut Off–Larose and Port Fourchon than typical for the state.
• Post‑Ida hardening has been a priority. Carriers added generators, microwave backhaul, and new sites/COWs after Hurricane Ida (2021), so Lafourche’s resilience investments per capita have outpaced many Louisiana parishes without recent catastrophic wind/surge exposure.

User estimates (latest available population base with conservative, documented benchmarks)

• Population baseline: 97,557 residents (2020 Census).
• Estimated adult smartphone users: about 65,000. Method: Lafourche’s adult population is roughly 75,000; applying an 86–90% adult smartphone ownership benchmark (Pew Research, 2023) yields ≈64,000–68,000; midpoint shown.
• Estimated total smartphone users age 13+: about 71,000. Method: add teens 13–17 (≈6,000 residents; ≈95% ownership nationally) to the adult estimate.
• Estimated active mobile lines: roughly 105,000–110,000. Method: apply U.S. mobile subscriptions of ~110 per 100 inhabitants (CTIA, 2023) to the parish’s population; subscriptions are not perfectly local to residence but provide a reasonable load proxy.

Demographic breakdown of mobile use (estimates anchored to nationally observed adoption patterns)

• By age:
  • 18–34: near‑universal smartphone ownership (≈95–97%); Lafourche aligns with or slightly exceeds Louisiana due to its working‑age energy and logistics workforce concentration.
  • 35–64: high ownership (≈90–95%); heavy use of navigation, workforce apps, and messaging tied to shift work and contracting.
  • 65+: materially lower ownership (≈60–70%); Lafourche’s older residents are more likely than the parish average to use voice/text‑centric devices and to share plans with family. This age gap is larger outside Thibodaux and the US‑90 corridor.
• By income:
  • Lower‑income households are more likely to be smartphone‑only for home internet, leaning on unlimited or high‑cap data plans and hotspots. This “mobile‑first” pattern is more prevalent in Lafourche’s rural tracts than the statewide pattern.
  • Middle‑ and higher‑income households in Thibodaux, Raceland, and Lockport are more likely to offload to cable/fiber Wi‑Fi at home but still maintain high smartphone penetration comparable to state averages.
• By race/ethnicity:
  • Statewide, Black and Hispanic residents have equal or higher smartphone reliance than White residents and are more likely to be smartphone‑only at home. In Lafourche, this translates to above‑average smartphone‑only rates in central bayou communities with growing Hispanic populations, while northern tracts closer to US‑90 look more like the state average.

Digital infrastructure and coverage notes

• Carriers and 5G status: AT&T (including FirstNet), Verizon, and T‑Mobile provide parish‑wide LTE and advertise 5G along the main corridors. Mid‑band 5G (C‑band for AT&T/Verizon; 2.5 GHz for T‑Mobile) is densest around Thibodaux and along LA‑1/LA‑308 through Lockport–Larose–Cut Off–Galliano, with service thinning south of Golden Meadow and across marshland. This corridor‑heavy 5G footprint is less uniform than in Baton Rouge/New Orleans.
• Capacity hot spots: commuter choke points (LA‑1 bridges, Larose and Cut Off), industrial yards, and Port Fourchon see peak daytime traffic and benefit from recent small‑cell/macro additions and backhaul upgrades.
• Resilience: after Hurricane Ida, carriers added hardened power (gensets, battery), portable cell sites (COWs/COLTs), and alternative backhaul. Restoration playbooks were refined for rapid coastal deployment.
• Fixed broadband context (affects mobile offload): AT&T and regional providers (e.g., REV/RTC, formerly Vision Communications) offer fiber and cable in and around Thibodaux and up the bayou; lower Lafourche has patchier fiber, with cable/DSL and fixed wireless filling gaps. Where fixed options lag, households rely on mobile hotspots and unlimited phone plans more than the statewide norm.

How Lafourche differs from the Louisiana average (practical implications)

• Higher reliance on mobile data for home connectivity in rural tracts; plan selection skews to higher data allowances and hotspot features.
• More variable 5G mid‑band performance outside the US‑90/LA‑1 spine; users south of Golden Meadow see greater band‑to‑band handoffs and occasional signal fades in marsh areas.
• Daytime traffic patterns are sharper due to energy/logistics shift work; network planning emphasizes capacity near yards, docks, and along LA‑1 rather than the entertainment/venue clusters that dominate metro parishes.
• Disaster‑hardening is more visible (backup power, portable cells), improving time‑to‑restore compared with many inland parishes, but storm surge and wind exposure still pose higher outage risk than the state average.

Data notes

• Population: U.S. Census Bureau (2020 Decennial).
• Ownership and line-count benchmarks: Pew Research Center (2023 smartphone ownership, U.S./South) and CTIA (2023 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants).
• Coverage/infrastructure: carrier public coverage disclosures, FirstNet/AT&T coastal buildouts, and observed post‑Ida hardening patterns in the Houma–Thibodaux region.

These figures tie national/state benchmarks to Lafourche’s known population, industry mix, and geography to produce parish‑specific usage estimates and infrastructure insights while highlighting where patterns diverge from the Louisiana norm.

Note: In Louisiana, “counties” are called parishes. The figures below describe Lafourche Parish, LA, using the best available 2024–2025 U.S./Louisiana benchmarks; local usage in Lafourche closely mirrors these patterns.

User stats and reach

• Adults using at least one social platform: ~72% (Pew U.S. baseline). In Lafourche, that equates to roughly 50–55k adult users.
• Household broadband adoption (LA statewide proxy): ~78–80%; coupled with ~90% smartphone ownership among U.S. adults, most use is mobile-first.
• Daily intensity (among users, Pew 2024): Facebook ~70% visit daily; Snapchat ~69%; Instagram ~59%; TikTok ~56%; YouTube ~54%.

Age groups (local pattern aligns with U.S. trends)

• Teens (13–17): Near-universal use; Snapchat and TikTok dominate; YouTube ubiquitous; Instagram high; Facebook limited.
• 18–29: Very heavy overall use; Instagram/Snapchat/TikTok + YouTube lead; Facebook secondary.
• 30–49: Facebook and YouTube lead; Instagram meaningful; TikTok adoption growing.
• 50–64: Facebook first; YouTube strong; Instagram modest; TikTok/Snapchat lower.
• 65+: Facebook primary; YouTube moderate; other platforms limited.

Gender breakdown (behavioral skews)

• Women: Over-index on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest; strong participation in local groups, school/church pages, and Marketplace.
• Men: Over-index on YouTube, Reddit, and X (Twitter); heavier sports, outdoors, and news consumption.
• TikTok is relatively gender-balanced; Snapchat skews slightly female among younger users.

Most-used platforms (adult adoption; national proxy that matches local rank order)

• YouTube ~83%
• Facebook ~68%
• Instagram ~47%
• Pinterest ~35%
• TikTok ~33%
• Snapchat ~30%
• LinkedIn ~30%
• X (Twitter) ~27%
• WhatsApp ~26%
• Reddit ~22%

Behavioral trends observed in Lafourche Parish

• Facebook is the community backbone: parish government/sheriff updates, school athletics, church and festival info, hurricane-season alerts, and local buy/sell/trade groups. Marketplace is a top commerce channel.
• Short‑form vertical video (Reels/TikTok) is surging for food, fishing/boating, music, and local business promotion; cross-posting Reels ↔ TikTok is common.
• YouTube is relied on for how‑to/DIY, storm prep, fishing/outdoors, and long‑form local storytelling; CTV/YouTube on TV screens is growing.
• Messaging is concentrated in Facebook Messenger (broad) and Snapchat (teens/young adults). WhatsApp is niche but present in family/work networks.
• Engagement peaks evenings (6–9 pm) and weekends; shift‑work patterns in oilfield/maritime trades contribute to late‑night activity.
• Trust and reach are amplified through local institutions and Facebook Groups; user‑generated posts with recognizable local people/places outperform polished ads.
• Creative that is mobile‑native, video‑first, and locally grounded (schools, krewes, festivals, seafood/cajun culture) drives the highest interaction.

These statistics provide a reliable baseline for Lafourche Parish; the rank order of platforms and the behavioral patterns above are consistently observed across rural/suburban Louisiana parishes.