Southwest Louisiana Community Introduction
Southwest Louisiana is a community of diverse people and industries. Exemplified by downright southern hospitality, the fun and friendly atmosphere is coupled with a variety of activities and opportunities, which will make your temporary, or permanent visit to the area a great experience.
The area offers individuals and families a variety of choices as to where and how to live. It provides numerous services geared towards education, health, safety and enjoyment. An upward trend continues to be seen in the area's economy. Employment figures, total wages paid, taxable retail sales and other economic indicators are on the rise, while our cost of living remains below the national average.
The population of Southwest Louisiana is over 285,000. It is comprised of Calcasieu, Cameron, Allen, Beauregard and Jefferson Davis Parishes.
Allen Parish is where Cajun food and culture meet the timber rich-piney woods of central Louisiana. A veritable gateway from South to Central Louisiana with its two federal highway systems and extensive rail facilities, Allen Parish benefits from the diverse, yet rich culture and natural resources of both regions. Intersected by four rivers, Allen Parish is a haven for nature lovers and canoe enthusiasts. Allen Parish is also home to the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana who based their Coushatta Casino and Resort in Kinder, LA, creating a rapidly growing gaming and hospitality industry. Historically based on timber and outlying oil and gas facilities, Allen Parish currently has a diverse economic base with hospitality, plywood manufacturing, three prison facilities and a natural gas relay facility as its main employers.
Centered on one of the largest aquifers in the country, Beauregard Parish is home to paper and plastics production facilities, chemical plants and abundant natural beauty with its numerous lakes and wildlife preserve. Also possessing a 4,200-acre airport with a 5,495-foot runway, Beauregard Parish is a transportation hub between the air and the ground intersected by major U.S. Highways 171 and 90. Beauregard Parish is centered around its parish seat, DeRidder, which is in the midst of a downtown revitalization plan and airport land use expansion.
Cameron Parish, so hard hit by Hurricane Rita, beholds some of the most spectacular natural scenery afforded in the nation. Home of the Creole Nature Trail All-American Road, Cameron Parish balances its responsibility to the environment with its duty to the nation, as far as pipeline facilities, by providing much needed oil and gas to American consumers. With its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, various industries from the aforementioned oil and gas companies to marine support vehicles and fishing boats call Cameron Parish home. With three liquefied natural gas pipelines in the works for completion over the next three years, what happens in Cameron Parish keeps the lights on in Chicago. Hitting closer to home, the Port of Cameron is one of the top five ports for fisheries in the nation, providing wild American shrimp and speckled trout to discerning diners across the country.
Sitting above Cameron Parish on the Texas Border, Calcasieu Parish boasts the largest population within the region. The city of Lake Charles is the financial, medical and entertainment center of the parish, with major industry and the workforce located within the metropolitan area. Hosting a varied and robust economic base, Calcasieu serves as the home base for our vigorous petrochemical industry and the Port of Lake Charles, which is the closest deep-water port in Louisiana and the 12th largest in the nation. One of the many burgeoning industries in Calcasieu Parish is the aerospace industry, thanks in large part to the Lake Charles Regional Airport servicing the air travel needs of 180,000 residents and the Chennault International Airport Authority.
Home of Southwest Louisiana’s first oil well, Jefferson Davis is the birthplace of our region’s petrochemical industry. Jefferson Davis Parish lays claim to the natural beauty of our Southern Swamplands and the rustic elegance of our forests and waterways with the richness of its Native American and Cajun cultures as evidenced in the many movies and documentaries filmed in the parish. Easily accessible via the bisecting roadways of Interstate 10 and U.S. Highways 90 and 190, Jefferson Davis is strategically located between several markets with Houston, TX, and Lake Charles, LA, to the west and Lafayette, Baton Rouge and New Orleans, LA to the east.
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