Counties / Louisiana / Avoyelles Parish

Avoyelles Parish, LA

FIPS 22009 · population 38,905 · outside every metro area

$129k
Zillow home value · 2026-06
The numbers

What this county costs and earns

Everything here joins on the county FIPS code, so each figure comes from the agency that publishes it with no name matching in between.

Zillow home value
$129k
▼ 2.5% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$757
occupied-unit survey; not current asking rent
Census ACS · surveyed
Gross yield
n/a
gross yield cannot be computed without measured market rent
requires both measured price and measured rent
HUD 2-bed standard
$857
the Section 8 payment standard
HUD Fair Market Rent · direct
Independent price check

Do two methods point the same way?

Zillow estimates a current home value. FHFA tracks repeat mortgage transactions. Their growth rates should be read side by side, not averaged.

The annual signals disagree
FHFA five-year cumulative+31.7%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06−2.5%FHFA HPI2025+6.1%
Annual changes use different methods and may use different periods. The comparison checks direction and magnitude; it does not create a blended estimate. Zillow county ZHVI pulled 2026-07-26; FHFA annual county HPI pulled 2026-07-28.
Owner-reported value$122k
Surveyed gross rent$757
Rent burden 30%+55.9%
Median year built1980
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
21.4%vacant
18,381estimated housing units
Occupied tenure29.9% renter
owner 70.1%renter 29.9%
Structure mix72.4% single-family
Single-family 72.4%20+ units 1.2%Mobile home 18.1%Other 8.2%
ACS estimates describe the standing housing stock and occupied tenure. They do not measure current listings, transaction prices or asking rents.

Survey source: Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30. These values describe different housing universes and are not combined into gross yield.

Annual average covered jobs9,780▼ 0.2% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments966annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$825▲ 1.4% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorEducation and health services33.2% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−0.2%WEEKLY WAGE+1.4%Education and health services33.2%
Annual QCEW counts cover jobs located at reporting establishments. The industry share uses disclosed private covered employment; it is not a resident-employment measure or a forecast.

Workplace source: BLS QCEW — county employment and wages · annual county employment and wages 2025 vs 2024 · pulled 2026-07-31. QCEW counts covered jobs located in the county, not employed residents or the metro score’s CES/LAUS series.

County brief

What the local evidence says

01Decision frame

Avoyelles Parish presents a valuation-reconciliation screen rather than a rent-led underwriting case. Zillow's county median home value is $129,497, down 2.53% in its 2026-06 observation, while FHFA's repeat-transaction HPI rose 6.10% in its 2025 annual reading and 31.72% cumulatively over its labeled five-year measure. These are different methods and vintages, not one comparable growth series. Investors relying on current resale values should investigate the split before treating either direction as settled.

02Housing economics

Measured market rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD's $857 monthly two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not a market asking-rent estimate, and cannot fill that gap. The effective property-tax rate is 0.20%, with median annual tax of $249; those county figures inform carrying-cost screening but not a property tax bill. No Realtor.com MLS listing price, active listings, days on market, or reduced-share measure is published, preventing a read on visible supply, marketing time, or seller concessions.

03Demand & competition

Migration shows 521 moving households arriving and 656 leaving, for net migration of -135; arriving movers had lower average income than departing movers. That combination warrants testing which renter and buyer cohorts are actually leaving, not assuming countywide migration defines a property's tenant pool. Investors took 31 of 248 purchase mortgages, or 12.50%, indicating non-owner participation but not cash purchases or buyer bidding pressure. QCEW shows annual covered workplace employment edging lower while average covered-worker wages rose; Education and health services is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy.

04Risk & next checks

Hurricane is the dominant hazard, and modeled climate loss equals 0.13% of building value per year; it is a model, not a site-specific damage or insurance estimate. Underwriting remains limited until property-level insurance, flood and elevation data, condition, lease comparables, and transaction comparables are obtained; without them, no cash-flow, replacement-cost, or exit-price conclusion is supportable.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Avoyelles Parish

Census-recognized incorporated places and CDPs that intersect this county. The list does not pretend to include every neighborhood or informal community.

Population scale

Largest Census places

ACS 2024 5-year
Marksville city4.9KBunkie city3.3KCottonport town1.9KSimmesport town1.6KFifth Ward CDP1.3KMansura town1.3KHessmer village828Moreauville village773
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

12 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Marksville cityIncorporated place
    4,905
  2. 02
    Bunkie cityIncorporated place
    3,253
  3. 03
    Cottonport townIncorporated place
    1,858
  4. 04
    Simmesport townIncorporated place
    1,625
  5. 05
    Fifth Ward CDPCensus-designated place
    1,277
  6. 06
    Mansura townIncorporated place
    1,263
  7. 07
    Hessmer villageIncorporated place
    828
  8. 08
    Moreauville villageIncorporated place
    773
  9. 09
    Center Point CDPCensus-designated place
    580
  10. 10
    Evergreen townIncorporated place
    297
  11. 11
    Plaucheville villageIncorporated place
    193
  12. 12
    Bordelonville CDPCensus-designated place
    150

Population is the total place-wide ACS estimate, not an allocated county share. A place crossing a county line is labelled explicitly. Source: Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30.

Risk, demand and competition

The three things a price does not tell you

01
Risk & carrying costFEMA NRI + Census ACS
Dominant hazardhurricane

0.132% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.20%

$249 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-135

521 in · 656 out

Arriving vs leaving income−$123

$40,240 arriving · $40,363 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors12.5%

31 of 248 mortgages

investorother financed
No rent index is published for this county.Zillow’s county rent series does not cover every county, and estimating one from a neighbouring county would be a guess wearing a number’s clothes. Everything above is measured here; no wider market is mapped for it either.
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Market rent is not published, so cash flow and gross yield cannot be established from the record.
  2. Zillow and FHFA point in different directions across different methods and labeled periods, leaving near-term valuation evidence unresolved.
  3. Modeled hurricane loss does not reveal a specific property's insurance cost, elevation, flood exposure, or physical condition.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from this record?

No. Measured market rent is not published; the $857 HUD two-bedroom FMR is a payment standard, not market rent.

How much purchase-mortgage activity involved investors?

Investors accounted for 12.50% of purchase mortgages, or 31 of 248 purchases.

What labor-market measure does QCEW provide here?

It provides annual covered employment at workplaces in the county, not resident employment or unemployment.