Counties / Louisiana / Jefferson Davis Parish

Jefferson Davis Parish, LA

FIPS 22053 · population 31,924 · part of Lake Charles, LA

$154k
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
$154k
▼ 1.8% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
ACS median gross rent
$848
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
$871
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+21.9%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06−1.8%FHFA HPI2025+2.9%
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$151k
Surveyed gross rent$848
Rent burden 30%+46.0%
Median year built1980
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
15.2%vacant
14,229estimated housing units
Occupied tenure22.9% renter
owner 77.1%renter 22.9%
Structure mix75.1% single-family
Single-family 75.1%20+ units 0.3%Mobile home 18.8%Other 5.8%
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 jobs7,931▼ 1.1% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments802annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$875▲ 3.1% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities29.0% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS−1.1%WEEKLY WAGE+3.1%Trade, transportation, and utilities29.0%
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

Jefferson Davis Parish presents a valuation-versus-resilience tension: investors who can verify property-level flood exposure and durable tenant demand should investigate, while yield-led buyers should be cautious. Zillow's county median home value was $153,628 in 2026-06, down 1.78% year over year. FHFA's repeat-transaction HPI, observed in 2025, rose 2.94% annually; that is an index movement rather than a home value and does not share Zillow's time frame or method. The measures point in different directions, so neither establishes a settled county price trend.

02Housing economics

Housing economics remain untestable on income return: market rent is not published. HUD FMR of $871 per month is a payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate, so gross yield cannot be computed. The 0.29% effective property-tax rate and $442 median annual bill give an observed tax reference, but neither captures insurance, maintenance, financing nor other operating costs. Underwriting should therefore keep rent, tax, and hazard costs separate.

03Demand & competition

Demand evidence is mixed. Tax-return household flows show 657 moving in and 757 moving out, for net migration of -100; incoming movers' average AGI exceeded outgoing movers' by $3,341. Annual QCEW workplace covered employment was 7,931, down 1.11%; this is neither resident employment nor an unemployment measure. Trade, transportation, and utilities is the largest disclosed private supersector, not the whole economy. Investor non-occupant purchase mortgages were 23 of 219, or 10.5%, indicating a measurable buyer cohort but not its bidding behavior or share of all sales.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the dominant hazard; the modeled climate loss ratio is 0.35% of building value per year, not a property-specific insurance quote or a dollar loss. No Realtor.com MLS listing price, active-listing, days-on-market, or price-reduction measure is published, preventing an assessment of visible supply, marketing time, and seller concessions. Next, obtain property-level flood zone, elevation, insurance, rent-roll, and closed-sale comparable evidence; absent market rent still prevents a gross-yield conclusion.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Jefferson Davis 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
Jennings city9.6KWelsh town3.3KLake Arthur town2.6KElton town862Roanoke CDP482Lacassine CDP218Fenton village207
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

7 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Jennings cityIncorporated place
    9,553
  2. 02
    Welsh townIncorporated place
    3,313
  3. 03
    Lake Arthur townIncorporated place
    2,585
  4. 04
    Elton townIncorporated place
    862
  5. 05
    Roanoke CDPCensus-designated place
    482
  6. 06
    Lacassine CDPCensus-designated place
    218
  7. 07
    Fenton villageIncorporated place
    207

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 hazardinland flooding

0.352% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.29%

$442 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-100

657 in · 757 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$3,341

$49,163 arriving · $45,822 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors10.5%

23 of 219 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; for a rent figure, the Lake Charles, LA page covers the wider market.
Same metro

The other counties in Lake Charles, LA

A metro is an average of these. Which side of a county line a property sits on can change the tax bill, the hazard profile and the tenant pool.

CountyPopulationPriceRentYieldHazard
Jefferson Davis Parish31,924$154kn/an/ainland flooding
Calcasieu Parish207,088$203k$1,2687.5%hurricane
Cameron Parish5,015$240kn/an/acoastal flooding
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Property-level flood exposure, insurance availability, and insurance cost may differ materially from the county modeled loss ratio.
  2. Unpublished market rent prevents testing whether property income can support carrying costs and a gross yield.
  3. Missing MLS supply and marketing evidence leaves resale liquidity and seller-concession conditions unresolved.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

What market rent supports a gross-yield calculation?

Market rent is not published. HUD FMR is a payment standard and cannot be substituted for market rent to calculate gross yield.

Do the Zillow and FHFA readings describe one common price trend?

No. Zillow reports a county median home value, while FHFA reports a repeat-transaction index, and their supplied observation periods differ.

What does the QCEW employment figure measure?

It measures annual average covered jobs at workplaces in the county, not resident employment, unemployment, or a forecast.