10 Fastest Growing Cities In Louisiana [2025]

Is being in an area of Louisiana that’s growing quickly a good thing or a bad thing?

Depends on who you ask.

Some want bigger, more exciting cities like New Orleans and Baton Rouge, while others want peace and quiet like in Marksville and Grambling, thank you very much.

But today, we’re going to put opinions aside and look at the cold, hard facts — since 2010, which cities in Louisiana have grown the fastest.

After getting knee-deep in the Census’s American Community Survey using Saturday Night Science, we emerged with this set of cities in the Pelican State that have people climbing over each other to get in.

Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table

The 10 Fastest Growing Cities In Louisiana For 2025

What’s the fastest growing city in Louisiana for 2025? Based on the most recent ACS data, Youngsville ranks as the fastest-growing city in Louisiana. If you happen to be a resident of Youngsville, you’re probably not surprised to find it on our list.

If you’re surprised — and you’re wondering why these places are a big deal — keep reading. We’ll tell you what makes each of these 10 places in Louisiana grow like weeds.

For more Louisiana state reading:

The 10 Fastest Growing Cities In Louisiana For 2025

1. Youngsville

Source: Flickr User Cajun Byrd | CC BY 2.0

Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 16,664
Population 2010: 7,336
Percent Growth 127.2%
Absolute Growth: 9,328
More on Youngsville: Data

2. Addis

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 7,052
Population 2010: 3,451
Percent Growth 104.3%
Absolute Growth: 3,601
More on Addis: Data

3. Broussard

Source: Wikipedia User Chris Litherland | CC BY-SA 3.0

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 13,791
Population 2010: 7,761
Percent Growth 77.7%
Absolute Growth: 6,030
More on Broussard: Data

4. Carencro

Source: Public domain

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 10,882
Population 2010: 7,355
Percent Growth 48.0%
Absolute Growth: 3,527
More on Carencro: Data

5. Zachary

Source: Wikipedia User Jim Plylar | CC BY-SA 3.0

Overall SnackAbility

8
/10

Population: 19,637
Population 2010: 14,284
Percent Growth 37.5%
Absolute Growth: 5,353
More on Zachary: Data

6. Gonzales

Source: Wikipedia User Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA | CC BY-SA 2.0

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 12,748
Population 2010: 9,596
Percent Growth 32.8%
Absolute Growth: 3,152
More on Gonzales: Data

7. Covington

Source: Wikipedia User Frankbp | CC BY-SA 3.0

Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 11,568
Population 2010: 8,941
Percent Growth 29.4%
Absolute Growth: 2,627
More on Covington: Data

8. New Orleans

Source: Flickr User szeke | CC BY-SA 2.0

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 376,035
Population 2010: 295,285
Percent Growth 27.3%
Absolute Growth: 80,750
More on New Orleans: Data

9. Ponchatoula

Source: Wikipedia User Flickr photographer terin. / Terin Barrios | CC BY 2.0

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 7,839
Population 2010: 6,425
Percent Growth 22.0%
Absolute Growth: 1,414
More on Ponchatoula: Data

10. Lake Charles

Source: Wikipedia User CTtcg | CC BY-SA 4.0

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 81,679
Population 2010: 71,224
Percent Growth 14.7%
Absolute Growth: 10,455
More on Lake Charles: Data

Methodology: How We Measured The Fastest Growing Cities In the Pelican State for 2025

To figure out which cities are growing the most, we used Saturday Night Science to look at the growth rates for cities since the beginning of the decade, according to the American Community Survey put out by the census every year. Specifically:

Current Population
Population in 2010
Growth rate from 2010 to Current (The latest available data which came out in Dec 2023)

We ranked all 60 Louisiana cities with a population over 4,000 people from highest growth rate to lowest.

The city with the highest growth rate during this time was crowned the fastest-growing city in the Pelican State.

And for those of you who are a little rusty with their statistics, you can calculate the growth rate by the following formula:

[Current Population – Population 2010] / [Population 2010]

The data has been updated for 2025. This report is our tenth time ranking the fastest growing cities in Louisiana.

Here’s a graph of the cities in Louisiana with the most significant percent increase in population:

Click to enlarge

Best Places To Live In Louisiana

Summary: These Places Grew Up So Fast In Louisiana, You Know?

So there you have it, the fastest growing cities in Louisiana are led by Youngsville which has been growing at a blistering pace this decade relative to other cities and towns around the state.

The fastest-growing cities in Louisiana are Youngsville, Addis, Broussard, Carencro, Zachary, Gonzales, Covington, New Orleans, Ponchatoula, and Lake Charles.

It’ll be interesting to see if these places can keep growing at the same rate over the next couple of years. We’ll be here to let you know!

These places have been growing (or shrinking) the slowest (fastest):

Tallulah
Bastrop
Ville Platte

For more Louisiana reading, check out:

Fastest Growing Places In Louisiana For 2025

Rank	City	Population	Population 2010	Growth	Absolute Growth
1	Youngsville	16,664	7,336	127.2%	9,328
2	Addis	7,052	3,451	104.3%	3,601
3	Broussard	13,791	7,761	77.7%	6,030
4	Carencro	10,882	7,355	48.0%	3,527
5	Zachary	19,637	14,284	37.5%	5,353
6	Gonzales	12,748	9,596	32.8%	3,152
7	Covington	11,568	8,941	29.4%	2,627
8	New Orleans	376,035	295,285	27.3%	80,750
9	Ponchatoula	7,839	6,425	22.0%	1,414
10	Lake Charles	81,679	71,224	14.7%	10,455