Jean Lafitte is located at . According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of, of which is land and is water.
History
In 2012, a historical marker for the community of Manila Village was placed in Jean Lafitte. Since mid-2013, Manila Plaza, located in front of Jean Lafitte Town Hall, has held several historical markers and commemorative plaques acknowledging important individuals in the area's Filipino American history. The Philippine-Louisiana Historical Society participated in the dedication ceremony. While there were several settlements of Filipinos along the Louisiana coast in the late 19th century, Manila Village was the largest. The residents there implemented a system of platforms on which they dried shrimp, as forerunners of Louisiana's 21st-century dried shrimp industry. This community-on-stilts thrived for nearly a century, until it was destroyed by Hurricane Betsy in 1965.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,137 people, 721 households, and 575 families residing in the town. The population density was 357.5 people per square mile. There were 767 housing units at an average density of 128.3 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 93.03% White, 0.61% African American, 2.76% Native American, 1.31% Asian, 0.14% Pacific Islander, 0.33% from other races, and 1.82% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.87% of the population. There were 721 households out of which 39.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.2% were married couplesliving together, 9.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.2% were non-families. 15.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.96 and the average family size was 3.31. In the town, the population was spread out with 27.2% under the age of 18, 11.7% from 18 to 24, 28.5% from 25 to 44, 23.4% from 45 to 64, and 9.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median agewas 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 110.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 108.3 males. The median income for a household in the town was $35,833, and the median income for a family was $40,163. Males had a median income of $32,025 versus $22,697 for females. The per capita income for the town was $14,209. About 14.2% of families and 17.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.4% of those under age 18 and 24.7% of those age 65 or over.
