Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana


Pointe Coupee Parish,, is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 22,802. The parish seat is New Roads.
Pointe Coupee Parish is part of the Baton Rouge, LA Metropolitan Statistical Area.
In 2010, the center of population of Louisiana was located in Pointe Coupee Parish, in the city of New Roads.

History

Pointe Coupee Parish was organized by European Americans in 1805 as part of the Territory of Orleans. It was originally called Pointe Coupee County, and was one of the original 12 counties of the Territory of Orleans. It was renamed as Pointe Coupee Parish in 1816. The original Pointe Coupee Parish included parts of present day Iberville and West Baton Rouge Parishes. There were minor boundary adjustments with neighboring parishes up through 1852, when its boundaries stabilized.
In 2008, Pointe Coupee was one of the communities that suffered the most damage by Hurricane Gustav.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of, of which is land and is water. The land consists mainly of prairies and backswamp.

Major highways

Pointe Coupee Parish has 498.98 miles of highways within its borders.
As of the census of 2000, there were 22,763 people, 8,397 households, and 6,171 families residing in the parish. The population density was 41 people per square mile. There were 10,297 housing units at an average density of 18 per square mile. The racial makeup of the parish was 68.91% White, 29.61% Black or African American, 0.17% Native American, 0.25% Asian, 0.32% from other races, and 0.56% from two or more races. 1.08% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 93.61% of the population spoke only English at home, while 4.89% spoke French or Cajun French, 0.96% spoke Spanish, and 0.73% spoke Louisiana Creole French.
There were 8,397 households out of which 35.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.70% were married couples living together, 15.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.50% were non-families. 23.40% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.17.
In the parish the population was spread out with 27.30% under the age of 18, 8.80% from 18 to 24, 27.00% from 25 to 44, 23.10% from 45 to 64, and 13.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.70 males.
The median income for a household in the parish was $30,618, and the median income for a family was $36,625. Males had a median income of $35,022 versus $20,759 for females. The per capita income for the parish was $15,387, ranking 23rd out of 64 parishes. About 18.70% of families and 23.10% of the population were below the poverty line, including 30.20% of those under age 18 and 23.90% are the age of 65 and older.

Economy

Nan Ya Plastics Corporation America has a large plant near Batchelor. Another large employer is NRG / Big Cajun 1 & 2 power plants near New Roads. The parish's economy is heavily reliant upon agriculture, with sugar cane being one of the main cash crops.

Education

Schools

The Pointe Coupee Parish School Board serves the parish.
As of 2014 the sole secondary school operated by the parish school board is Livonia High School, serving grades 7 through 12. Pointe Coupee Central High School was closed down in 2014. Current public schools include Stem Magnet Academy, Valverda Elemtary, Rougon, Rosenwald, and Upper Pointe Coupee Elementary.

Private

A Co of the 769th BEB is an Engineer Company that resides in New Roads, Louisiana. This unit is part of the 256TH IBCT and deployed to Iraq in 2004-5 and 2010.

Communities

City

Prior to 2008, Pointe Coupee Parish was a Democratic stronghold in presidential elections, only failing to back the party's candidates four times between 1912 & 2004 even as the Solid South became a Republican stronghold at the presidential level. Since then, it has swung to primarily support Republican Party candidates, with Donald Trump winning the county by a margin of over seventeen points in the most recent presidential election of 2016. However, the substantial African-American minority has kept the Republican swing less pronounced compared to many other rural counties throughout the South.