St. Charles Parish, Louisiana

Saint Charles Parish, Louisiana

Location in the state of Louisiana

Louisiana's location in the U.S.
Founded 1807
Named for Saint Charles
Seat Hahnville
Area
 - Total
 - Land
 - Water

410 sq mi (1,062 km²)
284 sq mi (735 km²)
127 sq mi (328 km²), 30.85%
Population
 - (2010)
 - Density

52,780
186/sq mi (72/km²)
Time zone Central: UTC-6/-5
Website www.stcharlesgov.net

St. Charles Parish (French: Paroisse de Saint-Charles) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Hahnville. In 2010, its population was 52,780. In the eighteenth and nineteenth century, this was part of the German Coast, an area along the Mississippi River settled by numerous German pioneers in the 1720s.

Contents

Geography

The parish has a total area of 410 square miles (1,062 km²), of which, 284 square miles (735 km²) of it is land and 127 square miles (328 km²) of it (30.85%) is water.

Major highways

Adjacent parishes

Government

St. Charles Parish is governed by an executive branch and legislative branch. The executive branch is headed by the Parish President; currently V.J. St. Pierre a retired businessman. Shortly after taking office, St. Pierre reorganized the parish bureaucracy. His office released a new organizational chart which shows the power structure within the parish.[1]

The legislative branch consists of a nine member council. The parish is divided into 7 districts which are represented by a district council member. In addition to the 7 district seats, there are also 2 at-large seats which are elected on a parish-wide basis. The at-large seats are divided into an "A" seat and a "B" seat. The "A" seat representative must be a resident of the parish's east bank while the "B" seat must be held by a resident of the west bank.[2] The last parish council election was in 2007, when every incumbent who ran for office was ousted. Only one current councilman, Councilman At-Large Division "B" Terry Authement has served on the council before.[3]

Members of the St. Charles Parish Council as of January 2008:[4]

District Council Member
At-Large Division "A" Carolyn K. Schexnaydre
At-Large Division "B" Terry Authement
1 Billy Raymond
2 Shelly Tastet
3 Wendy Benedetto
4 Paul Hogan
5 Larry Cochran
6 Marcus Lambert
7 Dennis Nuss

Demographics

Historical populations
Census Pop.
1900 9,072
1910 11,207 23.5%
1920 8,586 −23.4%
1930 12,111 41.1%
1940 12,321 1.7%
1950 13,363 8.5%
1960 21,219 58.8%
1970 29,550 39.3%
1980 37,259 26.1%
1990 42,437 13.9%
2000 48,072 13.3%
Est. 2006 52,761 [5] 9.8%
St. Charles Parish Census Data[6]

As of the census[7] of 2000, there were 48,072 people, 16,422 households, and 13,088 families residing in the parish. The population density was 170 people per square mile (65/km²). There were 17,430 housing units at an average density of 62 per square mile (24/km²). The racial makeup of the parish was 72.40% White, 25.23% African American, 0.26% Native American, 0.55% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.64% from other races, and 0.91% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.80% of the population.

There were 16,422 households out of which 43.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.40% were married couples living together, 14.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.30% were non-families. 16.70% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.90 and the average family size was 3.27.

In the parish the population was spread out with 30.30% under the age of 18, 8.30% from 18 to 24, 31.40% from 25 to 44, 21.00% from 45 to 64, and 9.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 95.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.70 males.

The median income for a household in the parish was $45,139, and the median income for a family was $50,562. Males had a median income of $40,651 versus $24,780 for females. The per capita income for the parish was $19,054. About 9.30% of families and 11.40% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.20% of those under age 18 and 12.40% of those age 65 or over.

Cities and towns

Notable natives and residents

See also

References

External links

Geology