Southwest Louisiana

Southwest Louisiana
Region
West Acadiana
Five-parish Southwest Louisiana region (Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, and Jefferson Davis) highlighted in red.
Five-parish Southwest Louisiana region (Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, and Jefferson Davis) highlighted in red.
Country United States
State Louisiana
Largest cityLake Charles
Population
 (2020)
 • Total313,951

Southwest Louisiana (SWLA) is a five-parish area intersecting the Acadiana and Central Louisiana regions in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is composed of the following parishes (counties): Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, and Jefferson Davis.[1][2] As of 2020, the combined population of the five parish area was 313,951.[3]

Southwest Louisiana has one metropolitan area: Lake Charles. The southwestern portion of Louisiana is also geographically and culturally attached to Southeast Texas.

Three of the parishes — Calcasieu, Cameron, and Jefferson Davis — are also part of Acadiana, the region of French and Acadian influence defined by the Louisiana State Legislature in 1971.[4]

  1. ^ "Chamber / Southwest Louisiana". chamberswla.org. Archived from the original on 7 June 2004. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  2. ^ "Long Term Care - Medicaid (Health Services Financing) - Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals". www.dhh.louisiana.gov. Archived from the original on 2010-12-17. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  3. ^ Swift, George (August 17, 2021). "Census data key to redistricting". American Press. The American Press. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  4. ^ Shane K. Bernard, The Cajuns: Americanization of a People (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2003), p. 80.