Acadiana Dominates Louisiana’s Fastest-Growing Cities List
Six of the top 10 of Louisiana's fastest-growing cities are in Acadiana. Why?
The World Population Review, an online site for global population research and analysis, ranked Louisiana’s fastest-growing cities for 2026, based on population growth patterns from 2020 to 2025.
The list ranks 155 cities across the state, classifying a city as having over 1,000 residents.
Of the 155 cities, six Acadiana cities sit in the top 10 of Louisiana’s fastest-growing cities, with Acadiana holding the first and second spots overall.
Jump to “Why Acadiana?”
Surprisingly, Lafayette ranked #38 with only a 0.25% annual population change, and Louisiana’s largest city, New Orleans, had a population decline of -1.37%.
Louisiana’s Fastest-Growing Cities List: Top 10
- Maurice, 6.78%
- Carencro, 6.71%
- Sterlington, 5.29%
- Hammond, 3.88%
- Youngsville, 3.7%
- Scott, 3.31%
- Gonzales, 2.88%
- Broussard, 2.85%
- Stonewall, 2.84%
- Addis, 2.57%
Yes, Acadiana is a culturally rich area with much to offer in food, traditions, music, history, nature and more. But even if you know and love the area, you might still be surprised by the shift toward small towns.
According to research by Hamilton Lombard at the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, the shift to more rural areas is a surprising trend the entire country has seen since the start of the 2020’s.
The data show that people ages 25-44 have been steadily moving to cities with populations of 1 to 4 million since the 1980’s, with a peak in the 2010’s. However, the 2020’s have seen a decline in moves to big cities and an increase in moves to smaller rural areas.
Lomnard wrote in his research, “Perhaps the most striking statistic within the 2023 age estimates is the fact that since 2020, the country’s small towns and rural areas have been attracting younger adults at the highest rate in nearly a century.”
Likewise, Richelle L. Winkler and Julia Petersen of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service found that the rate of people moving out of rural areas has declined since the onset of COVID-19 in 2020 and has continued years later.
Why Acadiana?
While Louisiana’s fastest-growing cities list reflects larger national trends, one question remains: Why Acadiana? Louisiana has many rural areas, yet Acadiana is dominating the top of the list.
Beau Thomas at Cajun Power Realtor shared his take on why Maurice is the fastest-growing city in Louisiana. Thomas shared a couple of main points:
- Infrastructure: According to Thomas, Maurice Mayor Neil Arsement is focused on responsible development. The city secured grants for a sewer plant expansion, which Thomas shares is a move that supports growth for the next five to six years, while showing developers and business owners that Maurice has the infrastructure to support them.
- Land demand: Land demand is high, and so are the prices. Thomas writes, “We are seeing prices per acre that would have seemed crazy just a decade ago. If you are a landowner in Maurice or the surrounding Vermilion Parish area, you may be sitting on a goldmine.”
With so much population growth in rural areas of Acadiana, and Thomas’ mention of land and infrastructure value for businesses, I can’t help but wonder if Acadiana’s boom is because of the SpaceX campus coming to Vermilion Parish. Similarly, Sterlington, #3 on Louisiana’s fastest-growing city list, is less than an hour outside of Richland Parish, the site of Meta’s largest data center.
