Union Parish, Louisiana

Union Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Farmerville and As of 2000, the population was 22,803.

Union Parish is historically Democratic in orientation but has voted increasingly Republican in recent elections. In the 2004 presidential contest, Union Parish gave George W. Bush 7,457 votes (70 percent) to Democrat John F. Kerry's 3,089 ballots (29 pecent).

History

Union Parish was formed in 1839 from part of Ouachita Parish.

Geography

The parish has a total area of 2,345 km² (905 mi²). 2,273 km² (878 mi²) of it is land and 72 km² (28 mi²) of it (3.06%) is water.

Adjacent parishes

Union Parish, Louisiana, is one of the few counties (or parishes) in the United States to border its namesake in another state--in this case, Union County, Arkansas.

Demographics

As of the census ² of 2000, there were 22,803 people, 8,857 households, and 6,412 families residing in the parish. The population density was 10/km² (26/mi²). There were 10,873 housing units at an average density of 5/km² (12/mi²). The racial makeup of the parish was 69.79% White, 27.95% Black or African American, 0.19% Native American, 0.26% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 1.26% from other races, and 0.50% from two or more races. 2.02% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 8,857 households out of which 31.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.30% were married couples living together, 13.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.60% were non-families. 24.90% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.01.

In the parish the population was spread out with 25.70% under the age of 18, 9.10% from 18 to 24, 26.50% from 25 to 44, 23.80% from 45 to 64, and 14.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 94.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.90 males.

The median income for a household in the parish was $29,061, and the median income for a family was $36,035. Males had a median income of $30,494 versus $21,070 for females. The per capita income for the parish was $14,819. About 14.30% of families and 18.60% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.60% of those under age 18 and 17.70% of those age 65 or over.

Cities and towns

Sterlington

Other places

Louisiana parishes | Union Parish, Louisiana