St. James Parish, Louisiana

St. James Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Convent. The parish was created in 1807. St. James Parish is a part of the New Orleans–Metairie, Louisiana metropolitan statistical area, sitting between New Orleans and Baton Rouge on the Mississippi River. According to the 2020 United States census, the population was 20,192.

WWW stjamesla.com

History

St. James is one of the state's nineteen original parishes, created by act of the territorial legislature, March 31, 1807. The original seat of government was the community of St. James, on the west bank of the Mississippi, but this was moved in 1869 to what is now Convent, on the east bank.
St. James Parish is part of the Acadian Coast. While it is possible that some Acadians did arrive prior to 1755 or between 1755 and 1764, the first documented group of Acadians arrived in New Orleans in February 1764. The arrival was documented in a letter dated April 6, 1764, from Governor D'Abbadie to his superior in France. They were settled along the Mississippi River in present-day St. James.
St. James is known for its tradition, Bonfires on the Levee, which takes place every Christmas Eve. Residents build large bonfires along the River levee, lighting them all at nightfall. The townsfolk tell the children that the purpose of this tradition is so Papa Noel can easily see his way down the Mississippi as he is delivering gifts.
St. James is the only cultivation site in the world for Perique tobacco, introduced by an Acadian exile, Pierre Chenet, whose nickname was "Perique." It has been produced by his descendants for nearly two centuries and is in great demand by large tobacco companies.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the parish has a total area of, of which is land and is water. It is the fourth-smallest parish in Louisiana by land area and second-smallest by total area.

Major highways

Adjacent parishes

Communities

Towns

Census-designated places

Other unincorporated community

Vacherie

Demographics

Racial and ethnic composition

Race / Ethnicity	Pop 1980	Pop 1990	Pop 2000	Pop 2010	Pop 2020	% 1980	% 1990	% 2000	% 2010	% 2020
White alone	11,155	10,420	10,538	10,478	9,917	51.90%	49.91%	49.67%	47.41%	49.11%
Black or African American alone	9,983	10,329	10,444	11,145	9,486	46.44%	49.47%	49.23%	50.43%	46.98%
Native American or Alaska Native alone	2	5	19	43	28	0.01%	0.02%	0.09%	0.19%	0.14%
Asian alone	25	16	10	29	28	0.12%	0.08%	0.05%	0.13%	0.14%
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone	x	x	0	3	0	x	x	0.00%	0.01%	0.00%
Other race alone	0	2	3	13	28	0.00%	0.01%	0.01%	0.06%	0.14%
Mixed race or Multiracial	x	x	72	135	362	x	x	0.34%	0.61%	1.79%
Hispanic or Latino	330	107	130	256	343	1.54%	0.51%	0.61%	1.16%	1.70%
Total	21,495	20,879	21,216	22,102	20,192	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the parish had a population of 20,192. The median age was 40.8 years. 23.2% of residents were under the age of 18 and 18.6% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 90.6 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 88.5 males age 18 and over.
The racial makeup of the parish was 49.4% White, 47.2% Black or African American, 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% Asian, <0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 0.7% from some other race, and 2.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 1.7% of the population.
50.4% of residents lived in urban areas, while 49.6% lived in rural areas.
There were 7,692 households in the parish, of which 32.9% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 45.7% were married-couple households, 16.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 32.6% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 25.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 8,554 housing units, of which 10.1% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 80.9% were owner-occupied and 19.1% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.0% and the rental vacancy rate was 8.3%.

2019 estimates

In 2019, the median household income was $51,603; the median housing value was $158,500 and the median rent was $644.
From 2015 to 2019, the parish had a poverty rate of 17.0%.
An estimated 15.2% of the parish were of French ancestry at the 2019 census estimates.

2010 census

At the 2010 census, the racial and ethnic composition of the parish was 50.6% Black or African American, 48.0% White, 0.2% Native American, 0.1% Asian, 0.4% of some other race and 0.7% of two or more races. 1.2% were Hispanic or Latin American.

2000 census

In 2000, 93.78% of the population spoke only English at home, while 4.97% spoke French or Cajun French.
In 2000, the median income for a household in the parish was $35,277, and the median income for a family was $41,751. Males had a median income of $37,487 versus $21,712 for females. The per capita income for the parish was $14,381. 20.70% of the population and 18.00% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 27.70% are under the age of 18 and 15.10% are 65 or older.

Religion

According to the Association of Religion Data Archives in 2020, the Roman Catholic Church dominated the parish, with Christianity being the area's predominant religion since colonization. Roman Catholics numbered 19,342 while the National Baptist Convention of the United States of America had 2,180 members. Non/inter-denominational Protestants among the congregationalist, Bible, and United and Uniting churches numbered 1,060.

Economy

Approximately 85% of reported air pollution in the parish is produced by industries located in two small majority African American communities: Convent and St James. These include the Shell Convent Refinery, an Occidental Chemical Factory, American Styrenics, and Mosaic Fertilizer.
Formosa Plastic Group plans to build a $9.4 billion petrochemical plant in the parish. The proposed plant site includes a plantation and the graves of enslaved people. The project has become the focal point of an environmental justice protest because of the expectant rise in pollution and the disrespect of the historic nature of the land involved.

Education

St. James Parish Public Schools serves all of St. James Parish.

Politics

The current parish president is Peter “Pete” Dufresne, who took office at the beginning of 2020. In 2016, his predecessor Timmy Roussel was indicted on corruption charges, when he was accused of having parish employees build a private natural gas line.
St. James Parish has been strongly Democratic for a century. However, Donald Trump performed well during his two campaigns, coming within ten points of carrying the parish in 2016 and within five points in 2020. Trump would later win the parish in the 2024 election, the first Republican to do so since 1972. The last Republican to win a majority of the parish's vote until 2024 was Warren G. Harding in 1920, when Louisiana's Acadian population revolted against Woodrow Wilson because of his bitter disagreement with French President Georges Clemenceau. Dwight D. Eisenhower won a 17-vote plurality in 1956, and Richard Nixon also won a plurality in his 2,900-plus-county 1972 landslide.