Avoyelles Parish area

Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana covers 865.6 square miles: 831.4 square miles of land and 34.3 square miles of water. Its county seat is Marksville. An estimated 37,941 people lived there in 2025.

Official Census measurements · GEOID 220092026 Gazetteer · retrieved September 27, 2026
Land area831.4 mi²
Water area34.3 mi²
Population (2025)37,941
People per mi²46

County outline

Generalized outline of Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana
2025 Census cartographic boundary, fitted to this frame. County maps are not at a common scale. The 2026 area measurements below come from the separate Gazetteer release. Map source and limitations.

Where Avoyelles Parish is located

Avoyelles Parish highlighted on a map of all U.S. county equivalents. About the maps

Area breakdown

Land accounts for 96% of Avoyelles Parish’s measured area and water for 4%. Its combined area converts to 2,242 square kilometers or approximately 554,006 acres.

Green: land · blue: water

MeasurementSquare milesSquare kilometersAcres
Land831.3632,153.22532,072.3
Water34.27188.76121,933.4
Total865.6342,241.982554,005.8

How Avoyelles Parish compares

By original Census land area, Avoyelles Parish ranks #18 of 64 in Louisiana and #1013 of 3,222 nationally. National rankings include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Its land area is 1.287 times the Louisiana county-equivalent median of 645.9 square miles. It accounts for 1.9% of the combined county land area in the state.

See the complete Louisiana ranking · What counts as a county equivalent?

Population and density of Avoyelles Parish

The Census Bureau estimates that 37,941 people lived in Avoyelles Parish on July 1, 2025. That ranks #1,268 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #28 of 64 in Louisiana. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 39,689, the population has declined by 1,748 (−4.4%), compared with −0.9% for Louisiana as a whole.

With 831.4 square miles of land, that is 46 people per square mile (18 per km²), placing Avoyelles Parish #1,639 nationally for density and #34 in Louisiana. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Louisiana median is 48. Put another way, there are about 14 acres of land per resident.

Estimated population, 2020–2025 · line scaled to this county’s own range
July 1202020212022202320242025
Estimate39,64539,28238,77238,55138,33337,941
Change—−363−510−221−218−392

U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 population estimates. Estimates are revised each year and are not decennial census counts. Density divides the whole population by the whole county’s land area, so it describes an average, not how settlement is distributed within the county. Population sources and methods.

Cities and towns in Avoyelles Parish

9 incorporated places lie at least partly in Avoyelles Parish. Together they are home to 14,542 people (38.3%); the other 23,399 (61.7%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Marksville city, with 4,744 residents in the county.

Incorporated placePopulation 2025Since 2020Land mi²
Marksville cityCounty seat4,744−6.4%4.813
Bunkie city3,138−6.2%3.022
Cottonport town1,916−5.4%2.005
Simmesport town1,400−4.3%2.173
Mansura town1,260−5.1%2.854
Moreauville village928−5.1%3.027
Hessmer village740−4.9%0.827
Evergreen town208−4.1%1.022
Plaucheville village208−6.3%1.514

Population: U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2025 subcounty estimates, counting only the part of each place inside Avoyelles Parish. Land: 2026 Census Gazetteer, for the whole place even where it extends into other counties. How communities are listed.

Metropolitan area

Avoyelles Parish is not part of any metropolitan or micropolitan statistical area in the Office of Management and Budget’s July 2023 delineation; 1,306 other county equivalents are also outside one. These areas are built around an urban core of at least 10,000 people plus the counties tied to it by commuting, so counties outside them are generally rural.

ZIP codes

16 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Avoyelles Parish; 12 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

71320713227132371327713287133171333713397134171350713517135571356713607136271369

ZIP Code Tabulation Areas are the Census Bureau’s approximations of USPS ZIP Code service areas, from the 2020 Census relationship files. Lighter codes have less than half of their land in this county. Post-office-box and single-address ZIP Codes have no tabulation area.

Counties bordering Avoyelles Parish

Avoyelles Parish shares a land border with 8 county equivalents. It has more land than 6 of them. The largest neighbor is Rapides Parish (1,324.1 mi²) and the smallest is West Feliciana Parish (403.2 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Avoyelles Parish forms a block of 6,729.8 mi² of land, of which it holds 12.4%.

Map of Avoyelles Parish and the 8 county equivalents that border it Rapides Parish, Louisiana: 1,324.1 mi² landSt. Landry Parish, Louisiana: 923.4 mi² landConcordia Parish, Louisiana: 695.7 mi² landCatahoula Parish, Louisiana: 709.3 mi² landPointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana: 555.5 mi² landEvangeline Parish, Louisiana: 662.4 mi² landLaSalle Parish, Louisiana: 624.9 mi² landWest Feliciana Parish, Louisiana: 403.2 mi² land
Avoyelles Parish (dark) and its bordering county equivalents. Select a neighbor to open its profile. Drawn from the 2025 Census cartographic boundaries in an equal-area projection. How borders are determined.
Bordering county equivalentLand mi²Size vs. AvoyellesCompare
Rapides Parish1,324.11.6× largerCompare
St. Landry Parish923.41.1× largerCompare
Catahoula Parish709.31.2× smallerCompare
Concordia Parish695.71.2× smallerCompare
Evangeline Parish662.41.3× smallerCompare
LaSalle Parish624.91.3× smallerCompare
Pointe Coupee Parish555.51.5× smallerCompare
West Feliciana Parish403.22.1× smallerCompare

How big is Avoyelles Parish compared with U.S. states?

Avoyelles Parish has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.2 times as much. Louisiana’s county land could hold about 52 areas the size of Avoyelles Parish.

Land area: Avoyelles Parish and the closest-sized states
Avoyelles Parish831.4 mi²
Rhode Island1,033.9 mi²

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 28.8 miles (46.4 km) on each side. Real county shapes are rarely square, so this is a scale reference rather than a width or driving distance.

State figures are the sums of each state’s county-equivalent land measurements in the same Census release, so states and counties are compared on the same basis. Published state totals can differ slightly because of rounding. Compare all states · Counties bigger than entire states.

What stands out about Avoyelles Parish?

Avoyelles Parish has more land than 2,209 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

Land area compared with the typical county equivalent
Avoyelles Parish831.4 mi²
Louisiana median645.9 mi²
National median604.5 mi²

A median is the middle county-equivalent measurement, not the average of the largest and smallest. All three bars use the same linear scale. Very small areas may appear as a thin sliver; the labels retain their values.

Does including water change its rank?

Using land plus water places Avoyelles Parish at #1,054 nationally by total area, 41 places farther from the top than its land rank. Other county equivalents gain more area when their water measurements are included.

Its water share is 4%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 2.8 percentage points higher. This describes the statistical geography’s land/water mix, not flood exposure or developable land.

Closest positions in the national land ranking

These entries sit immediately beside Avoyelles Parish in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Land rankCounty equivalentLand mi²Comparison
#1012Sauk County, Wisconsin831.6Compare
#1013Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana831.4This county
#1014Pike County, Illinois831.4Compare

Calculated from the same Census release as the area table. Total-area order uses original ALAND + AWATER; water shares and chart labels use published square miles. Calculation details.

Representative coordinates

The Census internal point is 31.088503, -91.983275. It represents a location inside the geography; it is not necessarily the centroid or the address of a courthouse.

Source and precision

U.S. Census Bureau, 2026 Gazetteer Files, Counties. Original ALAND: 2,153,220,017 m²; AWATER: 88,761,325 m². Rankings use ALAND; exact ties use ascending GEOID. Tables preserve Census-published square miles to three decimals, with conversions based on those values.

Download the official county source ZIP ↗ · Methodology

Common questions

How big is Avoyelles Parish?

Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana has 831.4 square miles (2,153.2 km²) of land and 34.3 square miles of water, for a total area of 865.6 square miles. It ranks #1013 of 3,222 U.S. county equivalents by land area.

Is Avoyelles Parish the largest county in Louisiana?

No. Avoyelles Parish ranks #18 of 64 in Louisiana by land area. The largest is Vernon Parish, with 1,326.7 square miles of land.

What counties border Avoyelles Parish?

Avoyelles Parish shares a land border with Rapides Parish, St. Landry Parish, Concordia Parish, Catahoula Parish, Pointe Coupee Parish, Evangeline Parish, LaSalle Parish, and West Feliciana Parish.

What is the population of Avoyelles Parish?

The Census Bureau estimates Avoyelles Parish had 37,941 residents on July 1, 2025, ranking #1,268 of 3,222 county equivalents. That is 46 people per square mile of land.

What is the county seat of Avoyelles Parish?

The county seat of Avoyelles Parish is Marksville.

What cities and towns are in Avoyelles Parish?

Avoyelles Parish has 9 incorporated places. The most populous five are Marksville city, Bunkie city, Cottonport town, Simmesport town, and Mansura town; 23,399 residents live outside any incorporated place.

Is Avoyelles Parish part of a metropolitan area?

No. Avoyelles Parish is outside every metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area in the July 2023 OMB delineation.

How many ZIP codes are in Avoyelles Parish?

16 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Avoyelles Parish, and 12 of them have most of their land inside the county. Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas approximate USPS ZIP Code areas.

How does Avoyelles Parish compare with U.S. states?

It has less land than every state. Rhode Island, the smallest, has 1.2 times as much land.

How many acres of land are in Avoyelles Parish?

The land measurement converts to approximately 532,072 acres. Including water, total area is approximately 554,006 acres. One square mile equals 640 acres.

Why might another source show a different area?

Check whether it reports land or total area, its Census vintage, and its rounding. Our guide explains how to reconcile county area figures.

Can this establish a property boundary?

No. Statistical measurements and generalized maps do not establish property lines. Consult the relevant local surveying or land-records authority.

Cite this county

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