Natchitoches Parish area

Population and density of Natchitoches Parish

The Census Bureau estimates that 36,089 people lived in Natchitoches Parish on July 1, 2025. That ranks #1,327 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #30 of 64 in Louisiana. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 37,520, the population has declined by 1,431 (−3.8%), compared with −0.9% for Louisiana as a whole.

With 1,253 square miles of land, that is 29 people per square mile (11 per km²), placing Natchitoches Parish #2,040 nationally for density and #46 in Louisiana. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Louisiana median is 48. Put another way, there are about 22 acres of land per resident.

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 Natchitoches Parish

9 incorporated places lie at least partly in Natchitoches Parish. Together they are home to 20,171 people (55.9%); the other 15,918 (44.1%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Natchitoches city, with 17,146 residents in the county. By land, Ashland village is the largest at 27 mi².

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

Metropolitan area

Natchitoches Parish is a central county of the Natchitoches, LA Micropolitan Statistical Area. Natchitoches Parish is the area’s only county equivalent, so the micro area has the same 1,253 square miles of land. By combined land it ranks #136 of 542 micropolitan areas, and #384 by population.

ZIP codes

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

710027101971031710657106671070714117141471416714277142871434714477145071452714557145671457714687146971497

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 Natchitoches Parish

Natchitoches Parish shares a land border with 8 county equivalents. It has more land than 6 of them. The largest neighbor is Vernon Parish (1,326.7 mi²) and the smallest is Red River Parish (389 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Natchitoches Parish forms a block of 8,441 mi² of land, of which it holds 14.8%.

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

Natchitoches Parish has more land than 1 of the 50 states. It is about 1.2 times the land area of Rhode Island (1,033.9 mi²), while Delaware, the next larger state, has 1.6 times as much land (1,948.6 mi²). Louisiana’s county land could hold about 34 areas the size of Natchitoches Parish.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 35.4 miles (57 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 Natchitoches Parish?

Natchitoches Parish has more land than 2,736 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

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 Natchitoches Parish at #532 nationally by total area, 46 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 3.6%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 2.4 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 Natchitoches Parish in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

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.