The largest parish in Louisiana

There are two right answers. By land area it is Vernon Parish; by population it is East Baton Rouge Parish. Which one you want depends on what you meant by largest.

Largest by land area

Vernon Parish

1,327 sq mi

3.1% of Louisiana's land

Largest by population

East Baton Rouge Parish

456,180 people

9.9% of Louisiana's population

Sources: US Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025 Population Estimates, released 26 March 2026; US Census Bureau, Gazetteer Files, 2025 Gazetteer Files, released 10 September 2025. Retrieved 30 August 2026.

By land area

The ten largest parishes of Louisiana by land area. Land area excludes inland and coastal water.
RankNameLand areaPopulation
1Vernon Parish1,327 sq mi45,091
2Rapides Parish1,324 sq mi125,877
3Cameron Parish1,285 sq mi4,718
4Natchitoches Parish1,253 sq mi36,089
5Terrebonne Parish1,230 sq mi104,163
6Vermilion Parish1,172 sq mi57,671
7Beauregard Parish1,157 sq mi36,673
8Lafourche Parish1,070 sq mi95,505
9Calcasieu Parish1,064 sq mi208,466
10Winn Parish950 sq mi14,961

By population

The ten most populous parishes of Louisiana, from the Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 estimates.
RankNamePopulationDensity
1East Baton Rouge Parish456,1801,002 per sq mi
2Jefferson Parish431,3981,434 per sq mi
3Orleans Parish362,1542,136 per sq mi
4St. Tammany Parish279,108330 per sq mi
5Lafayette Parish257,949960 per sq mi
6Caddo Parish224,226255 per sq mi
7Calcasieu Parish208,466196 per sq mi
8Ouachita Parish158,542260 per sq mi
9Livingston Parish155,036239 per sq mi
10Tangipahoa Parish141,346179 per sq mi

And the smallest

Smallest by land area

Orleans Parish

169.6 sq mi

Least populous

Tensas Parish

3,700 people

More on Louisiana

Rebuilt from source data 30 August 2026. How these figures are produced.