St. James Parish, Louisiana

St. James Parish (: Paroisse de Saint-Jacques) is a located in the  of. The is. As of 2000, its population was 21,216.

Geography
The parish has a total area of 668 (258 ). 637 km² (246 sq mi) of it is land and 30 km² (12 sq mi) of it (4.52%) is water.

Major Highways

 * [[Image:I-10.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:US 90.svg|20px]]
 * [[Image:LA 18.PNG|20px]]
 * [[Image:LA 44.PNG|20px]]
 * [[Image:LA 44.PNG|20px]]

Adjacent parishes

 * (north)
 * (east)
 * (south)
 * (west)

History
St. James is one of the state's nineteen original parishes, created by act of the territorial legislature,,. The original seat of government was the community of St. James, on the west bank of the, but this was moved in to what is now , on the east bank.

St. James is part of the.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 21,216 people, 6,992 households, and 5,551 families residing in the parish. The was 33/km² (86/sq mi). There were 7,605 housing units at an average density of 12/km² (31/sq mi). The racial makeup of the parish was 49.99%, 49.38% , 0.09% , 0.05% , 0.12% from , and 0.37% from two or more races. 0.61% of the population were or  of any race. 93.78% of the population spoke only at home, while 4.97% spoke  or.

There were 6,992 households out of which 38.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.30% were living together, 19.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.60% were non-families. 18.40% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.00 and the average family size was 3.43.

In the parish the population was spread out with 29.50% under the age of 18, 9.80% from 18 to 24, 28.10% from 25 to 44, 21.40% from 45 to 64, and 11.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 93.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.40 males.

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 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.

Other Facts
St. James is the only cultivation site in the world for, introduced by an  exile, , whose nickname was "Perique." It has been produced by his descendants for nearly two centuries (now covering only a 300 acre (1.2 km²) tract) and is in great demand by large tobacco companies.