Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana

Pointe Coupee Parish, pronounced "Pwent Koo-Pay" and (pronounced "Point Coo-Pea" in ) (: Paroisse de la Pointe Coupée), is a located in the  of. The is. As of 2000, the population was 22,763. New Roads is the birthplace of the late mayor  (1912-1964). The of Louisiana is located in Pointe Coupee Parish, in the city of.

Geography
The parish has a total area of 1,530 (591 ). 1,444 km² (557 sq mi) of it is land and 86 km² (33 sq mi) of it (5.64%) is water. The land is mainly made up of prairies, but there are some swampy areas in the western part near the Atchafalaya River, and a few low bluffs. It has been determined that Pointe Coupee's levees lining the Mississippi River are the best maintained in the state of Louisiana. The Parish is home to the tallest smokestack towers in the state; the Triplet smokestacks at the Big Cajun 2 Plant along river road can be seen from miles around. At night, the Airplane warning lights at the top of them can be seen clearly from the Interstate 10 in, some 40 miles away. The parish is widely known for, an ox-bow lake located in the southeastern portion of the parish. The tiny community of Lacour was the birthplace of Major General John Archer Lejeune, Commandant of the United States Marine Corps.

Major Highways
Pointe Coupee Parish has 498.98 miles of highways within its borders.


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Adjacent parishes

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Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 22,763 people, 8,397 households, and 6,171 families residing in the parish. The was 16/km² (41/sq mi). There were 10,297 housing units at an average density of 7/km² (18/sq mi). The racial makeup of the parish was 68.91%, 29.61% or , 0.17% , 0.25% , 0.32% from , and 0.56% from two or more races. 1.08% of the population were or  of any race. 93.61% of the population spoke only at home, while 4.89% spoke  or  and 0.96% spoke.

There were 8,397 households out of which 35.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.70% were living together, 15.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.50% were non-families. 23.40% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.17.

In the parish the population was spread out with 27.30% under the age of 18, 8.80% from 18 to 24, 27.00% from 25 to 44, 23.10% from 45 to 64, and 13.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 94.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.70 males.

The median income for a household in the parish was $30,618, and the median income for a family was $36,625. Males had a median income of $35,022 versus $20,759 for females. The for the parish was $15,387, ranking 23rd out of 64 parishes. About 18.70% of families and 23.10% of the population were below the, including 30.20% of those under age 18 and 23.90% are the age of 65 and older.