City · Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana

Bunkie, Louisiana

Bunkie is a city in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. It has 3,253 residents. Bunkie, Louisiana has a quality-of-life score of 0 out of 100 (very low), ranking #15,641 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Louisiana it ranks #261 of 262 cities and towns. It ranks best on effective property tax rate (low), time spent in the emergency room (low) and pharmacies (high). It ranks worst on lack of reliable transportation (high), food insecurity (high) and frequent mental distress (high).

0Very low

Quality-of-life score: #15,641 of 15,651 cities and towns
Louisiana: #261 of 262 in LA
Population: 3,253 (2020-2024)
Land area: 3 mi²
Density: 1,076.4 /mi²
FIPS code: 2210950

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety6#14,656/15,637
Economy0#15,623/15,631
Housing14#12,919/14,977
Health1#15,484/15,609
Healthcare7#14,499/15,650
Environment32#10,506/15,453
Education1#15,521/15,649
Infrastructure0#15,595/15,650
Community3#15,226/15,651
Leisure & amenities26#11,515/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Bunkie, Louisiana ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Avoyelles Parish value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Effective property tax rate · low0.17%
100/100Louisiana 0.55%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090High uncertainty
Time spent in the emergency room · low80 min
99/100Louisiana 135 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesAvoyelles Parish value
Pharmacies · high3.7 /10k
99/100Louisiana 2.7 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsAvoyelles Parish value
Public libraries · high2.3 /10k
93/100Louisiana 0.8 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesAvoyelles Parish value
Grocery stores · high2.1 /10k
77/100Louisiana 2.0 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsAvoyelles Parish value
High ozone days · low0 days
76/100Louisiana 0 daysUnited States 7 days2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyAvoyelles Parish value

Weaknesses

Lack of reliable transportation · high27.2%
0/100Louisiana 11.8%United States 8.3%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Food insecurity · high52.2%
0/100Louisiana 23.2%United States 15.6%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Frequent mental distress · high26.6%
0/100Louisiana 21.3%United States 18.6%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Physical inactivity · high48.8%
0/100Louisiana 32.3%United States 26.5%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Adult smoking · high31.8%
0/100Louisiana 20.0%United States 16.1%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Adult obesity · high52.1%
0/100Louisiana 42.3%United States 38.2%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationFalling
3,943 (2015-2019) → 3,253 (2020-2024)
−17%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Child poverty rateWorsening
14.0% (2015-2019) → 77.7% (2020-2024)
+64 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Poverty rateWorsening
11.9% (2015-2019) → 55.0% (2020-2024)
+43 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
High school diploma or higherWorsening
84.9% (2015-2019) → 70.6% (2020-2024)
−14 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
65.5% (2015-2019) → 76.7% (2020-2024)
+11 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Income inequality (Gini index)Worsening
0.388 (2015-2019) → 0.553 (2020-2024)
+43%5 yearsCensus table B19083US 0.482 → 0.483

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Bunkie, Louisiana improved on 0 of 10 measures with a comparison and declined on 2. 8 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved0

No measure improved by more than its margin of error.

Declined2

Poverty+43 points11.9% → 55.0%
Inequality+0.1650.388 → 0.553

All 10 measures

Change of every measure of Bunkie, Louisiana between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	22.0 min2015-2019	27.4 min2020-2024	+5.4 min	Within the margin of error	9%
Broadband subscriptions	65.5%2015-2019	76.7%2020-2024	+11 points	Within the margin of error	66%
High school diploma or higher	84.9%2015-2019	70.6%2020-2024	−14 points	Within the margin of error	1%
Home price to income ratio	3.2×2015-2019	4.2×2020-2024	+1.0×	Within the margin of error	21%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3882015-2019	0.5532020-2024	+0.165	Declined	1%
Median household income	$28,4652015-2019	$22,2672020-2024	−22%	Within the margin of error	1%
Poverty rate	11.9%2015-2019	55.0%2020-2024	+43 points	Declined	0%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent-burdened households	62.2%2015-2019	63.1%2020-2024	+0.9 points	Within the margin of error	52%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	13.3%2015-2019	9.7%2020-2024	−3.6 points	Within the margin of error	80%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Bunkie, Louisiana five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Bunkie, Louisiana in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Bunkie, Louisiana itself moved −19.8 points in standing on average over the same 7 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

3,253 residents (±14)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

1,444 households (±246)

Bunkie, Louisiana
Louisiana share

Under $25k51%†734
$25k–50k34%†485
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

1,444 households (±246)

Bunkie, Louisiana
Louisiana share

Own39%†564
Rent61%880

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (−29.0 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

1,049 workers (±257)

Bunkie, Louisiana
Louisiana share

Drive alone74%†774
Carpool1.5%†16
Public transit

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Avoyelles Parish, the county holding most of Bunkie's residents.

Avoyelles Parish has 692 employer establishments, 180 for every 10,000 residents (0.72× the US rate of 248; 0.76× Louisiana's), with 7,754 paid employees at an average annual pay of $37,785. The Census Bureau also counts 2,911 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 692; 2,911 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 180; US 248 · Louisiana 236
Paid employees: 7,754
Average annual pay: $37,785; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Avoyelles Parish by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Specialty trade contractors	54	14	0.90×About typical	270	$49,667	270
Ambulatory health care services	51	13.2	0.63×Fewer than typical	400	$43,835	218
Restaurants and other eating places	35	9.1	0.49×Fewer than typical	482	$15,305	20
Gasoline stations	30	7.8	2.40×More than typical	340	$22,482	—
Religious organizations	30	7.8	1.40×More than typical	153	$16,529	—
Building equipment contractors	24	6.2	1.03×About typical	116	$45,621	50
Legal services	24	6.2	1.16×About typical	132	$54,523	27
General merchandise stores	23	6	3.38×More than typical	409	$28,306	16
Child day care services	22	5.7	2.34×More than typical	295	$15,434	96
Limited-service restaurants	22	5.7	0.71×Fewer than typical	375	$13,624	8
Offices of other health practitioners	20	5.2	0.85×About typical	167	$36,707	41
Automotive repair and maintenance	19	4.9	0.98×About typical	85	$30,882	65

Rank places for an industry Open Avoyelles Parish

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 38,551 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $143.8K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Bunkie, Louisiana: $44.19 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $143.8K; +16,394% vs FY2025
Per resident: $44.19; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Federal Emergency Management Agency$143.8K100%

Top recipients

WSP USA SERVICES INC.$143.8K100%
BACOPA SERVICES LLC$00.0%

Spending by fiscal year

1.5KFY2017
171.4FY2018
5.2KFY2019
336.1FY2020
282.7FY2021
404.7FY2022
614.6FY2024
871.6FY2025

Top industries (NAICS)

Architectural, engineering, and related services · 5413$143.8K100%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Bunkie, Louisiana, so they do not add up across cities.

Bunkie, Louisiana's figures are part of those of Avoyelles Parish, LA ($5M in FY2026), never added to them: 2.9% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Bunkie is mostly in Avoyelles Parish.

See federal money in Avoyelles Parish

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Bunkie, Louisiana is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Avoyelles Parish0100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Avoyelles Parish

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/2210950

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends