Town · St. Landry Parish, Louisiana

Sunset, Louisiana

Sunset is a town in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, part of the Opelousas, LA metro area. It has 3,074 residents. Sunset, Louisiana has a quality-of-life score of 4 out of 100 (very low), ranking #15,009 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Louisiana it ranks #164 of 262 cities and towns. It ranks best on effective property tax rate (low), pharmacies (high) and uninsured residents (under 65) (low). It ranks worst on loneliness (high), premature death (high) and life expectancy (low).

4Very low

Quality-of-life score: #15,009 of 15,651 cities and towns
Louisiana: #164 of 262 in LA
Population: 3,074 (2020-2024)
Land area: 3 mi²
Density: 950.8 /mi²
FIPS code: 2274060

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.

Safety3#15,196/15,637
Economy18#12,844/15,631
Housing39#9,095/14,977
Health2#15,241/15,609
Healthcare52#7,529/15,650
Environment17#12,796/15,453
Education13#13,604/15,649
Infrastructure4#14,972/15,650
Community3#15,245/15,651
Leisure & amenities40#9,437/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Sunset, Louisiana ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “St. Landry 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 · low0.19%
99/100Louisiana 0.55%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
Pharmacies · high3.2 /10k
97/100Louisiana 2.7 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsSt. Landry Parish value
Uninsured residents (under 65) · low0.9%
97/100Louisiana 9.2%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010High uncertainty
New homes permitted · high13.7 /1k
92/100Louisiana 2.8 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
Grocery stores · high2.7 /10k
92/100Louisiana 2.0 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsSt. Landry Parish value
Time spent in the emergency room · low122 min
86/100Louisiana 135 minUnited States 170 minOct 2024–Sep 2025Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesSt. Landry Parish value

Weaknesses

Loneliness · high40.6%
3/100Louisiana 37.4%United States 33.2%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Premature death · high15,402 /100k
3/100Louisiana 11,889 /100kUnited States 8,123 /100k2021-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteSt. Landry Parish value
Life expectancy · low70.4 yrs
3/100Louisiana 73.8 yrsUnited States 77.6 yrs2021-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteSt. Landry Parish value
Firearm deaths · high27.0 /100k
4/100Louisiana 19.9 /100kUnited States 12.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataSt. Landry Parish value
Homicide rate · high12.3 /100k
5/100Louisiana 11.8 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataSt. Landry Parish value
Frequent mental distress · high22.1%
5/100Louisiana 21.3%United States 18.6%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.

PopulationRising
2,920 (2015-2019) → 3,074 (2020-2024)
+5.3%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Child poverty rateImproving
57.7% (2015-2019) → 14.3% (2020-2024)
−43 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Poverty rateImproving
31.2% (2015-2019) → 15.5% (2020-2024)
−16 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
50.9% (2015-2019) → 35.2% (2020-2024)
−16 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
70.0% (2015-2019) → 83.0% (2020-2024)
+13 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Rent as share of incomeImproving
30.5% (2015-2019) → 18.6% (2020-2024)
−12 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%

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, Sunset, Louisiana improved on 2 of 10 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 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.

Improved2

Poverty−16 points31.2% → 15.5%
Inequality−0.1520.532 → 0.380

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 10 measures

Change of every measure of Sunset, Louisiana between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	25.9 min2015-2019	33.4 min2020-2024	+7.5 min	Within the margin of error	5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.6%2015-2019	19.9%2020-2024	+4.3 points	Within the margin of error	62%
Broadband subscriptions	70.0%2015-2019	83.0%2020-2024	+13 points	Within the margin of error	73%
Effective property tax rate	0.23%2015-2019	0.19%2020-2024	−0 points	Within the margin of error	23%
High school diploma or higher	80.3%2015-2019	83.3%2020-2024	+2.9 points	Within the margin of error	68%
Home price to income ratio	4.2×2015-2019	3.4×2020-2024	−0.8×	Within the margin of error	96%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.5322015-2019	0.3802020-2024	−0.152	Improved	99%
Median household income	$39,2972015-2019	$60,9642020-2024	+55%	Within the margin of error	88%
Poverty rate	31.2%2015-2019	15.5%2020-2024	−16 points	Improved	98%
Rent-burdened households	50.9%2015-2019	35.2%2020-2024	−16 points	Within the margin of error	90%

“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 Sunset, Louisiana five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Sunset, 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, Sunset, Louisiana itself moved +15.3 points in standing on average over the same 9 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

3,074 residents (±122)

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

1,133 households (±173)

Sunset, Louisiana
Louisiana share

Under $25k18%†202
$25k–50k21%†235
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

1,133 households (±173)

Sunset, Louisiana
Louisiana share

Own71%808
Rent29%†325

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

† 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

1,447 workers (±201)

Sunset, Louisiana
Louisiana share

Drive alone66%962
Carpool19%†272
Public transit0.4%†6

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Opelousas, LA

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 St. Landry Parish, the county holding most of Sunset's residents.

St. Landry Parish has 1,559 employer establishments, 191 for every 10,000 residents (0.77× the US rate of 248; 0.81× Louisiana's), with 21,089 paid employees at an average annual pay of $44,554. The Census Bureau also counts 7,026 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,559; 7,026 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 191; US 248 · Louisiana 236
Paid employees: 21,089
Average annual pay: $44,554; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	197	24.2	1.16×About typical	2,218	$45,908	492
Specialty trade contractors	96	11.8	0.76×Fewer than typical	588	$53,352	536
Restaurants and other eating places	83	10.2	0.56×Fewer than typical	1,449	$17,669	44
Offices of physicians	69	8.5	1.31×More than typical	766	$61,385	56
Religious organizations	51	6.3	1.13×About typical	382	$21,152	—
Offices of other health practitioners	50	6.1	1.01×About typical	316	$40,541	102
Building equipment contractors	48	5.9	0.98×About typical	276	$53,141	92
Limited-service restaurants	48	5.9	0.74×Fewer than typical	983	$17,254	13
Legal services	46	5.6	1.05×About typical	217	$59,493	51
Gasoline stations	43	5.3	1.63×More than typical	420	$23,600	7
Lessors of real estate	43	5.3	0.43×Fewer than typical	96	$38,792	397
General merchandise stores	40	4.9	2.78×More than typical	899	$28,581	50

Rank places for an industry Open St. Landry Parish

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 81,423 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 $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Sunset, Louisiana: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; 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

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

37.3FY2017

What was bought

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 Sunset, Louisiana, so they do not add up across cities.

Sunset, Louisiana's figures are part of those of St. Landry Parish, LA ($3.8M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

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

See federal money in St. Landry 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.

Sunset, Louisiana is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Cleo FieldsD-LA-6 · 100% of residentsWith party 98%Missed 3.0%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

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

St. Landry Parish3100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Opelousas, LA2

Other cities and towns in St. Landry 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/2274060

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends