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Demographics of Terrebonne County
Affluence Level in Terrebonne County
A below-average socioeconomic profile. Incomes, home values, and educational attainment trail the U.S., with higher poverty and unemployment.
People of Terrebonne County
The people of Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, are a deeply rooted population shaped by a distinct blend of Cajun, Creole, and Anglo-American heritage, with a growing but still small Hispanic and Asian presence. With a population of 107,362, the parish is predominantly white (64.2%) and Black (19.0%), and remains one of the most culturally insular areas in coastal Louisiana, where French-influenced traditions, fishing, and oil-and-gas work define daily life. The population is notably less diverse than the national average, with a foreign-born share of just 2.3%, and a low college attainment rate of 17.7% that reflects the region's blue-collar economic base. Despite its small size, the parish's identity is fiercely local, with a strong sense of place centered on the bayou communities of Houma, the parish seat, and the surrounding marsh towns.
Settlement & growth (pre-1960)
Before European contact, the area now known as Terrebonne Parish was inhabited by the Houma and Chitimacha peoples, who lived in dispersed settlements along the bayous and marshes. The Houma, from whom the city of Houma takes its name, were a Muskogean-speaking people who gradually moved southward into the region during the 17th and 18th centuries to escape pressure from European colonists and other Native groups. French and Spanish colonial authorities claimed the area, but actual settlement by Europeans did not begin in earnest until after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
The first major wave of European settlers were French-speaking Acadians—Cajuns—who arrived in the 1760s and 1770s after being expelled from Nova Scotia by the British. These families, along with smaller numbers of French Creoles and Spanish Islenos, established small farms and fishing camps along Bayou Terrebonne, Bayou Black, and Bayou Lafourche. The town of Houma, founded in 1834, became the commercial and cultural hub of this Cajun settlement, while communities like Chauvin and Montegut grew as isolated fishing villages. By the mid-19th century, the parish's economy was based on sugar cane plantations, which relied on enslaved African labor. The Black population, which today makes up 19.0% of the parish, is largely descended from these enslaved people, who after emancipation formed rural communities such as Gibson and Gray.
After the Civil War, the plantation economy collapsed, and the region shifted toward small-scale farming, trapping, and shrimping. A small but notable wave of German and Irish immigrants arrived in the late 19th century, settling in Schriever and Bourg, where they worked on sugar plantations and later in the emerging oil industry. The discovery of oil and natural gas in the 1930s and 1940s transformed the parish's economy, drawing domestic migrants from other parts of Louisiana and Texas. However, unlike many Southern regions, Terrebonne did not experience a large Dust Bowl or Appalachian migration; its population growth remained steady but modest, driven by natural increase and the expansion of the oil-and-gas workforce in Houma and Dulac.
Modern era (post-1965)
The 1965 Hart-Cellar Act had a minimal direct impact on Terrebonne Parish, as the region did not attract significant numbers of post-1965 immigrants. The foreign-born population remains very low at 2.3%, and the parish's racial and ethnic composition has changed slowly compared to the rest of the United States. The most notable demographic shift since the 1960s has been the gradual suburbanization of Houma's population into unincorporated areas like Bayou Cane and Gray, as well as the growth of bedroom communities along the bayous.
The Hispanic population, now 6.9%, began to grow in the 1990s and 2000s, driven primarily by Mexican and Central American laborers who came to work in the oil-and-gas industry, construction, and seafood processing. These workers have concentrated in Houma and in the southern fishing communities of Dulac and Chauvin, where they often live in mobile home parks and rental housing. The East/Southeast Asian population (0.8%) is very small and consists mainly of Vietnamese and Filipino families who arrived in the 1980s and 1990s, many of them connected to the fishing and shrimping industries. The Indian subcontinent population (0.3%) is even smaller, with most individuals working as professionals in Houma's healthcare and engineering sectors.
Domestic migration since 1965 has been modest. The parish has not experienced the Rust Belt-to-Sun Belt influx seen in Texas or Florida, nor has it attracted significant coastal flight from California or the Northeast. Instead, population growth has come from natural increase and from the movement of people within Louisiana, particularly from rural areas to Houma. The Black population has remained stable at around 19%, with many families living in established neighborhoods in Houma and in the rural communities of Gibson and Gray. The white population, while still the majority, has declined slightly as younger, college-educated residents have left for Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Texas.
The future
The population of Terrebonne Parish is projected to remain relatively stable or decline slightly over the next 10-20 years, as the region faces challenges from coastal erosion, hurricane risk, and a limited economic base. The parish's population peaked at around 115,000 in the 2010s and has since fallen to 107,362, a trend that is likely to continue as the oil-and-gas industry automates and consolidates. The Hispanic population is expected to grow slowly, reaching perhaps 10-12% by 2040, as new immigrants and their children settle in Houma and the bayou communities. The East/Southeast Asian and Indian populations will likely remain very small, as the parish does not have the professional job base or ethnic infrastructure to attract significant numbers.
The parish is becoming slightly more diverse, but the pace of change is far slower than in most of the United States. The white population will continue to age and decline, while the Black population is expected to remain stable. The cultural identity of Terrebonne Parish will remain strongly Cajun and Creole, with French-language preservation efforts and seafood festivals reinforcing local traditions. New residents, particularly Hispanic families, are likely to concentrate in Houma and in the southern fishing communities, where housing is affordable and jobs in seafood processing and construction are available. The parish's low college attainment rate (17.7%) suggests that the economy will remain blue-collar, and the population will continue to be shaped by the rhythms of the bayou rather than by the suburban sprawl seen in other parts of Louisiana.
For someone moving into Terrebonne Parish now, the region offers a tight-knit, culturally distinct community where family and local identity matter more than diversity or rapid growth. The population is stable, aging, and deeply rooted, with a strong sense of place that resists the homogenizing trends of modern America. Newcomers, especially those from outside the Cajun cultural sphere, will find a welcoming but insular society where integration requires time and a willingness to embrace local traditions. The parish is not becoming a melting pot, but it is slowly becoming a more varied version of what it has always been: a bayou community shaped by the water, the oil, and the people who have called it home for generations.
* Values derived from national, state, county, city and local statistics and may differ in a specific area. Last updated: 2026-07-24T07:26:18.000Z
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