Empire is a tiny coastal town (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Louisiana. With a population of 905 people and just one neighborhood, Empire is the 241st largest community in Louisiana. Empire has seen a significant amount of newer housing growth in recent years. Quite often, new home construction is the result of new residents moving in who are middle class or wealthier, attracted by jobs, a healthy local economy, or other amenities as they leave nearby or far away areas for greener pastures. This seems to be the case in Empire, where the median household income is $25,950.00.
Empire is a blue-collar town, with 58.19% of people working in blue-collar occupations, while the average in America is just 27.7%. Overall, Empire is a town of transportation and shipping workers, sales and office workers, and construction workers and builders. There are especially a lot of people living in Empire who work in food service (10.02%), farm management occupations (8.31%), and sales jobs (7.82%).
The town is relatively quiet, having a combination of lower population density and few of those groups of people who have a tendency to be noisy. For example, Empire has relatively fewer families with younger children, and/or college students. Combined, this makes Empire a pretty quiet place to live overall. If you like quiet, you will probably enjoy it here.
One of the nice things about Empire is that it is nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities.
Being a small town, Empire does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.
In Empire, just 10.63% of people have at least a bachelor's degree, which is quite a bit lower than the national average for cities and towns of 21.84%.
The per capita income in Empire in 2022 was $17,538, which is low income relative to Louisiana and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $70,152 for a family of four. However, Empire contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Empire also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 49.65% of its population below the federal poverty line.
Empire is an extremely ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Empire home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Empire residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Empire include French, German, Italian, Irish, and Yugoslavian.
The most common language spoken in Empire is English. Other important languages spoken here include Vietnamese and Spanish.
The way a neighborhood looks and feels when you walk or drive around it, from its setting, its buildings, and its flavor, can make all the difference. This neighborhood has some really cool things about the way it looks and feels as revealed by NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research. This might include anything from the housing stock to the types of households living here to how people get around.
Uncrowded roads, rural America and space to be the individual you are. If you like these characteristics, this neighborhood may fit you. With just 18 residents per square mile, is less crowded than 95.2% of all U.S. neighborhoods. is a neighborhood that is on the ocean, a bay, or inlet. Many times, such places have amenities that bring locals and visitors to the waterfront for recreational activities or to check out the scenery. In some densely populated areas that are less financially well-off, the neighborhood waterfront can be relatively industrial and less open to recreation. In addition to being coastal, is a very nautical neighborhood, meaning that it is somewhat historic, walkable, densely populated and on the water. This gives the neighborhood a very nautical feel, with some seaside and shipping feel, which some may really enjoy the sights and sounds of.
In addition, the neighborhood stands out for having the majority of its residential real estate made up of mobile homes. In fact, 81.5% of the occupied real estate here are mobile homes, which is a greater proportion than is found in 99.9% of the neighborhoods in the U.S. If you like mobile homes, this might be a great neighborhood in which to look for real estate.
Furthermore, if you like the look and ambience of new homes and newly built neighborhoods, you will love the neighborhood. A whopping 87.4% of the homes and other residential real estate here were built after 1999, which is a higher proportion of new homes then you will find in 98.4% of the neighborhoods in the U.S. Everything here just feels new. In fact, the concentration of newer homes here is so great that they completely dominate the landscape. In most neighborhoods, there is a mixture of ages of residential real estate, but here it is almost completely built during one time frame: 2000 through today.
The neighborhood stands out for having an average per capita income lower than 98.1% of the neighborhoods in the United States. The neighborhood also has a greater percentage of children living in poverty (82.9%) than found in 99.5% of all U.S. neighborhoods. Children living in poverty is one of the challenges facing America, and the world, and in this neighborhood in particular, the problem can be considered acute.
More people work in manufacturing and as laborers here in the neighborhood than in 98.8% of the neighborhoods in America. Despite the loss of manufacturing jobs across the nation, this neighborhood remains a place where, compared to other parts of the country, you will find many laborers and manufacturers.
Furthermore, each year, fewer and fewer Americans make their living as farmers, foresters, or fishers. But the neighborhood truly stands out among U.S. neighborhoods. According to exclusive NeighborhoodScout analysis, this neighborhood has a greater proportion of farmers, foresters, or fishers than 98.6% of all American neighborhoods. This is truly a unique cultural characteristic of this neighborhood.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more French and Yugoslav ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 30.6% of this neighborhood's residents have French ancestry and 2.5% have Yugoslav ancestry.
is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 14.3% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Vietnamese at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 99.7% of the neighborhoods in America.
How wealthy a neighborhood is, from very wealthy, to middle income, to low income is very formative with regard to the personality and character of a neighborhood. Equally important is the rate of people, particularly children, who live below the federal poverty line. In some wealthy gated communities, the areas immediately surrounding can have high rates of childhood poverty, which indicates other social issues. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in Empire are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 98.1% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 82.9% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 99.5% of U.S. neighborhoods.
The old saying "you are what you eat" is true. But it is also true that you are what you do for a living. The types of occupations your neighbors have shape their character, and together as a group, their collective occupations shape the culture of a place.
In the neighborhood, 49.9% of the working population is employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants, with 21.3% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in executive, management, and professional occupations (13.0%), and 8.3% in farming, forestry, or commercial fishing.
The languages spoken by people in this neighborhood are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 83.8% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Vietnamese and Italian.
Culture is shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture – our learned behavior – comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.
In the neighborhood in Empire, LA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as French (30.6%). There are also a number of people of Asian ancestry (13.8%), and residents who report German roots (11.1%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (6.2%), along with some Irish ancestry residents (3.9%), among others.
Even if your neighborhood is walkable, you may still have to drive to your place of work. Some neighborhoods are located where many can get to work in just a few minutes, while others are located such that most residents have a long and arduous commute. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (41.4% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (67.4%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (19.7%) and 8.2% of residents also hop out the door and walk to work for their daily commute. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.