Broussard, Louisiana

Broussard, Louisiana
City
City of Broussard
Downtown
Motto:  "Where Our Rich Culture Defines Us!"[1]
Location of Broussard in Lafayette and St. Martin Parish, Louisiana.
Location of Louisiana in the United States
Coordinates: 30°08′32″N 91°57′49″W / 30.14222°N 91.96361°W / 30.14222; -91.96361
Country	United States
State	Louisiana
Parish	Lafayette, St. Martin
Incorporated	1884
Government
• Mayor	Ray Bourque (R)[2]
Area [3]
• Total	18.03 sq mi (46.70 km2)
• Land	17.99 sq mi (46.60 km2)
• Water	0.039 sq mi (0.10 km2)
Elevation	33 ft (10 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	13,417
• Density	745.8/sq mi (287.94/km2)
Time zone	UTC-6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP Code	70518
Area code	337
FIPS code	22-10075
Website	Broussard, Louisiana

Broussard is a city in Lafayette and St. Martin parishes in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The population was 8,197 at the 2010 U.S. census, and 13,417 at the 2020 United States census.^[4] Broussard is part of the Lafayette metropolitan statistical area.

The community was originally named Côte Gelée (Frozen Hill) because of its hilly ridge area and the severe winter of 1784. Broussard was founded in 1884. It was named after Valsin Broussard, a prominent local merchant, who formed the first vigilante committee when his own store was robbed. He was a direct descendant of Joseph Broussard de Beausoleil, one of the first 200 Acadians to arrive in Louisiana on February 27, 1765, aboard the Santo Domingo.^[5]

Primary agricultural resources include sugarcane, soybean and hay production as well as horse and cattle farming. Principal industries consist of oil and gas service companies, food distributors, real estate developments and manufacturing.

Broussard has gone from a horse and buggy community, with large sugarcane plantation homes, to a current day industrial community with over 300 businesses. It was designated a city in November 2002.^[6]

Broussard is located at 30°8′32″N 91°57′49″W / 30.14222°N 91.96361°W / 30.14222; -91.96361 (30.142329, -91.963644), in the southern Louisiana region of Acadiana.^[7] Most of the city limits are located in Lafayette Parish with a small eastern portion of the city being located in St. Martin Parish.

The city of St. Martinville, the parish seat of St. Martin Parish is located about 10 miles (16 km) east of Broussard in which Louisiana Highway 96 passes through both communities. Louisiana Highway 182 and U.S. Route 90 (future Interstate 49) also pass through the city with Lafayette, the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, being located northwest (7 miles (11 km)) and New Iberia, the parish seat of Iberia Parish, located southeast (14 miles (23 km)).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 11.4 square miles (29.6 km²), of which 11.4 square miles (29.5 km²) is land and 0.04 square mile (0.1 km²) (0.18%) is water.

As of the 2020 census, Broussard had a population of 13,417. The median age was 35.6 years. 26.4% of residents were under the age of 18 and 11.7% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 95.7 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 93.8 males age 18 and over.^[10][11]

96.3% of residents lived in urban areas, while 3.7% lived in rural areas.^[12]

There were 5,090 households in Broussard, of which 40.1% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 54.2% were married-couple households, 16.4% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 22.6% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 22.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.^[10]

There were 5,500 housing units, of which 7.5% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.2% and the rental vacancy rate was 10.9%.^[10]

In 2019, there were an estimated 2,881 families in the city. An average of 2.69 people lived in a household. The median household income was $82,677. Males had a median income of $62,012 versus $50,930 for females, and 13.3% of the population lived at or below the poverty line.^[14][15][16]

The Chitimacha Louisiana Open is a golf tournament of the Web.com Tour played at Le Triomphe Golf & Country Club since 1992.

• Erin Blanchard, gymnast
• Illinois Jacquet, jazz musician

• City of Broussard