Welcome to Opelousas!
Opelousas is the parish seat of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, and is one of the former capitals of Louisiana. Opelousas is in the south Louisiana area known as "Acadiana", the center of Cajun culture in Louisiana. Opelousas is also on the far eastern edge of the geographic region known as the "Cajun Prairie." This is due to the extensive prairie lands that extend from northeast of Lake Charles eastward to the edge of Opelousas.
Opelousas is also a common name for the flathead catfish. Opelousas (French: Les Opélousas, Spanish: Los Opeluzás) is a small city in, and the parish seat of, St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. Interstate 49 and U.S. Route 190 were constructed with a junction here. According to the 2020 census, Opelousas has a population of 15,547 inhabitants and is currently declining at a rate of -1.16% annually its population has decreased by -6.53% since the most recent census, which recorded a population of 16,634 in 2010. Opelousas is the principal city for the Opelousas-Eunice Micropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 80,808 in 2020. Opelousas is also the fourth largest city in the Lafayette-Acadiana Combined Statistical Area, which has a population of 537,947.
Historically an area of settlement by French and Spanish Creoles, Creoles of color, and Acadians, Opelousas is the center of zydeco music. It celebrates its heritage at the Creoles of Color Heritage Folklife Center, one of the destinations on the new Louisiana African-American Heritage Trail. It is also the location of the Evangeline Downs Racetrack and Casino.
The city calls itself "the spice capital of the world", with the production and sale of seasonings such as Tony Chachere's products, Targil Seasonings, Savoie's cajun meats, and products, and LouAna Cooking Oil.
During the tenure of Sheriff Cat Doucet, from 1936 to 1940 and again from 1952 to 1968, the section of Opelousas along Highway 190 was a haven of gambling and prostitution, the profits from which he skimmed a take.