Greater Abbeville Vermilion Chamber of Commerce

Parish Profile - Vermilion Parish, LA

Parish Seat: Abbeville

POPULATION:

	Estimated as of 2000	Estimated as of 1998	1990	1980

Parish	53,807	51,244	50,055	48,458

Abbeville	11,887	13,313	11,187	12,391
Kaplan	5,117	4,984	4,535	5,016
Erath	2,187	2,487	2,428	2,133
Gueydan	1,598	1,716	1,611	1,695
Delcambre	1,539	2,069	1,438	2,216
Maurice	642	510	432	478

TRANSPORTATION:

Estimated distance to:	Miles/Time

Atlanta, GA	610/9.52
Dallas, TX	426/6.54
Houston, TX	226/3.51
New Orleans, LA	159/2.42

(Note: Distance computed between major cities and parish seat.)

Highways serving parish:

U.S.	167 (4-Lane)
	90 (4-Lane) within 15 miles
Nearest Interstate	I-10 and I-49 (20 miles)
State	14, 35, 82, 89, 92

Railroads:

Louisiana and Delta

Parcel Service:

UPS, Federal Express, Express Mail

Motor Freight Carriers:

American Freightways, Merchant's Truck Line,
SAIA Motor Freight, Central Freight, Conway
Southern, AAA Cooper, Roadway Express, Yellow Freight

Air Service:

Nearest Commercial Airport:

Lafayette Regional Airport

Distance:

24 miles

Commercial Airlines:

American Eagle	Atlantic Southeast (ASA)
Continental	Northwest Airlink

Average Number of Flights Per Day	20
Number of Runways	3
Maximum Runway Length	7,651 feet

Local Airport:

Abbeville Municipal Airport-
Modern facility with a 75' by 5,000' runway
serviced by two instrument approaches. Jet fuel
and aviation gasoline available onsite.
Airport is serviced by a full service fixed based
operator.

WATERWAYS:

Nearest Deepwater	Channel	Distance
Port Facilities	Depth	to Port

Port of Lake Charles	40 feet	81 miles
Foreign Trade Zone:	Yes

Nearest Shallow	Channel	Distance
Draft Port Facilities	Depth	to Port

Abbeville Harbor & Port	16 feet	10 miles
Foreign Trade Zone:	No

FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS:

Banks	Number	Assets

Local & Branch	11	$661,578,000
Credit Unions	2	$4,861,000

COMMUNICATIONS:

Newspapers:

	Daily	Weekly
Abbeville Meridional	Tues-Fri, Sunday
Kaplan Herald		Wednesday
Gueydan Journal		Thursday

Television:

Local-0	Reception-5
Cable television-yes	Reception (with cable) -21

Telephone Service:

BellSouth
Delcambre Telephone Co.
Kaplan Telepone Co.
Western Union

GOVERNMENT:

	Type Government	Zoning Regulations	Fire Insurance Rating
Abbeville	Mayor/Council	Yes	Class 3
Kaplan	Mayor/Council	Yes	Class 5
Erath	Mayor/Alderman	No	Class 6
Gueydan	Mayor/Alderman	No	Class 6
Delcambre	Mayor/Alderman	No	Class 7
Maurice	Mayor/Alderman	Yes	Class 8
Parish	Police Jury	No	Class 7 & 8

UTILITIES AND SERVICES:

Electricity:

City of Abbeville
ENTERGY
Jefferson Davis Electrical Coop.
South Louisiana Electric Membership Cooperative (SLEMCO)
Town of Gueydan
City of Kaplan

Water:	Supplier:
Abbeville	City of Abbeville
Kaplan	City of Kaplan
Erath	Town of Erath
Gueydan	Town of Gueydan
Delcambre	Town of Delcambre
Maurice	Village of Maurice
Unincorporated Areas	Private Wells

Natural Gas:

ENTEX Gas Company
Louisiana Gas Service Company
Town of Delcambre
Town of Gueydan

Sewer System:	Supplier:
Abbeville	City of Abbeville
Kaplan	City of Kaplan
Erath	Town of Erath
Gueydan	Town of Gueydan
Delcambre	Town of Delcambre
Maurice	Village of Maurice
Unincorporated Areas	Private Systems

LP Gas:	Available from Surburban Propane
Fuel Oils:	Available from Local Suppliers

RECREATION:

Hunting	Fishing
Tennis Courts	Boating
Museums	Cinema
Parks	Skating Rink
Amateur Theater-Abbey Theaters	Golf Course-Abbeville Country Club
Organized Sports-Vermilion Youth	Recreational Centers

LABOR FORCE:

Estimated labor force	21,920
Unemployment rate	6.4%

Note: Louisiana is a right to work state.

EDUCATION:

	Number of Schools	Faculty 1999-00	Enroll 2001-02
Elementary	11	324	K-8
Middle	3	152.5	9-12
Secondary	6	107
Private	4	84	947

Technical Colleges:

	Enroll 2002
La. Technical College Gulf Area Campus	526

Area Colleges:

	Enrollment 2002
UL - Lafayette	14,869
Lafayette (24 miles)

Louisiana State University - Eunice	2,702

Public Libraries:

# of Libraries	# of Volumes
8	131.705

CLIMATE:

Annual Average Temperature	67
Monthly Average Temperature
...............*January	51
...............*July	81
Annual Average Rainfall	(60.2 inches)
Average Elevation	18 feet
Area in Square Miles	1,173.9 miles

HEALTH CARE:

General Hospitals :	2	Beds:	187
Nursing Home:	6	Beds:	556
Doctors:	37	Dentists:	22

TAXES:

State Taxes - Retail	Rate

State	4%
Parish	2.75%
Municipal:
..........Abbeville	1.25%
..........Delcambre	1%
..........Erath	1%
..........Gueydan	1%
..........Kaplan	2.25%
..........Maurice	1.5%


Property Tax Range (Mileage Rates):	2001 average millage rate 69.71

CHURCHES, SYNAGOGUES:

Protestant:	33
Catholic:	13

LODGING:

Hotels, Motels:	4
Total Rooms:	185
Bed & Breakfast Inns:	3

MAJOR PRIVATE EMPLOYERS:

NAME	PRODUCT OR SERVICES	UNION
Acadian Contractors	Oilfield Contractors	No
Sunrise Care and Rehab	Nursing Home	No
Broussard Brothers, Inc.	Oilfield Contractors	No
Catfish Wholesale, Inc.	Seafood Processing	No
Coastal Chemical	Chemical Distribution	No
Champagne's Grocery	Retail Grocer	No
Dowell Schlumberger	Gas/Oil	No
Gulf Coast Bank	Retail Banking	No
Menard Oil Company	Bulk Fuel Dealer	No
Liberty Rice Mill, Inc.	Milled Rice/Rice By-Products	No
Omega Protein	Fishmeal/Oil/Solubles	No
Riviana Foods, Inc.	Rice Processing/Packaging	No
Robie's Food Store	Retail Grocer	No
Texaco	Gas/Oil	No
Vermilion Health Care	Nursing Home	No
Wal-Mart	Discount Retailer	No
Winn-Dixie	Retail Grocer	No

MAJOR PUBLIC EMPLOYERS:

Vermilion Parish Police Jury		No
Vermilion Parish School Board		Yes
Vermilion Parish Sheriff Office		No
Abbeville General Hospital		No

AVAILABLE INDUSTRIAL PROPERTIES:

Detailed information available upon request.

NOTES/COMMENTS

Terminal facilities for each carrier listed are located in Lafayette
Parish or Iberia Parish all of which are less than 24 miles from
Vermilion Parish.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Lynn Guillory
Executive Director
Greater Abbeville-Vermilion Chamber of Commerce
1907 Veterans Memorial Drive
Abbeville, LA 70510
Phone: (337) 893-2491 Fax: (337) 893-1807
e-mail: abbevillechamber@abbevillechamber.com

Note: Information in this profile was obtained from various community
and government agencies. It was the most current data available at the
time of publication.

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