re: How did Lafayette and Beaumont outgrow Lake Charles by so much

Darrell’s is still open.

Correct answer is 2 fold…Lafayette got the oil money like others have said but it also has the I-49 corridor which helps. Second is 3 major hurricanes in 15 years period. Lafayette is much further inland so it survives storms better. But recently LC has had a boom in Natural Gas and the casinos. If you’re judging LC by what you see along I-10 you are vastly underestimating it. In my book LC and Laf are the top 2 places to live in the state and possibly the only 2. We still have great public schools here unlike most places in the state.