Doing business in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana

A coastal Acadiana parish of about 58,000 people, running on health care, retail, oil and gas, agriculture and fishing, and now the site of the largest capital investment in Louisiana history.

Checked 27 August 2026

Vermilion Parish is where the Acadiana prairie runs out into the Chenier Plain marsh. Rice, crawfish and cattle in the north, fishing and oil service along the coast, and a string of small towns down Highway 14 and Highway 82.

What follows is the practical layer for anyone trading here: which authority governs what, what you charge in tax and where you remit it, and where the work is.

The snapshot

• Parish seat. Abbeville, population 11,186 at the 2020 census.
• Parish population. 57,359 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 projection of roughly 58,105.
• Region. Acadiana, on the Gulf coast, south and west of Lafayette.
• Parish government. Vermilion Parish Police Jury, Abbeville, 337-898-4300.
• Sales tax, unincorporated. 8.75 percent, being 5.00 percent state and 3.75 percent parish.
• Sales tax, maximum. 11.25 percent in the highest jurisdiction in the parish.
• Local tax collector. Vermilion Parish sales tax office, 337-898-5732.
• Economic development. Vermilion Economic Development Alliance, Abbeville, 337-740-0433.
• Rural water. Vermilion Parish Waterworks District No. 1, 337-898-8345.

Towns and communities

Where you operate inside the parish changes both your tax rate and whether you need a municipal license at all.

• Abbeville. Parish seat and largest town. Parish offices, banks and most suppliers. Municipal occupational license applies. Designated a Louisiana Development Ready Community, with a Qualified Opportunity Zone covering much of downtown.
• Kaplan. Incorporated town in the west of the parish. Municipal license applies.
• Erath. Incorporated town south east of Abbeville. Municipal license applies.
• Delcambre. Incorporated town on the Iberia Parish line, with a working shrimp fleet.
• Gueydan. Incorporated town in the north west, known for waterfowl.
• Maurice. Incorporated town on the Lafayette side, population 2,118 at the 2020 census.
• Pecan Island. Unincorporated coastal community. No municipal license, no city sales tax. Site of the announced SpaceX spaceport.
• Other communities. Perry, Forked Island, Intracoastal City and other unincorporated places, which follow parish rather than municipal rules.

Sales tax across the parish

Louisiana collects local sales tax locally, and Vermilion Parish is split across seven taxing jurisdictions. The practical consequences are the same three every time.

1. The rate follows the job, not your office. Work performed in unincorporated Vermilion is taxed at the parish rate. Work performed inside Abbeville is taxed at the Abbeville rate. A Lafayette firm working here charges Vermilion rates.
2. You register twice. The state portion with the Louisiana Department of Revenue, the parish portion with the Vermilion Parish sales tax office.
3. Verify the exact address. Rates within one parish can differ by several points. The collector on 337-898-5732 will confirm.

Charging a single rate across parish and town lines is one of the most frequent errors Louisiana contractors make. The rate changes with the site address, not with your invoicing software's default.

What the parish runs on

By employment, the largest sectors are health care and social assistance at roughly 3,981 people, retail trade at roughly 3,435, and mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction at roughly 2,594.

Those figures count Vermilion residents by industry, which includes the many who commute to Lafayette. Counted the other way, by jobs physically located in the parish, the federal wage census for 2024 puts retail trade first at 1,940, accommodation and food service second at 1,078, and construction third at 824, across 1,348 businesses in total. Both are correct. They answer different questions, and the second is the one that matters if you are deciding where to open.

That mix is about to gain a category it has never had. The announced SpaceX project at Pecan Island brings aerospace construction from 2027, with 3,000 direct jobs at an average salary of $92,600 and an estimated 8,100 indirect roles. For most local businesses the practical question is the indirect number rather than the direct one.

How Vermilion compares

Jobs, wages and business counts are jobs located in the parish, from the federal quarterly census of employment and wages for 2024. Sales tax is the range across all jurisdictions inside the parish.

• Vermilion. 8.75 to 11.25 percent. Occupational license outside town: yes. 1,348 businesses, 12,560 jobs, $927 average weekly wage, jobs up 1.7 percent.
• Acadia. 9.25 to 11.25 percent. Yes. 1,460 businesses, 14,380 jobs, $867, flat.
• Cameron. Rate not published. 158 businesses, 4,009 jobs, $2,237, jobs down 4.3 percent.
• Iberia. 9.25 to 11.25 percent. Yes. 1,897 businesses, 24,074 jobs, $1,102, up 1.7 percent.
• Jefferson Davis. 10.50 to 12.50 percent. Yes. 800 businesses, 8,020 jobs, $849, up 2.3 percent.
• Lafayette. 9.00 to 11.25 percent. No occupational license levied. 11,990 businesses, 137,173 jobs, $1,118, up 1.8 percent.
• Louisiana median parish. 9.25 percent. 40 of 64 levy the license. 857 businesses, 10,427 jobs, $963, up 0.9 percent.

Three things stand out. Vermilion charges 8.75 percent outside its towns, below the Louisiana median and lower than every neighbour that publishes a rate. Lafayette Parish levies no occupational license tax at all while Vermilion does. And Cameron's $2,237 average weekly wage is not a local labor market, it is the LNG terminals, earned across 158 businesses, and Cameron is the only neighbour that lost jobs last year.

Common questions

Do I need an occupational license in Vermilion Parish? It depends where you operate. Incorporated towns such as Abbeville and Kaplan require a municipal occupational license. Unincorporated areas, including Pecan Island, do not. State level trade licensing applies everywhere.

Where is the SpaceX site? At Pecan Island, on roughly 125,000 acres of former Exxon land in the south of the parish, about 50 miles south southwest of Lafayette. Construction is slated for 2027 and a first Starship launch is targeted for 2029.

Sources

Population and employment from US Census Bureau QuickFacts and Data USA. Sales tax rates and jurisdiction count from the Louisiana Uniform Local Sales Tax Board, the Louisiana Association of Tax Administrators parish index, and the parish collector. SpaceX figures from Louisiana Economic Development. Business counts, jobs and wages from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, 2024 annual averages. Rates and figures change: before you file or charge tax, confirm with the office named above.

More

• Pecan Island