About the Lafayette area - Graduate Medical Education

Lafayette, Louisiana is a city with a population of 121,374 persons with the metropolitan area representing the third largest metropolitan statistical area in Louisiana with a 2020 population of 478,384. It is the center of the economic corridor along Interstate-10 from New Orleans to Houston and almost equidistant from both. Lafayette has been referred to as “The Hub City” since 1840 and is supported by three main economic drivers namely the oil and gas industry, healthcare, and higher education.

Lafayette is at the heart of Louisiana’s Cajun and Creole Country, an area known as the ‘Happiest City in America’. The rich cultural history, the tasty culinary scene and the distinctive Cajun and Zydeco music are all part of the cultural legacy created by the diverse people who settled here — Acadian, Creole, French, African, Spanish, Italian and Native Americans. It’s an area where the Cajun dialect is still spoken. You can visit beautiful architectural sceneries, antique markets, try famous boudin(sausages), and gambo, dance to live music and visit one the many festivals such as the Festival International de Louisiane and the Courir de Mardis Gras. Once you’ve had your fill of crawfish, sweet dough pies, cracklings, étouffée, catfish, head into the boundless wonders of the Atchafalaya Basin, the largest river swamp, containing almost one million acres of swamps, bayous, and backwater lakes.