MAURICE, La. - Once a quiet village with only one school and no traffic lights, Maurice is now ranked the fastest growing city in Louisiana, according to World Population Review.
For longtime residents like Nelwyn Lemaire, the change is significant.
Lemaire moved to Maurice when she was 12 years old, and she has lived there for more than 50 years. She remembers a much smaller community, with few businesses and homes.
“It was very small,” Lemaire said. “It wasn’t many businesses, few homes. They didn’t even have a red light when I first arrived over here.”
Her sister, Debra Carriere, also lived in Maurice before moving away.
“It was like a big field,” Carriere said. “They had a school, a church...that’s all I can remember as a child.”
Now, Maurice has changed significantly.
New data from World Population Review ranks Maurice as the fastest growing city in Louisiana, with an average annual growth rate of about 9%. Since the 2020 census, the city’s population has increased by nearly 41%.
Driving through Maurice now, the growth is visible. New schools, businesses and neighborhoods line the roads that once cut through empty fields.
“It’s like being in Lafayette, almost,” Carriere said, “but with a little less traffic and quieter.”
As more people move into Maurice, many residents hope for more retail and restaurants to move in also.
