As of 2024, how many parishes are there in the state of Louisiana, USA?

The state of Louisiana is divided into 64 parishes, which are analogous to counties in other states. There are various forms of government being used within the parishes. Louisiana's usage of the term "parish" for a geographic region or local government dates back to the French colonial and Spanish colonial periods.

Thirty-eight parishes are governed by a council called a police jury. The remaining 26 have various other forms of government, including: council-president, council-manager, parish commission, and consolidated parish/city.

Louisiana was formed from French and Spanish colonies, which were both officially Roman Catholic. Local colonial government was based upon parishes, as the local ecclesiastical division. Following the Louisiana Purchase, when the USA purchased the Louisiana Territory from the French, the territorial legislative council in April 1805 divided the Territory of Orleans (the predecessor of Louisiana state) into 12 counties. The borders of these counties were poorly defined, but largely coincided with the colonial ecclesiastical parishes.

Upon statehood, the government reverted to calling the divisions parishes and the larger ones began to divide further until they ended up with the 64 parishes we have today.