Oakdale is a somewhat small city located in the state of Louisiana. With a population of 6,437 people and three associated neighborhoods, Oakdale is the 71st largest community in Louisiana.Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Oakdale is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Oakdale is a city of service providers, professionals, and transportation and shipping workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Oakdale who work in maintenance occupations (12.71%), teaching (10.56%), and healthcare (6.97%). One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 10.39% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes. Oakdale is a small city, and as such doesn't have a public transit system that people use to get to and from their jobs every day.In Oakdale, just 9.78% of people over 25 hold a college degree, which is very low compared to the rest of the nation, whereas the average among all cities is 21.84%. The per capita income in Oakdale in 2022 was $22,486, which is lower middle income relative to Louisiana, and low income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $89,944 for a family of four. However, Oakdale contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Oakdale is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Oakdale home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Oakdale residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Oakdale also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 19.11% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Oakdale include French, Irish, English, Scottish, and Lebanese. Oakdale also has a high percentage of its population that was born in another country: 15.42%. The most common language spoken in Oakdale is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and French.
