Lake Charles is a larger medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Louisiana. With a population of 79,113 people and 37 associated neighborhoods, Lake Charles is the sixth largest community in Louisiana.

Lake Charles is also nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Such areas are often places that visitors and locals go for waterfront activities or taking in the scenery.

Residents of the city have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 18.66 minutes getting to work every day.

The overall education level of Lake Charles is somewhat higher than in the average US city of 21.84%: 27.47% of adults 25 and older in the city have at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Lake Charles in 2022 was $34,341, which is wealthy relative to Louisiana, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $137,364 for a family of four. However, Lake Charles contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Lake Charles is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Lake Charles home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Lake Charles residents report their race to be Black or African-American, followed by White. Important ancestries of people in Lake Charles include French, English, Irish, German, and French Canadian.

The most common language spoken in Lake Charles is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and French.