Lake Charles is the fifth largest incorporated city in the US state of Louisiana, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Located in Calcasieu Parish, a major cultural, industrial, and educational center in the southwest region of the state, and one of the most important in Acadiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 71,993. Lake Charles is the principal city of the Lake Charles Metropolitan Statistical Area, having a population of 194,138. It is the larger principal city of the Lake Charles-Jennings Combined Statistical Area, with a population of 225,235. A 2008 population estimate of the five parish area was over 285,853.

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