Home age in ZIP 70601, Lake Charles, LA: median built 1971

Home age is not roof age, and the Census does not record replacements. ZIP 70601 in Lake Charles, LA: median home built 1971; 76.5% of homes (12,859) are older than 25 years and 13.6% (2,282) were built since 2010, out of 16,811 homes.

U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2019 to 2023 (5-year estimates), retrieved October 9, 2026. Area = Census ZIP Code Tabulation Area 70601.

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Share of homes in ZIP 70601 by decade builtColumns from the pre-1940 decade on the left to 2020 and later on the right. pre-1940 8.2 percent; 1940s 9.6 percent; 1950s 18.7 percent; 1960s 12 percent; 1970s 12.2 percent; 1980s 11.2 percent; 1990s 4.6 percent; 2000s 9.9 percent; 2010s 12.6 percent; 2020+ 1 percentpre-1940: 1,375 homes, 8.2%8.2%pre-1940Calcasieu Parish: 4.2%1940s: 1,613 homes, 9.6%9.6%1940sCalcasieu Parish: 3.4%1950s: 3,145 homes, 18.7%18.7%1950sCalcasieu Parish: 10.4%1960s: 2,017 homes, 12.0%12%1960sCalcasieu Parish: 9.8%1970s: 2,055 homes, 12.2%12.2%1970sCalcasieu Parish: 14.3%1980s: 1,876 homes, 11.2%11.2%1980sCalcasieu Parish: 10.4%1990s: 778 homes, 4.6%4.6%1990sCalcasieu Parish: 12.4%2000s: 1,670 homes, 9.9%9.9%2000sCalcasieu Parish: 15.3%2010s: 2,111 homes, 12.6%12.6%2010sCalcasieu Parish: 16.9%2020+: 171 homes, 1.0%1%2020+Calcasieu Parish: 2.8%Built 1999 or earlier: 76.5% of homes (12,859)ZIP 70601, built before 2000built 2000 or laterCalcasieu Parish

Share of the 16,811 housing units in the ZIP, by decade built. The red marks are Calcasieu Parish. This counts houses, not roofs: a roof is replaced several times in the life of a house, and no federal survey records when.

ZIP 70601 next to Lake Charles and Calcasieu Parish

IndicatorZIP 70601Lake CharlesCalcasieu ParishRank among 1 ZIPs of Lake Charles on this site
Housing units16,81140,14694,462
Median year built197119791988
Built before 198060.7%52.2%42.1%
Built before 200076.5%no data65%
Built since 201013.6%no data19.7%
Owner-occupied homes60.4%61.1%72.2%
Single-family units78%70.7%no data
Median home value$164,300 (+/- $14,296)$204,000$208,500
Median household income$49,545 (+/- $3,609)$56,864no data

City figures are for the Census place, county figures for the county; “no data” means the Census file does not publish that figure. Value and income are survey estimates, the plus-or-minus is the 90% margin of error.

Every decade in ZIP 70601

BuiltShare of Calcasieu ParishShare of ZIPHomes in ZIP 70601
2020+2.8%1.0%171
2010s16.9%12.6%2,111
2000s15.3%9.9%1,670
1990s12.4%4.6%778
1980s10.4%11.2%1,876
1970s14.3%12.2%2,055
1960s9.8%12.0%2,017
1950s10.4%18.7%3,145
1940s3.4%9.6%1,613
pre-19404.2%8.2%1,375

Counts are Census estimates of housing units by year built (table B25034). If a roof had never been replaced, it would be 3 to 6 years old on a house from the 2020s, 17 to 26 on one from the 2000s, 37 to 46 on one from the 1980s and 87 or more on one from before 1940. Most older houses have had at least one replacement, and the Census does not record when.

What the numbers say about ZIP 70601

ZIP 70601 has 16,811 housing units: 12,859 (76.5%) were built before 2000, 2,282 (13.6%) in 2010 or later, and 3,145 (18.7%) in the 1950s, its largest era. The median year built is 1971 (Lake Charles: 1979), so 8 years older than the city.

Housing mix and money, from the same survey: 60.4% of occupied homes are owner-occupied; 78% of units are single-family houses; the median owner-occupied home is valued at $164,300, give or take $14,296; median household income is $49,545, give or take $3,609; the ZIP holds 41.9% of the housing units the Census counts in Lake Charles, 16,811 of them. These are survey estimates with margins of error, and for a small ZIP the margin can be wide.

Reading this for roofs, carefully: the Census records when a house was built, never when its roof was last replaced. If every roof were still the one installed with its house, 12,081 units (71.9%, built before 1990) would be past the 30-year top of the usual asphalt-shingle range, 778 (4.6%, the 1990s) would mostly sit past it, 1,670 (9.9%, the 2000s) would mostly be inside the 20 to 30 year window and 2,282 (13.6%, 2010 onward) would be younger than it. Most older roofs have been replaced, so treat these as the pool of houses where an old roof is possible, not as a count of old roofs.

Roof age calculator for ZIP 70601

Enter the year your house was built, and the year the roof was last replaced if you know it. It starts at the median year built for this ZIP. The share of neighbours’ homes older than yours comes from this ZIP’s own decade counts.

–years old (roof)
–of homes in ZIP 70601 are older
–vs. the ZIP median year built

Material ranges are general planning figures (the same ones as on our roof-age page), not warranties. Sun, storms, attic ventilation and installation quality move them. The decade shares assume homes were built evenly within each decade. This is not an inspection: a roofer on the roof decides.

Map: ZIP 70601 among Lake Charles’s ZIP areas

Map of ZIP 70601 and nearby ZIP areas, shaded by the share of homes built before 2000ZIP 70601: 16,811 homes, 76.5% built before 2000, median year 197170601
  • under 20% built before 2000
  • 40 to 60%
  • 80% or more
  • Dot size = housing units. Red ring = ZIP 70601. Click a dot to open that ZIP.

Storm backdrop: Calcasieu Parish

A ZIP is too small for its own hail record, so this is the county. FEMA’s National Risk Index rates Calcasieu Parish Relatively High overall (95.7 of 100), Relatively Moderate for hail (93.9), Relatively High for strong wind (84.3) and Relatively High for tornado (95.6). NOAA logged 48 hail reports in the county, on 19 days with hail of 1 inch or more in the full years 2014 to 2025.

FEMA National Risk Index, December 2025 version, county level. This product uses FEMA’s National Risk Index data but is not endorsed by FEMA.

Where to go from here

Other roofing cities near ZIP 70601: Beaumont, TX (54 miles), Lafayette, LA (71 miles), Alexandria, LA (88 miles).

Questions

How old are the homes in ZIP 70601?

Of the 16,811 housing units, 10,205 (60.7%) were built before 1980, 12,859 (76.5%) before 2000 and 2,282 (13.6%) from 2010 on (Census ACS 2019 to 2023, survey estimate).

Does a house's age tell me how old its roof is in 70601?

No. ACS records the year the structure was built, not the year the roof was last replaced. With 10,205 units built before 1980 in this ZIP, many roofs are replacements rather than originals. Ask the seller for permit records or have a roofer inspect the roof.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2019 to 2023, tables B25034 (year structure built), B25035, B25003, B25024, B25077 and B19013, ZIP Code Tabulation Areas; ZIP-to-city assignment from the Census 2020 ZCTA-to-place relationship file (a ZIP is assigned to a city when more than half of its land area lies inside it). A ZCTA is not a USPS ZIP code: it approximates one and can differ at the edges. Public domain. The 12 ZIP-specific figures above differ from ZIP to ZIP.

Information only, not a roof inspection. Pickaroofer does not know the condition of any individual roof.