[2] Vermilion Parish is part of the Lafayette metropolitan statistical area, and located in southern Acadiana.

Indigenous peoples lived in the area for thousands of years, from different cultures.

By historic times, the Chitimacha and Atakapa inhabited the area and were the American Indians encountered by Spanish and French explorers and settlers.

The tribes' numbers were drastically reduced as a result of exposure to European diseases.

French, Spanish, enslaved Africans, and French-Canadians from Acadia expelled after the Seven Years' War won by Great Britain, had all entered the area by the end of the 18th century.

[13] By the 2020 United States census, there were 57,359 people, 22,086 households, and 15,143 families residing in the parish.

The racial makeup of the parish was 82.68% White, 14.17% Black or African American, 0.30% Native American, 1.82% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.26% from other races, and 0.76% from two or more races; 1.38% of the population were Hispanic or Latin American of any race; 24.89% reported speaking French or Cajun French at home, while 1.64% speak Vietnamese and 1.02% Spanish.

However, like other Acadian parishes with large Cajun populations, the county has turned sharply right in the 21st century based on cultural issues and Democrats' discomfort with the oil and gas industry.