Baton Rougeruns on a handful of strong industries. If you’re job-hunting or weighing a move, here’s where the opportunities (and the big-name employers) are.
Top industries & employers
Petrochemicals & refining
ExxonMobil Baton Rouge, Dow Chemical (Plaquemine), BASF (Geismar), Shintech, Air Products, Placid Refining, and a very large contractor and turnaround workforce
The ExxonMobil complex on the north side is one of the largest refineries in the United States, and the industrial corridor runs from here down the Mississippi to New Orleans. It is the region's economic engine and also its environmental argument — emissions and air quality are a live public issue and LDEQ's monitoring data is public.
Higher education & research
Louisiana State University, Southern University and A&M College, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge Community College
LSU is the state's flagship with over 5,000 academic staff, and Southern is the flagship of the only historically Black university system in the country. Pennington is a serious obesity and metabolic research institute with an international profile that sits oddly and impressively in a mid-size southern city.
State government
The Louisiana State Capitol, the Legislature, the Supreme Court's administrative arm, the Department of Health, LDEQ, DOTD
Baton Rouge is the seat of state government and a large share of downtown employment is public sector. As in most capitals, that makes the local labour market steadier through a downturn than the petrochemical side alone would be.
Healthcare
Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, Baton Rouge General, Ochsner Medical Center–Baton Rouge, Woman's Hospital
Our Lady of the Lake is the region's largest hospital and runs its children's hospital; Woman's Hospital is one of the largest dedicated women's and infants' hospitals in the country. Between them and the LSU health campus, this is a genuine medical centre rather than a set of community hospitals.
Corporate headquarters
Lamar Advertising, Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers, Piccadilly Restaurants, Amedisys
Lamar is one of the largest outdoor advertising companies in North America and has been run from Baton Rouge since 1902. Raising Cane's started as a single restaurant by the LSU north gates in 1996 and is now a national chain still headquartered here.
Ports, logistics & film
Port of Greater Baton Rouge, Union Pacific, Kansas City Southern, Celtic Studios
The Port of Greater Baton Rouge is the furthest inland deepwater port on the Mississippi — ocean-going ships stop here because the bridge downstream sets the air draft — which is why the refineries and grain elevators are where they are. Louisiana's film incentives also put a working studio complex on the east side.
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