High percentage of people leaving Lake Charles area, according to new report High percentage of people leaving Lake Charles area, according to new report By Theresa Schmidt | April 26, 2021 at 7:47 PM CDT - Updated April 26 at 8:29 PM LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - Lake Charles had a higher percentage in 2020 of people who left the area than any other metro area in the country, according to an article in the New York Times. That’s based on postal zip codes and the number of people who made change of address requests at the U.S. Postal Service. Just about everybody knows someone who has left Lake Charles in the last year. The question is, ‘Will they be back?’