Baton Rouge is a city located in East Baton Rouge Parish Louisiana. Baton Rouge has a 2023 population of 217,665. Baton Rouge is currently declining at a rate of -1.02% annually and its population has decreased by -3.04% since the most recent census, which recorded a population of 224,480 in 2020.
The average household income in Baton Rouge is $76,684 with a poverty rate of 24.44%. The median rental costs in recent years comes to - per month, and the median house value is -. The median age in Baton Rouge is 32.1 years, 30.6 years for males, and 33.8 years for females.
Baton Rouge is the capital of Louisiana and located in East Baton Rouge Parish along the Mississippi River. The city is a large research, medical, technology and industrial center of the South. Baton Rouge is located 157 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico and 80 miles out of New Orleans.
It's very common to hear a French accent in Baton Rouge today, with more than one-third of the population of Louisiana having French ancestry. Interestingly, Baton Rouge did not develop ethnic neighborhoods like most developing cities but instead settlement based on wealth. This led Asians, Cajuns, Italians, and other Europeans to live side-by-side, although the black community was the exception.
Over the last 50 years, there has been a great deal of migration of black people from the rural areas to the urban area of Baton Rouge. In 1960, the city was only 30% black.
Baton Rouge has been one of the fastest-growing cities in the South with a population that exploded briefly after Hurricane Katrina when it accepted about 200,000 displaced residents. It is still one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the country among areas with a population under one million. Last year, the city was ranked number one in the country for economic growth.
The city is now experiencing stagnant population growth while the suburbs are proliferating. In 2013, the city's population was 229,400, about 580 less than the previous year and 0.03% down from 2010.
The area of Baton Rouge has been inhabited since at least 8000 BC, with mounds built by hunter-gatherers that are more than 1,000 years older than the pyramids of Egypt.
The history of modern-day Baton Rouge goes back to 1699 when a French explorer named Sieur d'Iberville led an expedition party up the Mississippi River and found a red-colored cypress pole with bloody animals marking the boundary between tribal hunting grounds. This pole and the area were called le baton rouge, or the red stick. In 1719, Baton Rouge was established as a French military outpost.
The French lost Baton Rouge to the British under the Treaty of Paris in 1736 but maintained a fort through 1779. It was then that the Spanish governor in New Orleans sent an army to the city and captured it from the British. It then stayed under Spanish rule until 1810 when residents -- primarily Anglo-Americans -- took the city and proclaimed the Republic of West Florida. Baton Rouge was an independent republic for 74 days until the Americans in New Orleans raised the American flag.
Baton Rouge was incorporated in 1817 and became the capital of the state in 1849. By the end of the Civil War, it had a population of 5,500, which grew to more than 10,000 by 1893.
According to the most recent ACS, the racial composition of Baton Rouge was:
3.45
Average Family Size
2.54
Average Household Size
49.0%
Rate of Home Ownership
Married
Male
Female
NonFamily
owner
renter
Only English
Spanish
Other Indo-European Languages
Asian and Pacific Island Languages
Other Languages
91.83% of Baton Rouge residents speak only English, while 8.17% speak other languages. The non-English language spoken by the largest group is Asian and Pacific Island languages, which is spoken by 3.48% of the population.
24.44%
Overall Poverty Rate
23.16%
Male Poverty Rate
25.62%
Female Poverty Rate
The race most likely to be in poverty in Baton Rouge is Multiple, with 55.66% below the poverty level.
The race least likely to be in poverty in Baton Rouge is White, with 14.91% below the poverty level.
The poverty rate among those that worked full-time for the past 12 months was 4.82%. Among those working part-time, it was 32.28%, and for those that did not work, the poverty rate was 33.9%.
Married
Widowed
Divorced
Separated
NeverMarried
30.5%
Overall Marriage Rate
33.2%
Male Marriage Rate
28.2%
Female Marriage Rate
male
female
The age group where males are most likely to be married is Over 65, while the female age group most likely to be married is 45-54.
Married
Widowed
Divorced
Separated
NeverMarried
Less Than 9th Grade
High School Graduate
Some College
Bachelors or Greater
12.79%
Veteran Poverty Rate
34.47%
Veteran Disability Rate
LaborForceParticipation
62.9%
Labor Force Participation
56.9%
Employment Rate
9.4%
Unemployment Rate
LaborForceParticipation
LaborForceParticipation
Europe
Asia
Africa
Oceania
Latin America
North America
Non citizens include legal permanent residents (green card holders), international students, temporary workers, humanitarian migrants, and illegal immigrants.
Europe
Asia
Africa
Oceania
Latin America
North America
76.77%
Born in Baton Rouge
95.48%
Native Born
6.03%
Foreign Born
3.78%
Non Citizen
2.25%
Naturalized
95.48% of Baton Rouge residents were born in the United States, with 76.77% having been born in Louisiana. 3.78% of residents are not US citizens. Of those not born in the United States, the largest percentage are from Asia.