New Orleans is a city located in Orleans Parish Louisiana. New Orleans has a 2023 population of 364,659. It is also the county seat of Orleans Parish.New Orleans is currently declining at a rate of -1.65% annually and its population has decreased by -4.86% since the most recent census, which recorded a population of 383,282 in 2020.
The average household income in New Orleans is $76,715 with a poverty rate of 23.84%. The median rental costs in recent years comes to - per month, and the median house value is -. The median age in New Orleans is 37.7 years, 37.1 years for males, and 38.4 years for females.
New Orleans is the largest city and metro area of Louisiana, and its name comes from Orléans, a city on the Loire River in France. Known for its French Creole architecture and multilingual and cultural heritage, New Orleans is often called the most unique city in the United States.
The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1.167 million, which makes it the 46th largest in the country, and the New Orleans-Metairie-Bogalusa Combined Statistical Area has a population of 1.2 million.
Hurricane Katrina had a significant impact on New Orleans, and it was called the "worst engineering disaster in the world since Chernobyl" by Dr. Raymond B. Seed of the University California Berkeley after the Federal levee system failed. The hurricane approached the city in August 2005 and, while most residents were evacuated, the federal flood protection system failed, and 80% of New Orleans was flooded.
Tens of thousands of residents who were left in the city were rescued, but many stayed in shelters -- including the Louisiana Superdome -- for days. Officially, 1,500 people died in Louisiana, but there were many more never accounted for.
Tens of thousands of people left New Orleans and never returned, and in 2006, the Census Bureau estimated the population was just 223,000. A year later, 32,000 people returned, which brought the city's population to only 56% of pre-Katrina levels.
In 2013, the US Census Bureau estimated the population of New Orleans at 369,000, which is 76% of its 2000 population, while the metro area has 92% of its 2000 population. Another survey in June 2013 found that more than half of the 72 neighborhoods of New Orleans had recovered 90% of their pre-Katrina population.
While African Americans still represent a majority in the city, their numbers dropped significantly after the hurricane.
In 2006, it was estimated that there are about 10,000 to 14,000 illegal immigrants in New Orleans, mostly from Mexico. Janet Murguia, president of the National Council of La Raza, said there might be about 120,000 Hispanic workers in the city.
New Orleans has become more diverse over the last decade, and its Latino population in the metropolitan area has jumped 69% from 2000 to 2012, which is much higher than the national 50% growth.
The French and Spanish colonial history of New Orleans gives its population a strong Catholic traditional, and Catholicism is still the predominant religion. 35.9% of its population is Roman Catholic. There is also a strong presence of Louisiana Voodoo, which is a syncretism with African and Afro-Caribbean Roman Catholic beliefs. While this Voodoo image is promoted a great deal by the tourism industry, there are very few true adherents in New Orleans.
In 2012, 24/7 Wall St. identified the 10 largest cities with the fastest growing populations in the US based on Census Bureau data. New Orleans ranked #1, with 4.9% growth from 2010 to 2011. This is more than six times the national average of just 0.73%, although New Orleans remains at 80% pre-Katrina levels.
The good news is that New Orleans is on the rise again, eight years after Hurricane Katrina. In recent years, the population has started to grow, and the city recovered all the jobs it lost as of 2012 with new growth in knowledge-based industries. This is good news for The Big Easy, and it's a trend that is expected to continue.
There's no doubt that Hurricane Katrina was a terrible disaster and tragedy, but it gave New Orleans the money and opportunity to rebuild and reinvent itself. The city was saved by the once-imminent fate of Detroit and its real estate market has seen a rebirth.
If current trends hold, New Orleans should have no trouble making its way back to pre-Katrina levels and possibly beyond before the next census in 2020.
La Nouvelle-Orleans (New Orleans) was founded in 1718 by the French Mississippi Company on land inhabited at the time by the Chitimacha. The Treaty of Paris in 1763 ceded this French colony to the Spanish Empire, and it became a port to smuggle aid to rebels during the American Revolutionary War.
In 1779, a successful campaign pushed the British from the city, and New Orleans stayed under Spanish control until 1801, when it reverted to France. Napoleon then sold the territory to the United States in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase, and it grew quickly as French, Creoles, Americans, Africans, Germans, and Irish moved to the region.
The end of the Haitian Revolution in 1804 brought a massive wave of refugees to New Orleans, both white and free people of color, many of which brought African slaves. New Orleans went on to have the largest slave trade for many years. After the Civil War, Louisiana was readmitted to the Union in 1868, and the city of New Orleans continued to grow in size and economic power through the 20th century.
According to the most recent ACS, the racial composition of New Orleans was:
3.57
Average Family Size
2.37
Average Household Size
48.0%
Rate of Home Ownership
Married
Male
Female
NonFamily
owner
renter
Only English
Spanish
Other Indo-European Languages
Asian and Pacific Island Languages
Other Languages
91.61% of New Orleans residents speak only English, while 8.39% speak other languages. The non-English language spoken by the largest group is Spanish, which is spoken by 4.04% of the population.
23.84%
Overall Poverty Rate
22.03%
Male Poverty Rate
25.47%
Female Poverty Rate
The race most likely to be in poverty in New Orleans is Islander, with 90.91% below the poverty level.
The race least likely to be in poverty in New Orleans is White, with 11.88% below the poverty level.
The poverty rate among those that worked full-time for the past 12 months was 3.89%. Among those working part-time, it was 24.95%, and for those that did not work, the poverty rate was 39.87%.
Married
Widowed
Divorced
Separated
NeverMarried
29.4%
Overall Marriage Rate
31.6%
Male Marriage Rate
27.5%
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 55-64.
Married
Widowed
Divorced
Separated
NeverMarried
Less Than 9th Grade
High School Graduate
Some College
Bachelors or Greater
14.99%
Veteran Poverty Rate
26.3%
Veteran Disability Rate
LaborForceParticipation
61.3%
Labor Force Participation
55.8%
Employment Rate
8.4%
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
71.19%
Born in New Orleans
96.37%
Native Born
5.49%
Foreign Born
2.69%
Non Citizen
2.8%
Naturalized
96.37% of New Orleans residents were born in the United States, with 71.19% having been born in Louisiana. 2.69% of residents are not US citizens. Of those not born in the United States, the largest percentage are from Latin America.