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New Orleans suburb's population soars, census shows Louisiana's largest city loses more than 12,000 residents in past decade 03/11/2001 By Brett Martel / Associated Press
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Louisiana's population breakdown, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics from the 2000 Census:
Population: 4.47 million, up 249,000 since 1990
White: 2.8 million, or 63 percent of the population
Black: 1.4 million, or 32 percent
Hispanics: 108,000 or 2 percent, up 14,700 since 1990
New Orleans: The Crescent City remained predominantly black with 325,947 people, or 67 percent, referring to themselves as such. The city's population fell by 12,000 since 1990, a decline largely attributed to "white flight" to the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain.
Most populated parishes: Orleans Parish (New Orleans, 484,674 residents) and neighboring Jefferson Parish (455,466) Congressional districts: Seven, and the number is unlikely to change with new census figures
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NEW ORLEANS – New Orleans lost more than 12,000 residents in the past decade, while St. Tammany Parish on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain gained nearly 47,000 residents, the most of any parish in Louisiana, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The loss in New Orleans means that U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, Louisiana's only black member of Congress, will see his district expanded to include upward of 48,000 people, many of whom are likely to be suburban, white voters.
"That's interesting because those conservative white voters who are used to being in the majority in their district would become part of the minority," said Wayne Parent, a political science professor at Louisiana State University. "But if it continues to be a majority black district, Jefferson is probably pretty safe."
The figures released Friday indicate, as expected, that New Orleans proper remained predominantly black, with 325,947, or 67 percent of the city's residents, referring to themselves as such.
Statewide, blacks saw their numbers rise by 152,663 to about 1.4 million, or a little more than 32 percent of the state's population. In addition, about 16,000 residents listed themselves as part black, an option in the 2000 census that was not available in 1990. Those referring to themselves only as Asians grew by nearly 15,000.
Meanwhile, those who consider themselves ethnically Hispanic – the census does not treat Latinos as a separate race – rose by about 14,700 and now total nearly 108,000, or 2 percent of Louisiana's residents, the census data said.
Other substantial population gains in the state came in Livingston Parish (30 percent), between Baton Rouge and Hammond; Tangipahoa Parish (17 percent), to the north of New Orleans; and Bossier Parish (14 percent), west of Shreveport. The cities of Lafayette and Opelousas, both in the southwestern part of the state, saw gains of 17 percent and 26 percent, respectively.
Rapides Parish, which includes the central Louisiana city of Alexandria, lost 4 percent of its residents, while the northeastern city of Monroe also saw a decline of more than 3 percent. Most of Monroe's losses appeared due to suburbanization, as encompassing Ouachita Parish saw a 3.6 percent gain.
Orleans Parish, which contains New Orleans exclusively, remained the most heavily populated parish in the state, with neighboring Jefferson Parish a close second with 455,466 residents.
The Shreveport and Lake Charles areas, home to a burgeoning gambling industry since Louisiana legalized casinos in the early 1990s, have seen growth in outlying areas. The Shreveport area saw most of its gains in neighboring Bossier Parish. Calcasieu Parish, which includes Lake Charles, grew by more than 9 percent, but Lake Charles proper saw much smaller gains.
The casinos, which in Lake Charles and Shreveport were set up to draw patrons from Texas, want employees to live in Louisiana so they can use local employment numbers to their political advantage, said Daryl Burckel, an economics professor at McNeese State University in Lake Charles.
"A lot of the people who do come to work at the casinos generally will locate here," Dr. Burckel said. "A very small percentage of their work force lives across the border."
The population figures will influence which communities get the bulk of federal and state money for government-funded projects, and will affect who elects which of Louisiana's congressmen and state lawmakers.
According to U.S. Census figures released in late December, Louisiana's population grew by a little more than 249,000 to about 4.47 million.
Each congressional district will include about 36,000 more people than before, for a total of about 638,400. The state's 39 Senate districts will grow by 6,400 people to 114,600. Louisiana's 105 House districts will have about 1,400 more residents for a total of about 42,600.
In parts of the state where population growth was strong, that could mean little change in the geographic size of a district. On the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, the size of Republican Congressman David Vitter's district is expected to shrink.
"I think it's a positive sign that my district was the highest growth area of the state, and politically, it will be easier for me to protect my bases and give me additional ammunition to gain various sources of government support," Mr. Vitter said.
Since Louisiana's oil industry began to decline in the 1980s, New Orleans, where office vacancy rates are high in numerous oil-built high-rises, has lost nearly 73,000 people.
The general outflow from New Orleans goes back to civil-rights advancements of the 1960s, which sparked "white flight" to suburban Jefferson and St. Tammany parishes. |
