NEW ORLEANS — From the Data Center:
While the U.S. overall experienced only modest population gains this past year, the pace of growth still increased from the prior year. Locally, the opposite is true. From 2021 to 2022 the New Orleans metro area experienced another year of population losses, at an even faster rate than the previous year.
Statewide, Louisiana is estimated to have lost just under 37,000 residents last year. The New Orleans metro area lost an estimated 15,203 residents from 2021 to 2022 — 6,144 more than the estimated 9,059 residents lost from 2020 to 2021. Five of eight metro parishes lost residents. Modest gains were seen in St. Bernard, St. Charles and St. Tammany parishes.
Gaining around 3,000 new residents since 2021, St. Tammany was the only metro parish to see considerable population growth. St. Tammany’s growth is consistent with national trends: population gains have been seen in suburban areas while rural and urban areas are experiencing losses.
It’s not clear how much of the population loss can be attributed to post Hurricane Ida out-migration, or related issues such as home insurance affordability. In addition, between 2020 and the end of 2022, 3,581 people in the New Orleans metro area died of complications due to COVID-19. These are meaningful factors in recent population changes.
Based in New Orleans, the Data Center is an independent, neutral nonprofit that aggregates data from multiple sources.
