Largest cities in Louisiana

[NCB]

Well, I've seen lists and topics like this on other forums, and I thought it might work well in the Louisiana forum, considering how much we talk about population data, growth, etc. Here is a list of the 20 largest cities in Louisiana, and I'll try to continue to add to the list soon.

Note* All population data is based off of 2000 Census numbers. Also, Metairie is not considered to be an actual city, but it is a census designated place.

1. New Orleans

   484,674

2. Baton Rouge

   224,097

3. Shreveport

   198,675

4. Metairie

   146,136

5. Lafayette

   111,966

6. Lake Charles

   70,819

7. Kenner

   70,252

8. Bossier City

   59,611

9. Monroe

   52,141

10. Alexandria

    45,971

11. Marrero

    36,165

12. New Iberia

    32,499

13. Chalmette

    32,069

14. Houma

    32,022

15. Laplace

    27,684

16. Slidell

    26,845

17. Terrytown

    25,430

18. Opelusas

    22,860

19. Harvey

    22,226

20. Ruston

    20,665

[NCB]

Eight largest Combined Statistical Area's in Louisiana

1. New Orleans

   1,363,750

2. Baton Rouge

   751,965

3. Lafayette

   524,163

4. Shreveport

   423,071

5. Lake Charles

   225,877

6. Monroe

   201,800

7. Houma

   198,680

8. Alexandria

   147,152

[NCB]

Number of 20 largest cities in largest metropolitan area's:

New Orleans- 9

Lafayette- 3

Shreveport- 2

Baton Rouge- 1

Lake Charles- 1

Monroe- 1

Houma- 1

Alexandria- 1

Note* Ruston is considered to be the center of a Micropolitan Area.

[richyb83]

Thanks for posting Nate. That's some work you did there.

Very interesting list... things that jump-out at me is:

*Lafayette continuing to pull-away from decling Lake Charles;* and Kenner nearly the same as LC.

* Growing Bossier City pulling away from declining Monroe and Alexandria.

Wow ! New Orleans with 9 of top 20 largest cities in metro area. Suprised Gretna not on list.

Central was recently incorporated as a city this past year. They would fall somewhere between #15 LaPlace & #17 Terrytown.

[dimebag1980]

Thanks for posting Nate. That's some work you did there.

Very interesting list... things that jump-out at me is:

*Lafayette continuing to pull-away from decling Lake Charles;* and Kenner nearly the same as LC.

* Growing Bossier City pulling away from declining Monroe and Alexandria.

Wow ! New Orleans with 9 of top 20 largest cities in metro area. Suprised Gretna not on list.

Central was recently incorporated as a city this past year. They would fall somewhere between #15 LaPlace & #17 Terrytown.

That's funny, Richy, the first thing I noticed was Bossier vs. Monroe. I remember when Bossier had 52,000 people and Monroe had 56,000. Now Bossier has 59,000 and Monroe 52,000. While I enjoy seeing Bossier City rise up and move ahead of Monroe (I always wanted to see that,) I think it's a shame about Monroe.

But I also think it's a shame about Alexandria and Lake Charles as well. The stagnation of Lake Charles doesn't represent a city who recently built the L'Auberge Du Lac Resort. How strange.

Thanks for posting these, Nate.

[NCB]

No problem, guys!

And as for Metairie and Kenner, I can tell you that Metairie is probably much closer to surpassing Shreveport in population now post-Katrina than ever before. Also, Kenner is way ahead of Lake Charles in population now post-Katrina. Basically every city in Jefferson parish has grown like crazy since Katrina.

[Mikejesmike]

It's interesting that although Kenner and Lake Charles are similar in population, Lake Charles is 2.66 times larger in area. Shreveport is also about 4.44 times larger than Metairie.

I haven't seen any estimates that said the population of the parish is higher than before. What do you think the population for Kenner and Metairie is now? What estimates have you seen?

[NCB]

I haven't seen any estimates that said the population of the parish is higher than before. What do you think the population for Kenner and Metairie is now? What estimates have you seen?

Jefferson Parish is larger now than it was pre-Katrina, especially the Metairie-Kenner area. Many of the residents that have not returned to New Orleans are living in Jefferson now, and commuting into New Orleans to work. Just driving through parts of Jefferson you can see that the parish has grown considerably since Katrina, just as you can in Saint Tammany. I don't know of any "official" estimates that have come out for Jefferson, as that is impossible to conduct now, but I have seen estimates saying that the current population of the parish is between 475,000-500,000. Personally, I think it is closer to around 470,000, but who knows.

[dan326]

Do you have any population estimates for Baton Rouge? It seems like they change all the time.

[NCB]

Do you have any population estimates for Baton Rouge? It seems like they change all the time.

I can't help you with recent estimates. I think estimating the population in the Baton Rouge city limits, EBR Parish, and Greater Baton Rouge post-Katrina may be even harder than estimating the population in New Orleans right now. But just from driving around Baton Rouge and seeing how much traffic there is and how many cars are on the roads, I can tell you that it's sure as hell bigger than it was before Katrina. And I know that you already know that.

[NCB]

Saint Tammany Parish is one of the only places in SE Louisiana where the population estimates are all pretty close to each other. I believe the last parish estimate for the population here was around 297,000, up from 191,000 in 2000. I edited a growth chart for the parish a few weeks ago to show post-Katrina stats:

[dimebag1980]

No problem, guys!

And as for Metairie and Kenner, I can tell you that Metairie is probably much closer to surpassing Shreveport in population now post-Katrina than ever before. Also, Kenner is way ahead of Lake Charles in population now post-Katrina. Basically every city in Jefferson parish has grown like crazy since Katrina.

I'm going to be so pissed off when a suburb surpasses Shreveport in population within my own state. It's bad enough some of the Dallas suburbs have now surpassed Shreveport.

[NCB]

I'm going to be so pissed off when a suburb surpasses Shreveport in population within my own state. It's bad enough some of the Dallas suburbs have now surpassed Shreveport.

Well I don't think you have to worry about that happening anytime soon, but I have heard that Metairie could be well above 160,000 in population right now.

[breaux]

I'm going to be so pissed off when a suburb surpasses Shreveport in population within my own state. It's bad enough some of the Dallas suburbs have now surpassed Shreveport.

The good news is that Metarie doesn't count since it's unincorporated.

[NCB]

The good news is that Metarie doesn't count since it's unincorporated.

Yep, that's true as well. Though it might make Brian feel even worse in the back of his mind knowing that a suburb that's technically not even a city has surpassed Shreveport in population.

Though again, Shreveport still has at least a 30,000 person lead on Metairie right now.

[Mikejesmike]

I've wondered about Metairie. When I'm filling out a document and they ask my city of birth, I put in Metairie, yet it's not a city. What do I do in case like this?

[NCB]

I've wondered about Metairie. When I'm filling out a document and they ask my city of birth, I put in Metairie, yet it's not a city. What do I do in case like this?

Well, I've always thought that you still put "Metairie" just because it is an official census designated place, it's just not officially a city as it's not incorporated. I have friends that live in Metairie, and their addresses are "Metairie, Louisiana" so I think you're alright with putting that.

[richyb83]

Why is Metairie not an incorporated city ? I've always considered it 4th largest city in the state.

[NCB]

^It's all historical and previous issues and opinions really. I've never really understood it, but from what I know it just goes back to what the residents wanted and events before that. I always consider it as the 4th largest city in the state as well, just because IMO when you have an area of around 150,000 people you have to include it on that list, even if it's not "officially" a city.

[richyb83]

^ Thanks for the reply. It sounds like Metairie might be the largest unincorporated(city) in the U.S. I would be suprised if any unincorporated place had over 150,000.

[NCB]

Actually, as of 2000 Metairie was the 5th largest unincorporated Census Designated Place in the U.S.:

1. Honolulu, Hawaii- 377,260

2. Paradise, Nevada- 186,070

3. Arlington County, Virginia- 189,453

4. Sunrise Manor, Nevada- 156,120

5. Metairie, Louisiana- 146,136

[richyb83]

Nate you are the human encyclopedia. Thanks for that info. That's wild that Honolulu is unincorporated. It's very dense. Well Hawaii is almost not even a state. For years they were trying to become their own country.

[NCB]

No problem Richy! I knew where Metairie ranked on the list of largest CDP's and the places ahead of it, but you can thank Wikipedia for the population stats.

And as for Honolulu, that suprised me as well. I may be wrong, but I believe that Honolulu is actually its own city, but part of the area surrounding Honolulu, or partially in it, is considered to be a CDP. I'll have to do some more research on that.

[Mikejesmike]

Metairie was the 2nd largest in 1980. It's also pretty dense, especially for a southern "city" or suburb averaging over 7,000 people per sq. mile in 1980 and well over 6,000 before Katrina. According to NCB it's probably well north of 7,000 now.

[NCB]

Metairie was the 2nd largest in 1980. It's also pretty dense, especially for a southern "city" or suburb averaging over 7,000 people per sq. mile in 1980 and well over 6,000 before Katrina. According to NCB it's probably well north of 7,000 now.

I wouldn't doubt that at all, Metairie, along with Kenner, is absolutely packed right now. Even the majority of the flooded area's are packed, just because people needed homes, and the damage was not very significant. I'd love it if Jefferson Parish could begin to throw out new population estimates for the parish and its major cities every once in a while, similar to what Saint Tammany does.