Who lives in New Orleans and the Metro Area now?

Notes:

Slide 1: In this presentation, the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center examines 2008 demographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau for Orleans, Jefferson, St. Tammany parishes, and the overall metro area, and identifies significant changes since 2000.

Major findings include that the region is less poor with fewer adults lacking a high school diploma, fewer households with children, more one or two–person households, fewer households lacking vehicles, a larger share of the population that is foreign–born, a higher homeownership rate, and more homeowners without mortgages.

Slide 2: According to the Census Bureau’s 2008 population estimates, the proportion of the New Orleans population that is African American fell from 66.7 percent in 2000 to 60.7 percent in 2008. The proportion of the city’s population that is Asian increased from 2.3 percent in 2000 to 2.9 percent in 2008 and the proportion that is Hispanic (of any race) increased from 3.1 percent to 4.5 percent.

Slide 3: Meanwhile, the percent of Hispanic, Asian, and African American populations increased in five parishes (Jefferson, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, and St. Tammany).

Slide 4: For all seven parishes in the metro area, Hispanics now represent a larger share of the population. Fully 6.3 percent of the metro area is Hispanic up from 4.4 percent in 2000.

Slide 5: Not surprisingly, many of the metro area trends were driven by significant changes in Orleans Parish, where, for example, the homeownership rate increased from 46 to 53 percent reflecting the steeper obstacles renters faced returning to New Orleans after Katrina. In contrast, St. Tammany has gained renters since 2000 resulting in a lower homeownership rate. Nonetheless, the 76 percent homeownership rate in St. Tammany is well above the metro area and national averages.

Slide 6: The proportion of metro area homeowners without a mortgage has increased from 33 to 38 percent. This significant change may be the effect of homeowners using insurance and Road Home dollars to pay off mortgages. This trend is most pronounced in Orleans where 41 percent of all homeowners have no mortgage. In Jefferson, 39 percent of homeowners don’t have mortgages, while St. Tammany matches the national average with 32 percent.

Slide 7: Post–Katrina, fewer households do not have access to a vehicle. This change is most pronounced in Orleans where 20 percent of households don’t have a vehicle, down from 27 percent in 2000. Nonetheless, at 20 percent, thousands of households in New Orleans are reliant on public transportation, and need assistance in the case of evacuation.

Slide 8: Fewer families with children live in the New Orleans metro, declining from 33 percent of all households in 2000 to 27 percent in 2008. The decline in families with children was significant in all three of the largest parishes. By 2008, 33 percent of St. Tammany households, 25 percent of Jefferson households and only 20 percent of Orleans households had children.

Slide 9: A growing share of households in the New Orleans metro area are individuals living alone. This trend is driven largely by growth in single–person households within the city of New Orleans. In 2008, 41 percent of New Orleans households are individuals living alone up from 33 percent in 2000. In Jefferson, 32 percent of all households are individuals living alone while in St. Tammany 23 percent are single–person households.

Slide 10: Across the metro area, the poverty rate fell from 18 percent to 14 percent. This decline was driven almost entirely by changes in the city of New Orleans, where the poverty rate dropped from 28 percent to 23 percent in 2008, reflecting the inability of many poorer residents to return after Katrina.

Slide 11: The proportion of metro area adults with less than a high school education fell significantly from 23 percent in 2000 to 17 percent in 2008. In Jefferson and Orleans, the proportion of adults with less than a high school education has fallen to less than 20 percent.

Slide 12: The foreign–born population of the metro area grew from 4.9 percent in 2000 to 7.1 percent in 2007, but fell to 5.9 percent in 2008. This influx and outflow was most evident in Jefferson and Orleans parishes. In Jefferson, the foreign–born population grew from 7.5 percent in 2000 to 10.1 percent in 2007 before falling to 8.8 percent in 2008. And in Orleans, the foreign–born population grew from 4.2 percent in 2000 to 7.4 percent in 2007 before falling to 5.3 percent in 2008. In Orleans Parish, the 2008 share of the foreign–born population (5.3 percent) is not statistically different from 2000. In St. Tammany, the share of foreign–born population continues to grow and reached 3.5 percent by 2008 up from 2.4 percent in 2000.