(The Center Square) – Recently released data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows only four of Louisiana’s 15 largest cities had population growth, with the rest losing population.
Data shows that Southern cities grew by 1%, with 13 of the 15 fastest-growing municipalities in the region and eight in Texas alone. The report measures population changes between 2020 and 2023.
“The population growth across the South in 2023 was driven by significant numeric and percentage gains among its cities,” Crystal Delbé, a statistician in the Census Bureau’s Population Division, said in a release.
New Orleans was the biggest loser, its population decreasing from 383,241 in 2020 to 364,136 in 2023, a loss of 19,015 residents or nearly 5% of the population.
Percentage-wise, Sulphur had the biggest loss – a net loss of 1,414 residents (6.5%) of its 21,814 population.
Second in terms of percentage loss was Lake Charles at 6.2%, where the population dropped from 84,879 to 79,633.
Houma in the southeast part of the state lost 1,322 residents, a 4.65% drop that reduced the city to 27,080 residents.
Of the state’s four cities with 100,000 or more residents, none had any growth. LaFayette gained 12 residents, going from 121,455 to 121,467. Baton Rouge’s population shrank by nearly 3% to 219,573. Shreveport also lost 4.76% to 177,959.
Among the state’s other large cities, Alexandria in central Louisiana had a 3.6% decrease of 1,638 residents, with the city’s population down to 43,466.
Monroe in west-central Louisiana lost slightly more than 2% of its population (993 residents), putting the city’s population at 46,616.
On the Northshore, Hammond grew 14.4% (2,827 residents) to 22,527. It was the only one of Louisiana’s cities with population growth of at least 5%.
Neighboring Slidell had a slight drop of 0.64% or 184 fewer residents.
