New Orleans Population Dropping As Severe Storms Rise

The Census released its annual report on city and county resident counts. Vintage Population 2023 showed that, according to Crystal Delbé, a statistician in the Census Bureau’s Population Division. “The population growth across the South in 2023 was driven by significant numeric and percentage gains among its cities.” The major exception was New Orleans, which lost 1.6% of its population in 2022. That was the largest drop, along with St. Louis, among cities with populations above 50,000.

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The drop in New Orleans pushed it down to 364,136 residents. The Census does not give reasons for changes. But, what is clear is that the new drop is part of a trend. New Orleans had a population of 383,997 in 2020.

Hurricane Katrina

New Orleans is among the cities hardest hit by extreme weather events and is often the worst prepared. That is clear from damage done by hurricanes, the most remembered of which is probably Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the city in 2005.

Among the challenges of storms, aside from immediate destruction, is that they drive residential real estate prices down and residential insurance prices much higher. Many insurance companies have abandoned Louisiana. Last year, Fox News pointed out, “In the last two years, more than 20 companies have gone under or withdrawn from the state, forcing hundreds of thousands of families to pay higher premiums or go without coverage.”

Louisiana’s weather is likely to worsen. Because of ocean warming, stronger hurricanes are forecast. The state has been hit by many tornadoes this year. The financial reasons for people to stay are shrinking.

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