NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The 2010 Census count found that New Orleans’ population stands at 343,829 people, a figure lower than expected that hints at the city’s difficulties to repopulate since Hurricane Katrina more than five years ago.
That population figure is lower than demographers had expected. An interim Census count last year found the city’s population standing at about 355,000.
The Census released data on Louisiana Thursday afternoon. The Census went to great lengths to count everyone in New Orleans due to the stresses the city had endured after Katrina.
In the 2000 Census, New Orleans had a population of 484,674 people. The new count shows a population decrease of about 30 percent and that will mean the city will lose political clout in redistricting and federal dollars.