New Orleans Now Whiter, More Affluent

On the eve of this year’s Super Bowl, which the New Orleans Saints won last year, temporarily breathing life into the hurricane-damaged city, some troubling facts revealing the extent of the damage caused by Katrina have emerged courtesy of the city’s 2010 census data, released Thursday. New Orleans lost 140,845 residents, a drop of 29 percent from 2000, and the percentage of the city’s black population fell to 60.2 percent from 67.3 percent. The change in population resulted in one fewer congressional seat for Louisiana—now six instead of seven. “No major metropolitan area has ever gone through this level of population change in a 10-year period,” said Alfred Speer, clerk of the Louisiana House of Representatives and chief legal counsel on the state’s redistricting plans. “If New Orleans loses 100,000 people, that’s almost $1 billion in lost federal funds over 10 years given what local governments expect to receive. And if they only lose 100,000,” Speer said, referring to the 2010 count, “they probably ought to be celebrating Mardi Gras early.”