Total population by parish for the New Orleans 7-parish metro
Published: Apr 09, 2026
What is Orleans Parish and what is the New Orleans metro?
Orleans Parish and New Orleans are interchangeable. Their boundaries are the same, and they contain the same population. In 2023, the official definition of the New Orleans metro area changed to exclude St. Tammany, because a smaller portion of workers who live in St. Tammany are commuting to work in Orleans, Jefferson, and other parishes on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain. To learn more about how metro areas are defined and how this change came about read this Research Note.
Total population by parish for the New Orleans metro
Decennial counts 1980-2020; Population estimates 2021-2025
| Jefferson | Orleans | Plaquemines | St. Bernard | St. Charles | St. James | St. John the Baptist | Metro Area total | |
| Census 1980 | 454,592 | 557,515 | 26,049 | 64,097 | 37,259 | 21,495 | 31,924 | 1,192,931 |
| Census 1990 | 448,306 | 496,938 | 25,575 | 66,631 | 42,437 | 20,879 | 39,996 | 1,140,762 |
| Census 2000 | 455,466 | 484,674 | 26,757 | 67,229 | 48,072 | 21,216 | 43,044 | 1,146,458 |
| Census 2010 | 432,552 | 343,829 | 23,042 | 35,897 | 52,780 | 22,102 | 45,924 | 956,126 |
| Census 2020 | 440,781 | 383,997 | 23,515 | 43,764 | 52,549 | 20,192 | 42,477 | 1,007,275 |
| Estimate 2021 | 434,258 | 377,506 | 23,365 | 44,338 | 52,497 | 19,798 | 42,119 | 993,881 |
| Estimate 2022 | 430,086 | 371,038 | 22,659 | 44,688 | 51,089 | 19,395 | 40,028 | 978,983 |
| Estimate 2023 | 429,256 | 365,782 | 22,422 | 44,963 | 50,651 | 19,201 | 39,818 | 972,093 |
| Estimate 2024 | 432,404 | 363,477 | 22,385 | 45,383 | 50,658 | 19,112 | 39,965 | 973,384 |
| Estimate 2025 | 431,398 | 362,154 | 22,256 | 45,642 | 50,586 | 18,938 | 39,875 | 970,849 |
Source: The Data Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau Decennial Census and Population Estimates 2025.