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This information is pre-Katrina.
Although the information on this page is out-of-date, we are continuing to make it available, as it provides insight about this parish pre-Katrina. You may find outdated information and broken links.

For current data about the Greater New Orleans area, visit our homepage.

Orleans Parish: People & Household Characteristics

Data Tables:  People & Household CharacteristicsHousing & Housing Costs, Income & Poverty, Transportation, Employment, Educational Attainment, Schools & Testing, Immigration & Language, Disabilities, Health, Public Safety, Voting, Parish Characteristics

Finding the information you need within long rows of numbers is a tricky task, even under the best of conditions. When the terms used by the U.S. Census are different from everyday usage, the task becomes even harder.

For this reason, we've added a variety of side notes to these data tables, as well as links to the technical definition for each indicator. Our aim is to explain definitions that are sometimes misleading, and also to point you to additional information that you may find useful for program planning and grantwriting.
Definitions and source links

Total Numbers (2000)
 
 Orleans Parish
Louisiana
United
States
Population  
  484,674
  4,468,976
  281,421,906
Total households  
188,251
1,656,053
105,480,101

 

Family households  
112,977
1,156,438
71,787,347

Source Citation: U.S. Census Bureau. Census 2000 Full-count Characteristics (SF1). From a compilation by the GNO Community Data Center. <http://www.gnocdc.org>

What's the difference between households and families? The Census definition of family is people living together who are “related... by birth, marriage, or adoption.” In contrast, the definition of household is “all the persons who occupy a housing unit.”

Basic demographics

Definitions and source links
Gender (2000)
 
 Orleans Parish
Louisiana
United
States
Female  
53.1%
51.6%
50.9%
Male  
46.9%
48.4%
49.1%
Age (2000)
 
 Orleans Parish
Louisiana
United
States
5 years old and under  
8.4%
8.5%
8.2%
6-11 years old  
9.2%
9.2%
8.9%
12-17 years old  
9.1%
9.5%
8.6%
18-34 years old  
25.9%
24.3%
23.8%
35-49 years old  
21.9%
22.5%
23.2%
50-64 years old  
13.8%
14.5%
14.9%
65-74 years old  
6.0%
6.3%
6.5%
75-84 years old  
4.2%
3.9%
4.4%
85 years old and older  
1.5%
1.3%
1.5%

Source Citation: U.S. Census Bureau. Census 2000 Full-count Characteristics (SF1). From a compilation by the GNO Community Data Center. <http://www.gnocdc.org>

Race and ethnicity

Definitions and source links

Racial & ethnic diversity (2000)
 
 Orleans Parish
Louisiana
United
States
Black or African American  
66.6%
32.3%
12.1%
White  
26.6%
62.6%
69.2%
Asian  
2.3%
1.2%
3.6%
American Indian  
0.2%
0.5%
0.7%
Other  
0.2%
0.1%
0.3%
2 race categories  
1.0%
0.9%
1.6%
Hispanic (any race)  
3.1%
2.4%
12.5%

Source Citation: U.S. Census Bureau. Census 2000 Full-count Characteristics (SF1). From a compilation by the GNO Community Data Center. <http://www.gnocdc.org>
Note on the category of Hispanic: To assist in local analysis, we recalculated the ethnicity Hispanic to make it comparable to the Census' racial categories. To learn more, read this short article Race & Ethnicity in the Census.

How residentially segregated is Orleans Parish? Because of its geography and social history, Orleans Parish has unusual patterns of segregation. To conduct a thorough analysis of residential segregation across Orleans Parish using maps and numbers, follow this link.

Marital status and other partnerships

The Census depends primarily on self-reported marital status. Married, for example, includes couples who live together who chose this category to represent their relationship. But many respondents may have indicated only their legally-recognized marital status. The limited number of categories offered by the Census does not capture living arrangements such as unmarried opposite-sex or same-sex couples.

Definitions and source links

Marital status (2000)
 
 Orleans Parish
Louisiana
United
States
Total population 15 years and older  
377,648
3,466,380
221,148,671
  Never married  
41.0%
28.6%
27.1%
  Married  
35.5%
51.2%
54.4%
  Separated  
3.6%
2.6%
2.2%
  Widowed  
8.1%
7.4%
6.6%
  Divorced  
11.8%
10.2%
9.7%

Source Citation: U.S. Census Bureau. Census 2000 Sample Characteristics (SF3). From a compilation by the GNO Community Data Center. <http://www.gnocdc.org>
Note on same-sex unmarried partners:
For the first time, Census 2000 asked a series of questions that allowed, theoretically, for a count of households with same-sex couples. In practice, however, these data and their interpretation are complex and potentially flawed. If you would like assistance obtaining and using this data, please fill out a data request through Ask Allison.

Household Characteristics

Which number do you need? There are many ways to look at household characteristics. To get a more complete perspective, we recommend you take a look at households by type, and also scroll down to view data on what types of households children and the elderly live in. Note, we have chosen to look at 'households' rather than 'families' because of the Census' narrow definition of 'family.'

Definitions and source links

Households by type (2000)
 
 Orleans Parish
Louisiana
United
States
Total households  
188,251
1,656,053
105,480,101
Female householder (no husband present) with children under 18  
17.7%
11.9%
8.4%
Male householder (no wife present) with children under 18  
2.5%
2.6%
2.4%
Married-couple family, with children under 18  
14.8%
24.3%
24.9%
Nonfamily households, with children under 18  
0.3%
0.4%
0.4%
Households with no people under 18 years  
64.7%
60.8%
63.9%
Children in households (2000)
 
 Orleans Parish
Louisiana
United
States
Population under 18 years in households  
128,785
1,214,204
71,970,901
  Children living as head of household  
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
  Children living with mother only  
39.2%
24.6%
18.5%
  Children living with father only  
4.7%
4.8%
4.9%
  Children living with married parents  
35.9%
57.0%
66.2%
  Children living with grandparents  
14.9%
9.7%
6.3%
  Children living with other relatives  
3.7%
2.2%
2.1%
  Children living with non-relatives  
1.5%
1.6%
1.9%
Elderly in households (2000)
 
 Orleans Parish
Louisiana
United
States
Elderly in households  
53,375
485,182
32,998,132
  Living alone  
34.2%
30.7%
29.5%
  Living in family households  
62.6%
67.2%
68.0%
  Living in nonfamily households  
3.2%
2.1%
2.5%

Source Citation: U.S. Census Bureau. Census 2000 Full-count Characteristics (SF1). From a compilation by the GNO Community Data Center. <http://www.gnocdc.org>

Definitions and source links

Children in foster care (2003)
 
 Orleans Parish
  Louisiana
  United
States
Children in foster care  
  477
  4,353
  na
  Children in foster care rate per 100,000  
  368.6
  356.9
  na
Source Citation: Agenda for Children. 2003 Kids Count Data Book on Louisiana's Children. From a compilation by the GNO Community Data Center. <http://www.gnocdc.org>
Note: na= comparable data not available

Who’s watching the kids?

One way of understanding children who might be in need of childcare or out-of-school-time care is to look at whether or not the parent or parents all work. If all parents (meaning if it is a single mom, she works or if there are two parents, they both work), then the child is more likely to need supervised activities – either with another adult caretaker or through organized activities during the times the parents are working.

While this does not capture the many creative caregiving arrangements families use (such as one sister in the family who watches her three sisters’ children), it does create a starting point for planning out-of-school program needs.

Definitions and source links

Supervision of children (2000)
 
 Orleans Parish
Louisiana
United
States
Total children under 6 in families and subfamilies  
35,533
353,949
21,833,613
  Children under 6 in families where both parents or the single parent works  
62.6%
59.1%
58.6%
  Children under 6 in families where at least one parent does not work  
37.4%
40.9%
41.4%
Total children 6-17 in families and subfamilies  
79,338
772,612
46,049,013
  Children 6-17 in families where both parents or the single parent works  
65.5%
64.9%
67.4%
  Children 6-17 in families where at least one parent does not work  
34.5%
35.1%
32.6%

Source Citation: U.S. Census Bureau. Census 2000 Sample Characteristics (SF3). From a compilation by the GNO Community Data Center. <http://www.gnocdc.org>

Grandparents as caregivers

Recently, there has been a lot of interest in understanding the role of grandparents as caregivers. Census 2000 data focuses on the number of grandparents who have responsibility for a grandchild (or grandchildren) in the household they live in, but does not give us information on the number of children who have grandparents as caregivers.

Definitions and source links

Grandparents as caregivers (2000)
 
 Orleans Parish
Louisiana
United
States
Total grandparents living in households with grandchildren under 18  
17,338
122,240
5,771,671
  Grandparent responsible for grandchildren under 18  
54.7%
54.9%
42.0%
  Grandparent not responsible for own grandchildren under 18  
45.3%
45.1%
58.0%
Source Citation: U.S. Census Bureau. Census 2000 Sample Characteristics (SF3). From a compilation by the GNO Community Data Center. <http://www.gnocdc.org>

Download this pre-Katrina data for all 10 parishes.

Data Tables:  People & Household CharacteristicsHousing & Housing Costs, Income & Poverty, Transportation, Employment, Educational Attainment, Schools & Testing, Immigration & Language, Disabilities, Health, Public Safety, Voting, Parish Characteristics

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Last modified: July 31, 2006