New Orleans Authority

Also known as: Neworleans Metro Authority

New Orleans is a middle-income mid-sized city of 371,853 with home prices 1.5× the Louisiana median.

New Orleans occupies a crescent of land between Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River, a geography that has shaped nearly everything about the city, from its drainage infrastructure to its cultural temperament. It is, by most federal measures, a mid-sized American city of 371,853 residents, according to Census ACS 5-Year 2024 data, though the surrounding Orleans Parish registers a population of 383,997 per entity records — a figure that reflects the parish's near-total overlap with the city itself.

Population and Demographics

The median age in New Orleans is 38.8 years, according to Census ACS 5-Year 2024, placing it in a range the data characterizes as family-oriented. Children under 18 account for 19.7 percent of the population, or roughly 73,203 residents. The 18-to-34 cohort numbers 89,416.

The city's racial composition, per Census ACS 5-Year 2023, shows a total population of 371,853 distributed across 155,060 households, of which 73,585 are family households. Black residents number 207,633, white residents 118,979, Asian residents 10,463, and Hispanic or Latino residents 29,855. These figures reflect a city that has long been one of the more demographically distinct in the American South — a fact that shapes its civic institutions, its arts sector, and its political life in ways that aggregate statistics can only partially capture.

Housing and Affordability

The relationship between what New Orleans residents earn and what they pay for shelter is, on inspection, somewhat strained. Derived from Census income, housing, and poverty data, the home-price-to-income ratio stands at 5.6, a figure the affordability analysis classifies as expensive. A ratio above roughly 3.0 is generally considered a signal that ownership is difficult for median-income households; at 5.6, the gap is substantial.

Renters fare somewhat better in relative terms. Rent as a percentage of income sits at 25.7 percent, which the same source classifies as moderate — below the 30-percent threshold that federal housing policy traditionally uses as a marker of cost burden. That said, "moderate" is a statistical description, not a guarantee of comfort, and individual circumstances vary considerably.

Air Quality

The EPA AQI Annual Summary for 2024 records 257 good air-quality days in New Orleans, alongside 108 moderate days and 1 day classified as unhealthy for sensitive groups. The maximum AQI recorded was 105; the median was 41. For a city situated in a major industrial corridor along the lower Mississippi, these figures represent a measurable baseline that residents and researchers can track over time.

Broadband Access

According to FCC Broadband Data Collection figures as of June 2025, broadband availability in New Orleans is notably high. All 213,731 housing units in the dataset show coverage at the 25/3 Mbps threshold, and the same is true at the 100/20 Mbps level. Coverage at 250/25 Mbps reaches 99.9986 percent of units. Gigabit-level service at 1000/100 Mbps is available to 62.9 percent of units — a figure that reflects both the city's urban density and the uneven economics of infrastructure investment.

Education

New Orleans is home to 18 colleges and universities, per NCES IPEDS 2022 data matched to the city. Among them, Delgado Community College enrolls 11,668 students and charges in-state tuition of $4,279, according to College Scorecard data. Its completion rate is 22.9 percent — a figure that, while not unusual for open-access community colleges nationally, points to the structural challenges of serving a student population that often balances coursework with employment and family obligations.

Arts and Civic Organizations

Twenty-seven arts organizations are registered in New Orleans, per IRS Exempt Organizations data. These include the New Orleans Ballet Association, the New Orleans Art Association, New Orleans Ballet Inc., and New Orleans Opera Association of Louisiana, among others. The presence of a dedicated opera association and multiple ballet organizations in a city of this size reflects a cultural infrastructure that has historically punched above its weight.

Fourteen civic service organizations are active in the city, alongside 6 animal welfare organizations — among them the Louisiana SPCA Foundation, the Humane Society of New Orleans, and Animal Rescue New Orleans Inc. The IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File, available at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/eo_louisiana.csv, is the underlying registry for these counts.

The New Orleans Chamber of Commerce is identified in the IRS EO BMF as the canonical local business membership organization.

Religious Congregations

The IRS Exempt Organizations data identifies 322 churches and religious organizations registered in New Orleans. The list spans a wide range of denominations and traditions — from Abundant Life Baptist Church and Algiers Church of God in Christ to smaller independent ministries — a distribution that reflects the city's layered religious history, which includes Catholic, Protestant, and historically Black church traditions that have each played distinct roles in civic life.

Attractions and Amenities

Forty-seven attractions are catalogued in the vicinity of New Orleans. Among the nearest are JAMNOLA, a museum-type venue at 0.9 miles, and the New Orleans Jazz Museum at 1.3 miles. The New Orleans Mint, a historic federal facility, is also among the nearby entries. The density of cultural sites within a short radius of the city center is consistent with New Orleans' standing as one of the more visited cities in the American South.

Six animal shelters serve the city. Three childcare centers appear in the licensed-facility data: Children's College of Academics, Clara's Little Lambs Preschool Academy, and a third facility — a count that, for a city of nearly 372,000 residents, suggests that licensed center-based care represents only a fraction of the actual childcare landscape.

Climate

The nearest NOAA weather station to central New Orleans is the Superdome Heliport station, located 2.6 miles from the city center, according to NOAA ACIS data. The average temperature is 66.0 degrees Fahrenheit annually, and annual precipitation is recorded at 23.6 inches. New Orleans' reputation for heat and humidity is well established; the station data captures averages rather than the full range of conditions that residents navigate across a calendar year.

Municipal Governance and Code

The New Orleans Municipal Code is maintained and published online; the current version is accessible through Municode at https://library.municode.com/la/new_orleans. The city operates under Louisiana state law, including provisions of the Louisiana Revised Statutes governing public records (Title 44), public health and welfare (Title 46), water resources and flood control (Title 38), and labor and employment (Title 23), per the Louisiana State Legislature's codes database.

Further Reading

• Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates — https://data.census.gov
• National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data 2022 — https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/
• City of New Orleans, Municipal Code (Municode) — https://library.municode.com/la/new_orleans
• FEMA, Disaster Declarations — https://www.fema.gov/disaster/declarations