LA · Orleans Parish · 383,997 (2020) · largest city in Louisiana · Central time
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans lies in a crescent bend of the Mississippi River between the river and Lake Pontchartrain, 100 miles above the Gulf of Mexico. It is the largest city in Louisiana and the largest port city on the Gulf Coast.
- State
- Louisiana
- County
- Orleans Parish (coterminous)
- Population (2020)
- 383,997
- Rank
- 44th of the 50 cities mapped here; just outside the national top 50
- Coordinates
- 29.95°N, 90.07°W
- Time zone
- Central
- Metro area
- about 1.27 million
- State capital
- No – Baton Rouge
Where New Orleans is
New Orleans is at 29.95°N, 90.07°W and is coterminous with Orleans Parish — Louisiana uses parishes rather than counties — covering about 170 square miles of land and as much again of water. The city sits on the natural levees of the Mississippi, which are the highest ground, at about 10 feet above sea level; much of the rest of the city lies below sea level, down to about 8 feet below in the drained back-swamp neighbourhoods, and is kept dry by pumps and levees. Lake Pontchartrain, a 630-square-mile estuary, bounds the city to the north. Baton Rouge, the state capital, is 80 miles upriver to the northwest; the river mouth is 100 miles southeast, and Houston 350 miles west.
Population and rank
The 2020 Census counted 383,997 residents. That places New Orleans 44th among the 50 cities on this site and just outside the top 50 nationally — a long way down from 1960, when it had 628,000 people and ranked 15th. The population fell by half after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and had recovered to about 80 percent of its pre-storm level by 2020. The New Orleans–Metairie metropolitan area (eight parishes) has about 1.27 million people, the largest metro in Louisiana, though Baton Rouge's is growing faster. About 30 percent of the metro population lives in the city.
Geography
- Mississippi River — 200 feet deep and half a mile wide at New Orleans, held between levees; the city's crescent shape follows the bend. See the Mississippi River map.
- Lake Pontchartrain — the brackish lake north of the city, crossed by the longest continuous bridge over water in the world; its surge breached the canal floodwalls in 2005.
- Delta wetlands — the marshes and bayous of the Mississippi Delta surround the city on the east and south and are eroding at one of the fastest rates on Earth. See the Gulf of Mexico map.
- Bayou St. John and the Industrial Canal — the old portage route to the lake, and the shipping canal that links the river, the lake and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.
Nearest large cities
Baton Rouge is 80 minutes away; Houston, Memphis and Jacksonville are each five to eight hours. Distances are approximate road miles from the French Quarter.
| City | State | Road distance (mi) | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Houston | TX | 350 | W |
| Memphis | TN | 395 | N |
| Jacksonville | FL | 545 | E |
| Atlanta | GA | 470 | NE |
| Dallas | TX | 510 | NW |
Is New Orleans the state capital?
No — but it was, several times. New Orleans was the capital of French and Spanish Louisiana and of the state from 1812, with interruptions at Donaldsonville and Baton Rouge, until the capital settled permanently at Baton Rouge in 1882 (the legislature returned to New Orleans during the Civil War and Reconstruction). New Orleans is the seat of Orleans Parish and the largest city in the state, though Baton Rouge is now second by only a modest margin.
Related maps
- Louisiana map — the state with its 64 parishes.
- Baton Rouge — the state capital, 80 miles upriver.
- US cities map.
- Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico maps.
- Nearby: Houston, Memphis, Mississippi.
- Gulf Coast region · Central Time Zone.