LA · Pelican State · South · admitted 1812 (#18)
Louisiana map
Louisiana highlighted on the US map, with its capital Baton Rouge and largest city New Orleans. The Mississippi River ends here, and the state is divided into 64 parishes instead of counties.
- Capital
- Baton Rouge
- Largest city
- New Orleans
- Population (2020)
- 4,657,757
- Area
- 52,378 sq mi
- Parishes
- 64
- Time zone
- Central
- Region
- South · West South Central
- Statehood
- April 30, 1812
Where Louisiana is
Louisiana is on the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of the Mississippi River, shaped like a boot with its toe pointing east. It is about 380 miles east to west along the northern line and about 240 miles north to south at its longest, on the eastern side. Arkansas lies to the north, Mississippi to the east, the Gulf to the south and Texas to the west. New Orleans sits on a bend of the Mississippi about 100 miles above the river's mouth; Baton Rouge is 80 miles upriver. The whole state is low coastal plain and delta — the highest ground is only 535 feet above sea level.
Major cities
| City | Region of state | Population (2020) |
|---|---|---|
| New Orleans | Southeast (Mississippi delta) | 383,997 |
| Baton Rouge (capital) | South-central (Mississippi River) | 227,470 |
| Shreveport | Northwest (Red River) | 187,593 |
| Lafayette | Acadiana (south-central) | 121,374 |
| Lake Charles | Southwest | 84,872 |
| Kenner | New Orleans metro | 66,448 |
| Bossier City | Northwest (Red River) | 62,701 |
| Monroe | Northeast | 47,702 |
Geography
- Driskill Mountain — 535 feet, the highest point, in the piney hills of the north; only Florida and Delaware have lower high points.
- Mississippi River — enters at the Arkansas line, forms the border with Mississippi for about 200 miles, then flows through Baton Rouge and New Orleans to the Gulf through the bird's-foot delta. See the Mississippi River map.
- Atchafalaya River — a distributary that takes about 30 percent of the Mississippi's flow through the largest river swamp in the US.
- Red and Sabine rivers — the Red crosses the northwest past Shreveport to the Mississippi system; the Sabine forms the southern half of the Texas border.
- Lake Pontchartrain — a brackish lake of about 630 square miles north of New Orleans, crossed by a 24-mile causeway. See US lakes.
- Gulf Coast — about 400 miles of general coastline, mostly marsh, losing land steadily to subsidence and erosion; parts of New Orleans lie 8 feet below sea level, the lowest point in the state. See the Gulf of Mexico map.
Borders
The Arkansas border is the 33rd parallel. The Mississippi border is natural in the north — the Mississippi River — then turns east along the 31st parallel and follows the Pearl River south to the Gulf, giving Louisiana the toe of the boot (the Florida Parishes). The Texas border follows the Sabine River and Sabine Lake from the Gulf north to the 32nd parallel, then a meridian north to Arkansas. Shifts in the Mississippi's channel have left pieces of each state on the opposite bank. Louisiana's 64 parishes are the equivalent of counties and reflect the state's French and Spanish church-parish history.
Regions of Louisiana
Greater New Orleans, the Florida Parishes north of Lake Pontchartrain, the Capital Region around Baton Rouge, Acadiana or Cajun Country (Lafayette, the bayous and the Atchafalaya Basin), Southwest Louisiana (Lake Charles), Central Louisiana (Alexandria), North Louisiana (Shreveport, Monroe, Ruston) and the river parishes along the Mississippi between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
Related maps
- Louisiana county map — all 64 parishes with seats.
- Blank Louisiana map — outline for printing.
- Printable Louisiana map.
- Baton Rouge — the capital on the first bluff above the Mississippi delta.
- Neighbors: Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas.
- Region: South · West South Central · Gulf Coast.
- Time zone: Central.
- Geography: Mississippi River, Gulf of Mexico, Coastlines.