As the census is wrapping up for this year, the bean counters are concerned that the numbers are falling across the state. Shreveport is expected to be one of the biggest losers.

In April of 2010 the population of Shreveport was 199,311, but that number has been on the decline since that year. and the population dipped to 187,112 in July of last year. That's a drop of nearly 7% and the population is expected to fall below 185,000 once the 2020 census numbers are reported.

In checking numbers from other cities in our state, New Orleans had a population of 343,829 in April of 2010 and has climbed to 390,144 by July of 2019. That's a 13.5% increase. That's the only big increase among Louisiana's largest cities.  But you do need to keep in mind the population of NOLA was 484,674 before Hurricane Katrina.

Baton Rouge had a population of 229,493 in 2010 and that number has fallen to 220,236 in July of 2019 which is down 4% over the past 9 years.

Lafayette has shown about 3.7% growth with the population up from 120,623 nearly 10 years ago to 126,185 last summer.

Lake Charles has also shown some growth up from 71,993 to 78,396 in July of 2019. That's an 8.3% growth for the SW Louisiana city.

Monroe is also seeing lower numbers. The count was 48,815 10 years ago and is now at 47,294. That's down by 3.2%.

Alexandria has also lost more than 15 hundred residents from 47,723 to 46,180. That's a decline of 3.6%.

Louisiana's response rate on the 2020 Census is among the worst in the country. Only 57.9% self reported. 68.2% have been counted according to the latest estimates from Census.gov.

 

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