1

Before Katrina, 62 percent of the region’s population was working age and that
proportion has grown each year since Katrina. Orleans Parish accounts for the
majority of this growth. Jefferson and St. Tammany remain unchanged in proportion
of working age adults.t

2
Before Katrina, 27 percent of the region’s population was children. Since Katrina
that proportion has fallen across the metro region and in each of the three largest
parishes’ population.

3
Before Katrina, 22 percent of the region’s adult population had less than a high
school education. Now only 18 percent of the region’s adult population has less
than a high school education. This proportion has decreased in all three of the
largest parishes since Katrina.

4
Before Katrina 23 percent of the region’s adult population had a bachelor’s degree
or higher. Now that proportion has increased to 26 percent and it has increased in
each of the three largest parishes.

5
Before Katrina 18 percent of the region’s population lived below the poverty level. At
that same time 12 percent of the entire US population lived below poverty. Since
Katrina only 15 percent of the region’s population lives below the poverty level. The
decrease in New Orleans accounts for most of the overall decrease. The poverty
level in Jefferson and St. Tammany has has increased slightly post-Katrina.

6
Before Katrina, the region had a 61 percent homeownership rate and that rate has
increased since Katrina metro-wide. That rate jumped across the three largest
parishes in 2006, indicating that homeowners were the first to return to the area. It
has since continued to increase in Orleans Parish, ****increased***(should be
decreased) slightly in Jefferson, and fallen slightly in St. Tammany parish.

7
The New Orleans region is more diverse than it was before Katrina. The proportion
of each of the three largest parishes’ population that is Asian or Latino has
increased since Katrina. The African American population in Orleans Parish was 66
percent before Katrina, fell to 58 percent in 2006 and rose to 60 percent in 2007.
The proportion of St Tammany and Jefferson Parishes population that are African
American have risen since pre-Katrina. Although New Orleans now has a larger
proportion of white residents than pre-Katrina, Jefferson and St. Tammany have a
smaller proportion of white residents
residents.