New Orleans is a large coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Louisiana. With a population of 376,971 people and 195 constituent neighborhoods, New Orleans is the largest community in Louisiana. New Orleans has a large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.
New Orleans real estate is some of the most expensive in Louisiana, although New Orleans house values don't compare to the most expensive real estate in the U.S.
New Orleans is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 85.48% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, New Orleans is a city of professionals, service providers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in New Orleans who work in office and administrative support (10.25%), management occupations (10.15%), and sales jobs (10.08%).
Of important note, New Orleans is also a city of artists. New Orleans has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape New Orleans’s character.
Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 7.68% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.
New Orleans is one of the most attractive larger cities for people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile career starters. This makes it a good place to live for young singles in their 20s and 30s and who have undergraduate or graduate degrees and are starting their professional careers. Although New Orleans is a large city, this demographic is significant enough that young professionals will find many others like themselves here, with really good opportunities for friendships, recreation, romance, and more.
One of the nice things about New Orleans is that it is nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities.
One of the benefits of being a big city like New Orleans is having a public transportation system, but in New Orleans the transit system is the mode of choice for lots of people getting to and from work every day. You will find many people using the bus for their daily commute, even though other transportation options exist. If you ask these commuters, many will tell you that not having to drive in the snarl of big city traffic is one of main reasons for leaving the car at home, or even not owning a car at all. With so many people taking the bus New Orleans benefits from a reduction in air pollution and traffic.
The citizens of New Orleans are very well educated compared to the average community in the nation: 37.97% of adults in New Orleans have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.
The per capita income in New Orleans in 2018 was $32,764, which is wealthy relative to Louisiana, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $131,056 for a family of four. However, New Orleans contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
New Orleans is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call New Orleans home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of New Orleans residents report their race to be Black or African-American, followed by White. Important ancestries of people in New Orleans include German, African, Irish, French, and English.
The most common language spoken in New Orleans is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Vietnamese.