N.O. tops fastest-growing cities list

Published Jun 29, 2012 at 3:15 pm (Updated Jun 29, 2012)

Among U.S. cities with populations of 100,000 or more, New Orleans grew the fastest between April 2010 and July 2011, new U.S. Census figures show. Although Texas dominated the list as a whole—accounting for eight of the 15 cities on the list—New Orleans took the No. 1 spot by adding nearly 17,000 residents, a 4.9% increase. New Orleans now has about 80% of the residents it had as of July 1, 2005—less than three months before Hurricane Katrina. The new figures out from the Census Bureau show Baton Rouge added just 646 people between April 2010 and July of last year, about a 0.3% increase. Baton Rouge had 230,139 residents in the latest tally. "These estimates provide our first look at how much the total population has changed in each of our nation's cities since we conducted the 2010 Census," Census Bureau Director Robert Groves says. "These numbers provide further evidence of a continuation of the trend of rapid population growth in Texas we observed between the 2000 and 2010 censuses." With 8.2 million people, New York takes the title as America's most populous city, followed by Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Philadelphia. See the population figures for all Louisiana cities here.