Louisiana

Summary Demographic State Data (and Source)
Population (2009 CB est.):	4,492,076
Population (2000 Census):	4,468,976
Foreign-Born Population (2009 FAIR est.):	152,002
Foreign-Born Population (2000 Census):	115,885
Share Foreign-Born (2009):	3.4%
Share Foreign-Born (2000):	2.6%
Naturalized U.S. Citizens (2009 CB est.):	65,162
Share Naturalized (2009):	42.9%
Legal Immigrant Admission (DHS 2000-2009):	31,216
Refugee Admission (HHS 2000-2009):	2,924
Illegal Alien Population (2008 FAIR est.):	40,000
Costs of Illegal Aliens (2010 FAIR)	$223,700,000
Projected 2050 Population (2006 FAIR)	4,737,000

Louisiana: General Data

STATE POPULATION

Using the American Community Survey (ACS), the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that in July 2009 Louisiana’s population had increased to 4,492,076 residents, which was 23,100 persons above the pre-Katrina level in 2000. That is a rate of increase of less than 0.01 percent per year. The comparable national annual rate of increase was 1.0 percent.

The 2000 Census found 4,468,976 persons resident in Louisiana. This was an increase of 249,003 persons above the 1990 Census. The rate of increase (0.6%) was lower than the national annual average of 1.2 percent population increase.

The 2000 population was about 40,000 more persons than the Census Bureau had expected to find in the state in 2000 when it issued its state population projections in 1996. The significance of this is that the Census Bureau concluded that much of the shortfall in their population estimates during the 1990s was due to an underestimation of the illegal alien population.

The population of Louisiana increased by an annual rate of 0.2 percent from 1980 to 1990 (from 4,206,116 to 4,219,973 residents). The national rate of change was 1.0 percent.

FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION

Based on the ACS, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that the foreign-born population of Louisiana was 152,002 persons in 2009. This meant a foreign-born population share of 3.4 percent.

NET INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION (NIM)

Based on the Current Population Survey (CPS), the Census Bureau estimated that between the 2000 Census and July 2008 the state’s population increased by about 33,046 residents from net international migration (more foreign-born arriving than leaving). That was an annual average increase of about 3,555 residents at the same time that the native-born population decreased.

Louisiana Sources of Population Change 1990-99

Louisiana Sources of Population Change 2000-09

FOREIGN-BORN CHANGE

The 2000 Census found 4,468,976 persons resident in Louisiana. This was an increase of 249,003 persons above the 1990 Census. The rate of increase (5.9%) was lower than the national average of 9.9 percent population increase.

The 2000 population is about 40,000 more persons than the Census Bureau had expected to find in the state in 2000 when it issued its most recent state population projections in 1996. The significance of this is that the Census Bureau has concluded that much of the shortfall in their population estimates during the 1990s was due to an underestimation of the illegal alien population.

The 2000 Census found that 37 percent of Louisiana's foreign-born population had arrived in the state since 1990. This demonstrates the effects of the current mass immigration, and it is a slightly lower share than the national average (43.7%). The 2009 ACS estimate was that 19 percent of the foreign-born population had entered since 2000, i.e., lower than the national rate of 20.9 percent.

The population of Louisiana increased by 0.3 percent from 1980 to 1990 (from 4,206,116 to 4,219,973 residents).

FOREIGN-BORN CHARACTERISTICS

An indicator of the change in the immigrant population may be seen in data on the share of the population that speaks a language other than English at home. Between 1990 and 2000 the share of non-English speakers at home in Louisiana decreased slightly from 10.1 percent to 8.4 percent. Less than one-third (30.6%) of those who said they spoke a language other than English at home in 2000 also said they spoke English less than very well. In the 2009 ACS, the share was 8.2 percent and of those 30.7 percent spoke English less than very well. Spanish speakers were 36.3 percent of those who spoke other than English at home, and 47.5 percent of those who spoke English less than very well.

Speakers of Foreign Languages (at home in Louisiana in the 2000 Census)
French	179,746
Spanish	105,190
Vietnamese	23,325
Cajun	14,355
German	8,045
Arabic	5,490
Chinese	4,540
French Creole	4,470
Italian	3,730
Tagalog	3,335
(Source: Census Bureau report: Language Spoken at Home for the Population 5 Years and Over, April 2004)

The chart above shows the foreign-born population increasing by 31.2 percent since 2000 and the share of that population from Latin America and the Caribbean increasing by 61.7 percent. That region’s share of the state’s immigrant population grew from 40.2 percent to 49.5 percent in 2009.

NATURALIZATION

Data from the 2009 ACS indicate that 65,162 residents, or 42.9 percent, of the foreign-born population in Louisiana were U.S. citizens, compared to 56,102 residents, or 48.4 percent, in 2000. Nationally, 40.3 percent of the foreign-born were U.S. citizens in 2000, and 43.7 percent in 2009.

Refugee Settlement

Louisiana received 2,924 refugees over the most recent ten fiscal years (FY'00-'09).

LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY STUDENTS

In Louisiana overall enrollment in 2008 (681,038) was 11.4 percent below enrollment in 1999. LEP enrollment was 78.1 percent higher than a decade earlier.

FOREIGN STUDENTS

The 2009/2010 annual report of the Institute of International Education (IIE) lists the number of foreign students attending post-secondary school in Louisiana as 7,245. Five schools in Louisiana hosted a majority of these students:

Louisiana S.U. – 1,955.
U. New Orleans – 888
Tulane U. – 820
Louisiana Tech. – 787
U. Louisiana-Lafayette. – 733

Those schools represented more than two-thirds (71.5%) of the total foreign students in the state.

For information on foreign student issues see: Foreign Students in the United States.

ILLEGAL ALIENS

FAIR Estimate - FAIR estimated the state’s illegal alien population as of 2010 is as many as 60,000 persons. This was part of an overall estimate of the U.S. illegal alien population of about 12 million persons.

INS/DHS Estimate - The INS (now dissolved into the Dept. of Homeland Security) estimated in February 2003 that the resident illegal population in Louisiana was 5,000 as of January 2000. This number was 17,000 lower than the INS' 1996 estimate.

Other Estimates - The Pew Hispanic Center estimated the illegal alien population of the state at 65,000 as of 2010.

COSTS OF ILLEGAL ALIENS

FAIR’s 2010 fiscal cost study, “The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States Taxpayers” estimated the following cost outlays and tax receipts:

Louisiana Fiscal Costs In 2009
Due to Illegal Aliens ($M)		(Pct.)
K-12 educ.	$109.5	48.9%
LEP educ.	$22.0	9.8%
Medicaid	$17.5	7.8%
SCHIP	$4.2	1.9%
Justice	$19.2	8.6%
Welfare+	$18.4	8.2%
General	$32.9	14.7%
Total	$223.7
Tax Receipts	$11.2
Net Cost	$212.5

Source: “The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States Taxpayers,” FAIR 2010.

Population Projection

We projected Louisiana’s population in 2050 likely would be between 4.69 million and 4.74 million depending on what happens with immigration policy. See “Projecting the U.S. Population to 2050: Four Immigration Scenarios,” FAIR 2006.

Louisiana: Immigrant Admissions

Louisiana Immigrant Admissions by Fiscal Year
2000	3,016
2001	3,778
2002	3,199
2003	2,221
2004	2,998
2005	3,777
2006	2,693
2007	3,475
2008	4,011
2009	4,299
Total	31,216

Recent immigrant admissions are at 154 percent of admissions just after adoption of the current immigration system in 1965. During the 1965-'69 period, annual admissions averaged about 2,205 immigrants. During the most recent five years, admissions averaged about 3,390 persons.

The charts below show recent immigrant admissions and the cumulative immigrant admissions data since 1965. The number of annual admissions has ranged from 1,662 in FY'73 to 8,573 in FY’78. The cumulative total of admissions to Louisiana between fiscal years 1965 and 2009 was about 144,600 immigrants.

INS DATA BY NATIONALITY: FY'96 - FY'05

The table below furnishes INS data on the immigrants who have been admitted for residence in Louisiana since 1996 by nationality.

The INS data are for nationals of the countries with the largest number of immigrants admitted or adjusted to legal residence each year since 1996. The absence of data means that the total number of admissions to the United States by nationals of that country was not enough to merit detailed reporting in that year.

The nationalities may change each year, so the totals in some cases will not reflect all the immigrants of that nationality who have become legal immigrants in Louisiana during this period.

The Department of Homeland Security website is has detailed data on immigrant admissions since FY’03 by year and by country. That resource has data for all source countries. (See http://www.dhs.gov/ximgtn/statistics/data/dslpr.shtm).

Immigrant Admissions by Fiscal Year
Countries	'96	'97	'98	'98	'00	'01	'02	'03	'04	'05	Total
Bangladesh	28	21	17	5	24	n/a	14	9	16	23	157
Canada	137	118	62	45	98	139	71	49	83	124	926
China*	264	216	120	152	265	257	224	149	172	321	2,140
Colombia	38	51	39	28	52	59	67	51	60	83	528
Cuba	79	145	83	97	56	107	90	65	103	70	895
D.R.	28	8	32	23	37	19	29	16	19	41	252
Ecuador	30	23	15	9	14	17	5	8	10	18	149
El Sal.	41	42	18	20	40	43	25	16	38	29	312
Germany	-	56	44	24	48	45	52	31	44	46	390
Guatemala	73	51	53	47	74	80	81	61	85	102	707
Guyana	19	15	5	18	7	n/a	11	7	15	11	108
Haiti	31	16	14	9	13	26	19	34	27	11	200
Honduras	-	328	276	144	208	n/a	190	153	175	231	1,705
India	336	208	129	164	211	200	195	171	215	318	2,147
Iran	40	26	20	25	48	23	36	16	26	52	312
Ireland	-	2	1	3	3	n/a	5	3	8	8	33
Jamaica	14	17	4	24	16	22	12	16	21	32	178
Japan	-	17	17	18	39	36	26	27	33	34	247
Korea	34	29	25	26	41	50	55	27	56	91	434
Mexico	178	98	132	121	194	247	197	133	176	214	1,690
Nicaragua	-	66	48	46	154	111	70	27	43	24	589
Nigeria	85	39	47	44	49	n/a	46	48	53	72	483
Pakistan	64	66	60	84	91	103	92	30	64	98	752
Peru	26	31	22	14	14	22	22	16	26	40	233
Philippines	158	157	70	55	97	130	86	101	101	147	1,102
Poland	9	12	7	1	3	15	5	6	17	18	93
Sov. Union*	32	66	55	79	103	111	118	86	91	101	842
Trin. & Tob.	-	9	17	12	32	n/a	29	12	31	17	159
U. Kingdom	86	90	48	54	94	119	81	42	61	95	770
Vietnam	899	611	201	198	335	519	379	225	316	342	4,025
Yugoslavia*	54	39	33	8	89	47	181	21	39	59	570
Other	1,309	646	479	451	467	1,231	686	558	774	905	7,506
Total	4,092	3,319	2,193	2,048	3,016	3,778	3,199	2,214	2,998	3,777	30,634

* China includes Hong Kong and Taiwan. The Soviet Union includes Russia and former parts of the USSR. Yugoslavia includes Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro-Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. A dash (-) indicates that the data for that year was not published for that country in the Immigration Statistical Yearbook.

Immigrant settlement from the 31 countries above accounted for over three-quarters (75.5%) of all immigrant settlement and adjustment in Louisiana during this period. Immigrants from Vietnam accounted for almost one-eighth (13.1%) of the total. Immigrants from China and India, when added to Vietnamese immigrants, amounted to over one-quarter (27.1%) of all immigrant admissions during the period.

Louisiana : Poll Data

Rasmussen Poll: Arizona Law SB 1070
July 2010

Suppose the new Arizona immigration law was being considered for your state. Would you favor or oppose passage of that law in your state?

Louisiana : Immigration Impact

Environmental and Quality of Life Profile

Water: Between 2000 and 2006, the foreign-born population of Louisiana increased by 8 percent while the native-born population decreased by 4.4 percent.¹ According the U.S. Geological Survey, per-capita, water usage is 168.5 gallons per day.² This means that the net increase of about 9,300 foreign-born residents between 2000 and 2006 has contributed approximately 1.6 million gallons of increased water demand each day.

Aggravating the problem, Louisiana is prone to drought. Currently, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center, 63 percent of the state of Louisiana was abnormally dry, and 9.4 percent of the state is in moderate drought in 2008.³

In southeastern Louisiana water is drawn heavily from the Amite aquifer and the "2,800-foot " sand aquifer. In 2005, 18 million gallons of water were being drawn per day from the Amite aquifer and 32 million each day from the "2,800-foot " sand aquifer. Over the last twenty years, sharp declines in groundwater levels have been consistently noted. In some areas water levels have declined by forty feet. Exacerbated by population growth, Louisiana continues to tap a water resource that is running dry.

Traffic: Traffic on Louisiana highways increased by 21 percent between 1990 and 2008. In 2010, 43 percent of its major urban highways were considered congested.⁴ As population growth put more traffic on the roads, the average commute for Louisiana residents increased 15 percent during the 1990s, from 22 minutes to 26 minutes in 2000.⁵

New Orleans commuters lost about 20 hours each due to congestion in 2007, burning 12 gallons of gas per commuter and resulting in an estimated cost of $244 million.⁶ About 15 percent of Louisiana commuters had a commute of 45 minutes or longer in 2008.⁷

Louisiana's roads are among the worst in the nation, with 22 percent rated as being in poor condition and another 22 percent in mediocre condition.⁸ Motorists pay the price for poorly maintained roads in Louisiana, the typical driver pays an estimated additional $408 per year in maintenance and operational costs due to road conditions, for a statewide total of $1.2 billion.⁹

Crowded housing: An estimated 45,625 of Louisiana's housing units were classified as crowded in 2008, defined as units with more than one occupant per room. This amounted to 2.9 percent of the state's housing units. In addition, 10,658 units were severely crowded, with at least 1.5 occupants per room.¹⁰ 12 percent of the state's children live in crowded housing.¹¹ Nationwide, children in immigrant families were three times as likely to live in crowded conditions as children in native families (27 percent to 9 percent).¹²

Disappearing open space: The amount of developed land in Louisiana increased by 630,700 acres from 1982 to 2007, growing at a pace of 26,810 acres per year over the last ten years of that period.¹³ In Baton Rouge, developers are now turning to 30-lot developments instead of the 300-lot developments common several years ago because there simply aren't any large enough tracts of land left to develop.¹⁴ 53 percent of Louisiana's 64 percent have high-quality farmland in danger from development, according to American Farmland Trust.¹⁵

Sprawl: Rapid development and ground coverage in St. Tammany has led to increased problems with flooding because the water caused by the area's wet climate no longer has sufficient drainage.¹⁶ Mayors in East Baton Rouge, which in 2001 was $500 million behind in sewer projects and $1.5 million behind in needed road expansions, complain that population growth has outstripped the ability to pay for infrastructure upgrades.¹⁷ In 2002, growing concerns about sprawl and its encroachment on fragile wetlands drove St. Bernard to pass its first regulations to limit it.¹⁸ Jefferson is expected to have to spend up to $1 billion dollars to overhaul its sewer system to accommodate new growth.¹⁹

A study of urban sprawl between 1970 and 1990 that calculated the impact of population increase and per capita land use found that 100.9 square miles of additional land were consumed by urban sprawl in the Baton Rouge metropolitan area, and 48.8 percent of that sprawl was attributable to population increase. In the New Orleans metro area, sprawl consumed an additional 86.1 square miles and population increase accounted for 20.4 percent of the increase.²⁰

Air pollution: As population increases, pollution usually rises along with it. In 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency rated Baton Rouge's air pollution "severe, " worsening from its rating of "serious " in 1999.²¹ In 2002, Louisiana ranked eleventh for toxic pollution released into the air, water, and ground.²²

In 2010, 15 of the 16 Louisiana Parishes rated for frequency of high ozone days by the American Lung Association received an "F."²³

Solid Waste: Louisiana generates 1.10 tons of solid waste per capita each year.²⁴

Poverty: Louisiana is one of the few states in which immigrants are less likely to be poor than natives. 17.6 percent of the foreign-born households were below the poverty level in 2007, compared to 18.6 percent of native households. The trend shifts when those who are near poverty are included 11.7 percent of the foreign-born were not in poverty but had incomes less than 1.5 times the poverty level, versus 10.4 percent of native households. Louisiana is also one of three states in which native children are more likely to be poor than immigrant children. 21.5 percent of children in immigrant families were poor in 2006, compared to 26.5 percent of native children.²⁵

Education: Between 1990 and 2000, Louisiana's elementary and high school enrollment increased 1 percent. In one Mandeville high school, enrollment grew 10 percent in a single year (2001 to 2002) and is now 54 percent over capacity, with 2,000 students in a facility designed for 1,300. Students have to share lockers and attend gym classes in the parking lot.²⁶

Endnotes:

U.S. Census Bureau 2006.
U.S. Geological Survey 2000.
U.S. Drought Monitor. July 2008.
The Road Information Project (TRIP), "Key Facts about Louisiana's Surface Transportation System and Federal Funding," May 2010.
"Table DP-1-4, Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2000, " Census 2000, U.S. Census Bureau. "Table DP-1-4, Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 1990, " 1990 Census, U.S. Census Bureau.
Texas Transportation Institute, "Urban Mobility Report 2009."
American Community Survey, 2008 Estimates, Custom Data Table.
The Road Information Project (TRIP), "Rough Roads Ahead," May 2009.
The Road Information Project (TRIP), "Key Facts about Louisiana's Surface Transportation System and Federal Funding," May 2010.
American Community Survey, Three-Year Estimates 2006-2008. Data retrieved using ACS Custom Table tool.
Kids Count Data Center, which used 2008 American Community Survey Data.
"Wisconsin Children in Immigrant Families," WisKids Count Issue Brief, Spring 2008. Cited 2006 ACS data.
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, "Summary Report: 2007 National Resources Inventory."
Chad Calder, "Residential and Commercial Construction Lead Area Economic Indicators, " Baton Rouge Advocate, April 27, 2003.
"Farming on the Edge: Sprawling Development Threatens America's Farmland, " American Farmland Trust, 2002.
Ann Barks, "Tammany is Growing, and So are Residents' Concerns, " New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 22, 2002.
Amy Wold, "Parishes Jump in Population, " Baton Rouge Advocate, March 10, 2001.
Karen Turni Bazile, "Parish May Increase Minimum Lot Size; Rules to Apply in Rural Areas, " New Orleans Times-Picayune, March 5, 2002.
Aaron Kuriloff, "Small, Historic Towns Try to Manage Their Growing Pains, " New Orleans Times-Picayune, December 31, 2001.
Manuel Torres, "Sewer Needs are Massive, Report Finds, " New Orleans Times-Picayune, April 19, 2002.
Beck, Roy and Leon Kolankiewicz, "Weighing Sprawl Factors in Large U.S. Cities, " NumbersUSA, March 2001.
Mark Schleifstein, "Baton Rouge Air Quality is Rated 'Severe', " New Orleans Times-Picayune, February 28, 2003.
Mike Dunne, "La. High in Release of Toxic Wastes, " Baton Rouge Advocate, May 24, 2002.
American Lung Association, "State of the Air 2010."
"Report Card for America's Infrastructure 2005, " American Society of Civil Engineers.
Urban Institute, Children of Immigrants Data Tool.
Michelle Krupa, "Parents Seek Fix for Crowded Classrooms, " New Orleans Times-Picayune, December 7, 2002.

Other Resources

State Local Reform Organizations

State Representatives Voting Record

Updated December 2011

Page Tools