The Loss of Children from New Orleans Neighborhoods

Children are a declining share of the population in the vast majority of New Orleans neighborhoods.

Only three New Orleans neighborhoods experienced an increase in the number of children over the last decade and in each case the increases were very minor. Specifically, Old Aurora, Touro, and Lake Terrace & Oaks gained 9, 10 and 52 children respectively. While the Central Business District, Audubon, Lower Garden District, Algiers Point, and New Aurora/English Turn all gained total population, they did so while losing anywhere from 24 to 415 children.

All told, children under 18 have declined as a share of the population in 59 out of New Orleans’ 72 neighborhoods over the last ten years. In eight neighborhoods, the share of the population that is under 18 years old has declined by more than ten percentage points.

The six neighborhoods that experienced the largest disproportionate loss of children encompass public housing sites that have undergone major redevelopment, including B.W. Cooper, Iberville Development, Treme’/Lafitte, St. Bernard Area, St. Thomas, and Fischer.

The Irish Channel and Bywater experienced the next largest disproportionate loss of children over the last ten years. Although the Irish Channel did not flood, it lost 63 percent of its children compared to only 21 percent of its total population since 2000. Similarly, the Bywater, which largely did not flood, has lost fully two–thirds (67 percent) of its population of children compared to only 35 percent of its total population. The disproportionate loss of children is likely a result of gentrification, which is accompanied by an increase in housing prices [2].

These trends point to the fact that families with children in New Orleans tend to earn lower incomes than other families. In 2009, the median income of families without children was $46,997 in Orleans Parish, while the median income for families with children was only $37,310. Fully 35 percent of New Orleans children under the age of 18 lived in poverty in 2009 compared to 20 percent nationwide (U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2009).

In three additional neighborhoods, the share of children has dropped by exactly ten percentage points: Central City, St. Claude and Village de L’est.

Not only do fewer children live in post–Katrina New Orleans, but now children live in less densely situated housing.

Today the neighborhoods that have the highest density of children are quite different than ten years ago. Although Iberville still has the highest density of children in the city, next on the list of neighborhoods with high densities of children are the Seventh Ward, Broadmoor, Freret, Milan, and Hollygrove. The reopening of Lafitte (now Faubourg Lafitte), the St. Bernard development (now Columbia Park), and C.J. Peete (now Harmony Oaks) provide or will provide additional housing for low–income families, but these developments are now less dense than they were in 2000 and will house fewer families over the same acreage. The new distribution of children across the city will be important for planning services for families and children citywide.