Share and Follow
New Orleans has experienced a decline in its population by 39,000 individuals from 2020 to 2024, marking it as the most rapidly shrinking metropolitan region in the nation, as per recent data from the US Census.
The largest city in Louisiana faces challenges such as limited economic opportunities and sluggish job growth, along with escalating housing and insurance expenses. Additionally, ongoing concerns about crime and deteriorating infrastructure contribute to its woes.
Giovanni Lincoln, a 44-year-old who has spent his entire life in New Orleans, shared with the Daily Mail that the city hasn’t fully regained its footing since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.
This catastrophic storm submerged 80 percent of the city, claimed 1,392 lives, and inflicted $125 billion in damages.
Certain areas of New Orleans remain unreconstructed, and the population has yet to bounce back to its pre-Katrina level of approximately 485,000 in the year 2000. The most recent US Census figures reveal that as of July 2024, the population stood at 362,701 residents.
But according to Lincoln, another negative milestone for New Orleans was the COVID-19 pandemic, after which he claims he saw the city government consistently failing to meet the needs of its citizens.
‘People are leaving in mass numbers because basic, essential services… have been lacking,’ he said.
‘As a resident, a homeowner and a landlord, I pay for trash to be picked up twice a week. I haven’t been receiving that, yet they want to increase the bill,’ he said, adding that the city is only picking up his trash once a week.
New Orleans (pictured) has had a tough five years since the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been suffering a net population loss since Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005
Giovanni Lincoln, a 44-year-old lifelong New Orleans resident, told the Daily Mail that the city is not adequately providing the services he pays taxes for
Residents have been leaving the city. Locals say concerns about crime is one of the reasons. Members of the New Orleans Police Department are pictured walking along Bourbon Street
Canal Street in New Orleans is pictured. It is one of the city’s main streets with shopping, dining and entertainment options
Lincoln also lamented the breakdown of the New Orleans Police Department, arguing that the record-low staffing leads to serious consequences for all residents.
‘If something happens to you, you got a fear of whether the police are gonna come or not? That’s where we’re at in New Orleans,’ he said.Â
‘The police have to decide which calls they’re going to take. If I need an ambulance. Will the ambulance come? Because the ambulance has to decide whose situation is more severe.’
Since the COVID-19 pandemic and the George Floyd era, the New Orleans Police Department has lost roughly a quarter of its police workforce from 2019 to 2023.
Commissioned officer counts fell from around 1,200 pre-pandemic to the high-800s or low-900s in recent years, a trend driven by drastically fewer recruits and ongoing challenges in retaining cops already on the force.
Lincoln also has gripes with the city’s infrastructure, which he says routinely fails even on the days you wouldn’t think would cause problems.
‘It could be a sunny day, nothing going on, and the power goes out for hours,’ he said. ‘A month ago, the power was out on a Sunday for eight hours. It was a sunny day.’
When it comes to jobs, Lincoln said if a person doesn’t have a college degree, they’re likely going to be limited to a position at a hotel or a restaurant, since the city is so geared toward tourism.
Resident Giovanni Lincoln told Daily Mail that trash is not being collected regularly. Garbage on the city’s famed Bourbon Street is pictured
Tourists stand on a balcony in the French Quarter of New Orleans
His advice to potential transplants is not to move to New Orleans unless they have a job lined up already.
Sandra Greene Thomas, the chief of staff for New Orleans City Councilmember Eugene Green, told Verite News last July that she has counseled her adult children to leave the city and find opportunities elsewhere, advice they have followed.
New Orleans-based demographer and political consultant Greg Rigamer said people are leaving the city largely because of economic considerations.
‘The problem is, we’re losing a lot of young people. And when you look at where our young people are going, for the vast majority, they’re going to areas that represent better job opportunities and better income opportunities,’ Rigamer said in October 2024.
And most experts say the problem is not limited to New Orleans. The economic stagnation spreads out to Louisiana as a whole.
‘The bottom line is, the median household income in the US is around $75,000. Throughout Louisiana, it’s substantially lower than that. We don’t have a sustainable job base that generates wealth,’ Rigamer added.
Despite its shortcomings, Lincoln told the Daily Mail he loves New Orleans and wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.
In October 2025, the city had a mayoral election, where many of the city’s issues took center stage. Helena Moreno won a three-way race with 54 percent of the vote.
People walk among debris after Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Since the hurricane hit the city has struggled to rebuild its population
New Orleans elected a new mayor last October. Helena Moreno, a former TV journalist, won with 54 percent of the vote and took office on January 12
Moreno has a different background from many past officeholders, having begun her career as a TV journalist in the early 2000s after interning for Hillary Clinton during her time as first lady.
Lincoln is optimistic that Moreno, who assumed office on January 12, will do her best to improve material conditions for residents.Â
‘I love the city, I love the culture, but that’s what’s kept me, and I’m a homeowner and a landlord,’ he said. ‘New Orleans has seen better days, and I want New Orleans to have better days.’