The 10 Louisiana Cities With The Largest Black Population For 2023


We used science and data to determine which cities in Louisiana have the largest African American population.

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The Black community is one of the fastest growing communities in America this decade.

There are now 42 million people who identify as Black or African American living in America, making up 12% of the total population. According to the most recent American Community Survey, the Black population in Louisiana is 1,475,549 - at 31.7% of the total population of Louisiana.

The percentage growth of Blacks in America is the third largest percentage change for any race according to the Census's race and ethnicity definition. As most scholars and historians agree, an increase in the diversity in America is a good thing.

We agree.

But how has the increase in the black population impacted Louisiana? Which cities and towns in Louisiana have seen the greatest increase in its Black population?

We broke down the most recent census data to determine the cities in Louisiana with the largest African American population in 2023:

  1. Baker
  2. Donaldsonville
  3. Tallulah
  4. Bastrop
  5. Opelousas
  6. Ville Platte
  7. St. Martinville
  8. St. Gabriel
  9. Monroe
  10. New Orleans

What's the blackest city in Louisiana? Baker took the number one over all spot for the largest Black population in Louisiana for 2023. See if it ranked as one of the most african american cities in America.

Read on below to see how we crunched the numbers and how your town ranked.

To see where Louisiana ranked as a state on diversity, we have a ranking of the most diverse states in America.

And if you already knew these places were Black, check out the best places to live in Louisiana or the most diverse places in Louisiana.

The 10 Blackest Cities In Louisiana For 2023

1. Baker

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 12,736
% African American: 88.39%
# Of African American Residents: 11,257
Percent Change Since 2010: 9.96%
More on Baker: Real Estate | Data

Baker, LA

2. Donaldsonville

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 6,834
% African American: 82.22%
# Of African American Residents: 5,619
Percent Change Since 2010: -5.85%
More on Donaldsonville: Real Estate | Data | Photos

Donaldsonville, LA

3. Tallulah

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 6,357
% African American: 78.95%
# Of African American Residents: 5,019
Percent Change Since 2010: -10.99%
More on Tallulah: Real Estate | Data | Photos

Tallulah, LA

4. Bastrop

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 9,879
% African American: 78.45%
# Of African American Residents: 7,750
Percent Change Since 2010: -8.52%
More on Bastrop: Real Estate | Data | Photos

Bastrop, LA

5. Opelousas

Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 15,884
% African American: 74.99%
# Of African American Residents: 11,911
Percent Change Since 2010: -10.29%
More on Opelousas: Real Estate | Data | Photos

Opelousas, LA

6. Ville Platte

Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 6,488
% African American: 65.69%
# Of African American Residents: 4,262
Percent Change Since 2010: -16.17%
More on Ville Platte: Real Estate | Data | Photos

Ville Platte, LA

7. St. Martinville

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,602
% African American: 59.85%
# Of African American Residents: 3,353
Percent Change Since 2010: -17.62%
More on St. Martinville: Real Estate | Data | Photos

St. Martinville, LA

8. St. Gabriel

Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 7,046
% African American: 59.84%
# Of African American Residents: 4,216
Percent Change Since 2010: 6.2%
More on St. Gabriel: Real Estate | Data | Photos

St. Gabriel, LA

9. Monroe

Overall SnackAbility

3
/10

Population: 48,105
% African American: 59.64%
# Of African American Residents: 28,692
Percent Change Since 2010: -10.27%
More on Monroe: Real Estate | Data | Photos

Monroe, LA

10. New Orleans

Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 383,974
% African American: 57.63%
# Of African American Residents: 221,301
Percent Change Since 2010: 26.1%
More on New Orleans: Real Estate | Data | Photos

New Orleans, LA

Methodology: How We Determined The Cities In Louisiana With The Largest Black Population For 2023

We still believe in the accuracy of data -- especially from the census. So that's where we went to get the breakdown of race across Louisiana.

That lead us to the Census's most recently available data, the 2017-2021 American Community Survey data from the US Census.

Specifically, we looked at table B03002: Hispanic OR LATINO ORIGIN BY RACE. Here are the category names as defined by the Census:

  • Hispanic or Latino
  • White alone*
  • Black or African American alone*
  • American Indian and Alaska Native alone*
  • Asian alone*
  • Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone*
  • Some other race alone*
  • Two or more races*
* Not Hispanic or latino

Our particular column of interest here was the number of people who identified as Black or African American.

We limited our analysis to non-CDPs with a population greater than 5,000 people. That left us with 58 cities.

We then calculated the percent of residents that are Black or African American. The percentages ranked from 88.4% to 0.8%.

Finally, we ranked each city based on the percent of Black population with a higher score being more Black than a lower score. Baker took the distinction of being the most Black, while Mandeville was the least African American city. You can download the data here.

Read on for more information on how the cities in Louisiana ranked by population of African American residents or, for a more general take on diversity in America, head over to our ranking of the most diverse cities in America.

Summary: Black Populations Across Louisiana

If you're looking for a breakdown of African American populations across Louisiana according to the most recent data, this is an accurate list.

If you're curious enough, here are the least African American places in Louisiana:

  1. Mandeville
  2. Harahan
  3. Sulphur

For more Louisiana reading, check out:

African American Population By City In Louisiana

Rank City % African American Population
1 Baker 88.39% 12,736
2 Donaldsonville 82.22% 6,834
3 Tallulah 78.95% 6,357
4 Bastrop 78.45% 9,879
5 Opelousas 74.99% 15,884
6 Ville Platte 65.69% 6,488
7 St. Martinville 59.85% 5,602
8 St. Gabriel 59.84% 7,046
9 Monroe 59.64% 48,105
10 New Orleans 57.63% 383,974
11 Natchitoches 57.17% 18,105
12 Franklin 57.1% 6,811
13 Shreveport 56.41% 189,374
14 Alexandria 55.17% 45,736
15 Baton Rouge 53.22% 225,539
16 Plaquemine 52.8% 6,187
17 Minden 51.1% 12,145
18 Zachary 50.07% 19,278
19 Carencro 49.66% 9,531
20 Gonzales 48.39% 12,080
21 Lake Charles 46.17% 83,444
22 Bogalusa 45.74% 10,921
23 Hammond 44.22% 19,374
24 Rayne 44.04% 7,332
25 Patterson 43.47% 5,928
26 New Iberia 42.93% 28,844
27 Abbeville 42.48% 11,313
28 Ruston 42.06% 22,286
29 Breaux Bridge 40.33% 7,711
30 West Monroe 40.3% 13,103
31 Leesville 39.55% 5,666
32 Deridder 35.8% 10,060
33 Eunice 35.68% 9,589
34 Pineville 34.44% 14,653
35 Marksville 32.79% 5,118
36 Thibodaux 31.27% 15,242
37 Gretna 31.14% 17,836
38 Lafayette 29.83% 122,469
39 Crowley 29.22% 11,916
40 Bossier City 27.76% 63,168
41 Ponchatoula 27.69% 7,729
42 Oakdale 26.51% 7,092
43 Jennings 22.71% 9,836
44 Houma 21.75% 33,461
45 Westwego 20.71% 8,538
46 Kenner 19.51% 66,411
47 Broussard 19.49% 12,960
48 Morgan City 18.71% 11,525
49 Slidell 17.42% 28,537
50 Covington 14.36% 11,155
51 Denham Springs 14.24% 9,389
52 Youngsville 11.56% 15,167
53 Walker 10.33% 6,322
54 Central 8.33% 29,746
55 Scott 6.84% 8,200
56 Sulphur 6.3% 21,490
57 Harahan 1.93% 9,137
58 Mandeville 0.79% 12,985

How Is The Area In ?

Editor's Note: We updated this article for 2023. This is our tenth time ranking the cities in Louisiana with the largest African American population.

About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.