New Orleans Number One for Growth

By Eileen Fleming

New Orleans, La. – The Census Bureau says that as of July First, New Orleans grew by almost 24-thousand residents. That represents an 8.2 percent jump over last year. City officials welcome the increase, which they say translates into tens of millions of federal dollars. The Census Bureau uses birth and death records and information from tax returns to estimate population in years when person-to-person counts are not performed. The city estimates include records of building permits, mail service and trash collections to accurately reflect the recovery from Hurricane Katrina. The city is now preparing a case for the Census Bureau to boost its estimate even more, putting the population at 336-thousand residents. In April 2000, the city's population was nearly 485-thousand people.