As a real estate agent in New Orleans, I’m often asked how many people are back in the New Orleans region after Katrina. While population is a moving target, I’ve found a couple different sources for statistics that can provide a general snapshot of what’s been happening in the New Orleans market after the storm.

Before Katrina, the New Orleans metro region had a population of 1.2 million. The current metro population is just under that at just over 1 million according to recent figure in the Times Picayune.

Within the city limits of New Orleans, there has been a 22 percent increase in the past year to bring it to about 300,000 at last count versus the estimated 450,000 before the storm. Here are some different views on how specific neighborhoods have recovered.

The Greater New Orleans Community Data Center (www.gnocdc.org) recently released figures on how much the household populations in different zip codes have increased in just the past year, from August 2006 – July 2007:

70124 has increased by 2,154 households.

70117 has increased by 2,822 households.

70127 has increased by 3,069 households.

70126 has increased by 3,228 households.

70122 has increased by 5,154 households.

The Times Picayune recently published numbers from Greg Rigamer of GCR & Associates which made an analysis of current neighborhood populations based on utility records, and then compared those numbers with the 2000 census population figures. According to that study. . .

Bywater has a population of 3,404 in July 2007 versus 5,056 in 2000.

Marigny has 2,908 versus 3,122.

St Roch has 5,067 versus 11,981.

The French Quarter has 3,712 versus 3,813.

The Warehouse District has 681 versus 832.

The Garden District has 1,921 versus 1,970.

Irish Channel has 3,899 versus 4,236.

Uptown has 5,947 versus 6,681.

Mid-City has 7,331 versus 19,897.

Bayou St John has 3,497 versus 4,875.

Broadmoor has 3,351 versus 7,226.

Lakeview has 5,519 versus 17,663.

Holy Cross has 1,384 versus 5,507.

Lower 9th Ward has 917 versus 14,008.

When it comes to population numbers after the storm, there are differeing opinions on how many people are back as well as different opinions on how to calculate the numbers. There probably won’t be consensus until the next census! But at least these numbers can give a general outline of how our different New Orleans neighborhoods are doing after the storm.