The Deep South — Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi — is home to rich histories of strength and resiliency against all odds. Despite this perseverance, residents and communities across the Deep South are still experiencing the far-reaching consequences of funding cuts to vital support programs such as health care, housing, education and public infrastructure. Across the Deep South, people with low incomes are more likely to rely on these programs to meet their basic needs. Indeed, these programmatic cuts place people experiencing poverty — some 19% of residents in Louisiana — at risk of losing access to doctors, safe and stable housing, and even food simply because they cannot afford it without assistance. Evidence continuously demonstrates that government support is vital to healthy families, communities, and ultimately the United States as a whole. As such, there is ample opportunity for policymakers to prioritize people and families that need it most by increasing the infrastructure, income, housing and nutrition support available to residents of the Deep South.
Definitions to know
- In the U.S. Census, AIAN stands for American Indian and Alaska Native.
- The U.S. Census Bureau considers census blocks with more than 2,000 housing units or 5,000 people to be urban, while all other areas are rural.
- Citizen Voting Age Population – includes US citizens who are of voting age (18 years of age or older). This population may include individuals who are ineligible to vote for reasons other than lack of citizenship or who are under 18 years of age and preregistered.
- Disability numbers include both physical and mental difficulties.
- Food insecurity – when people do not have enough to eat or know where their next meal will come from.
- Medicaid is a government-funded health insurance program that provides free or low-cost medical coverage to individuals and families with low incomes.
- In the U.S. Census, NHPI stands for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander.
- Owner-occupied homes are those inhabited by the owner of the home.
- The Census Bureau defines the poverty line as the minimum income needed for a family or individual to meet basic living expenses. It is based on nationally set income thresholds that vary by family size and composition but do not change by location.
- The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, provides monthly food assistance and support for purchases of healthy food for working families with low-incomes, adults with low incomes age 60 and older, and disabled people with fixed incomes.
- The WIC program is a federally funded nutrition assistance program that provides supplemental nutritious foods, nutrition education, breastfeeding support, and health care referrals to pregnant people with low incomes, postpartum and breastfeeding parents, and infants and children who are at risk of malnutrition.
Demographics
Race and Ethnicity
Louisiana is home to 4.6 million people. Of those, 56% (2.6 million) of the population are white, 31% (1.4 million) are Black, 3% (155,000) are multiracial, and 2% (79,000) are Asian, according to 2019-2023 American Community Survey (ACS) data. Native American, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and other races make up less than 1% combined, which is less than 50,000 residents. In total, 7% (321,000) are Latinx and 93% (4.3 million) are not Latinx.
White residents are the majority in all but 13 of Louisiana’s 64 parishes. Black residents are the majority in six parishes: East Carroll, Madison, St. John the Baptist, Orleans, Tensas and St. Helena. East Carroll Parish is 64% Black, the highest percentage in the state. The Latinx population is 18% of Jefferson Parish — all other parishes have less than 15% Latinx population. Cameron Parish has the largest-percentage multiracial population at nearly 10%.
Rural and Urban Population
According to 2020 census data, most households (72%) in Louisiana are in urban areas. The U.S. Census Bureau considers census blocks with more than 2,000 housing units or 5,000 people to be urban, while all other areas are rural. About 28% of Louisiana’s households are in rural areas, which is 7 percentage points higher than the national average. Orleans Parish (55% Black, 30% white, 8% Latinx) is the most urban parish, where nearly all (99.6%) households are in urban areas. On the other hand, 17 parishes are considered completely rural. Rural areas often have unique challenges, such as an increased need for infrastructure investment and economic development as a result of population decline.
Voting and Registration
Nearly 3.5 million people (75%) are citizens of voting age, according to 2018-2022 ACS data. As of fall 2024, there were 3 million registered voters in the state. Of these, about 63% (1.9 million) are white and 31% (1 million) are Black. Black voters hold a majority in seven parishes: East Carroll, Madison, St. John the Baptist, Tensas, St. Helena, Orleans and St. James. East Carroll has the highest percentage of Black registered voters (72%). Statewide, more voters are registered as Democrats (37%) than Republicans (35%), with the remaining registered with other parties (28%).
Poverty
According to 2019-2023 ACS data, around 19% of people in Louisiana are experiencing poverty. The Census Bureau defines the poverty line as the minimum income needed for a family or individual to meet basic living expenses, based on nationally set income thresholds that vary by family size and composition but do not change by location. That is 7 percentage points higher than the national rate and represents about 850,000 people. More than a quarter of people under the age of 18 are experiencing poverty, about 10 percentage points higher than the national poverty rate for this age group. The poverty rate for all major racial and ethnic groups is also higher than the national rate, meaning there is ample opportunity to increase access to safety net programs such as income support. Fueled by occupational segregation, Black residents have the highest poverty rate at nearly 30%, 9 percentage points above the national rate for Black residents. While Black residents represent 31% of the overall population, they are disproportionately living in poverty, with nearly half of all Black residents living below the poverty line. In Louisiana, 22% of Latinx residents and 12% of white residents live below the poverty line, which is 5 percentage points above the national rate for Latinx residents and 3 percentage points above the national rate for white residents.
Madison Parish (63% Black, 33% white, 2% Latinx) has the highest poverty rate in the state at nearly 37%. Poverty rates also vary by racial and ethnic groups in Louisiana. Nearly 27% of white residents in Concordia Parish (56% white, 39% Black, 3% Latinx) live in poverty, the highest rate for white residents in the state, while 53% of Black residents live in poverty in Caldwell Parish (77% white, 18% Black, 3% Latinx), the highest rate for Black residents in the state.
Income and Employment
The median income in Louisiana is significantly lower than the national average overall and across racial groups. According to 2019-2023 ACS data, the median income in Louisiana is just above $60,000, which is over $18,538 lower than the national median income of $78,538. There is significant variation when looking at individual racial and ethnic groups. Asian residents have the highest median income at $73,895, but this is nearly $40,000 less than the national Asian median income and still lower than the overall national median. White residents have the next highest median income at $72,792. However, the white median is still lower than the national median and about $12,000 lower than the national white median income. The median income for Latinx residents in Louisiana is $61,275, nearly $8,000 lower than the national Latinx median income. Of the major ethnic and racial groups in Louisiana, Latinx income is most comparable to their respective national income level. Black median income in Louisiana is the lowest of the racial and ethnic groups at $38,968, more than $14,000 lower than the national median income for Black residents.
Median income also varies by parish. Ascension Parish (64% white, 23% Black, 8% Latinx) has the highest median income in the state at $92,266. The lowest median income in the state is East Carroll Parish (64% Black, 29% white, 2% Latinx) at $28,321. Among Black residents, East Carroll Parish also has the lowest median income at $16,690.
There are several parishes where the median income for Latinx residents is over $100,000; however, many of these parishes have fewer than 5,000 Latinx residents. In the parishes with a greater proportion of Latinx population, such as Jefferson (18%) and St. Bernard (14%) parishes, median income is lower than the state median at $58,474 and $42,641, respectively.
According to 2019-2023 ACS data, the unemployment rate in Louisiana is 6.3%, about 1 percentage point higher than the national unemployment rate of 5.2%. The unemployment rate for Black residents is higher than any other racial or ethnic group at 10%, which is also 1 percentage point higher than the national Black unemployment rate. Unemployment is highest in St. Helena Parish (50% Black, 44% white, 2% Latinx) at 21%.
Education in Louisiana: Access, Funding and Attainment
There is further room to invest in education across Louisiana. According to 2019-2023 ACS data, the rate of residents with a high school diploma is 87%, 2 percentage points behind the national rate. Of the major racial and ethnic groups, Latinx residents have the lowest high school diploma rate at 75%, and Asian residents are slightly higher at 80%. Among Black residents, 83% have high school diplomas compared to 88% nationally. Among white residents, 90% have a high school diploma compared to 94% nationally.
There are notable differences in degree attainment as well, and some interesting patterns. Lagging 8 points behind the national rate, 27% of Louisiana residents have at least a bachelor’s degree. Aside from Latinx and multiracial residents, who are slightly higher than their respective national rates, most other racial groups also trail the corresponding national education rate. For example, Asian residents have the highest bachelor’s degree rate in Louisiana at 45%, but this is nearly 12 percentage points lower than the national rate for bachelor’s degrees for Asian individuals.
Louisiana per-pupil spending is directed by a formula adopted by the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education annually under the Minimum Foundation Program (MFP), which is the primary funding mechanism for public K-12 funding. Under this formula, per-pupil spending is based on student needs and local taxes. Louisiana spent $15,377 per pupil in public schools in 2022-2023. Charter school spending in the state was slightly lower at $11,790 in 2017-2018. However, the state-level data obscures massive differences in funding at the parish level. Orleans Parish has the highest per-pupil funding with $37,755, which is nearly three times as much as Lafourche Parish (75% white, 13% Black, 6% Latinx), which has the lowest per-pupil funding with $12,416.
In Louisiana, eligibility for free and reduced-price school meals is determined based on federal income guidelines and specific categorical criteria. The state also participates in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), which is a federal program that allows certain schools to offer free meals to all students without collecting individual applications. Statewide, 47% of school students qualify for free or reduced lunches, 4 percentage points lower than the national rate of 51%, according to 2024 data. The positive comparison to national numbers obscures large disparities at the parish level. For example, in St. Helena Parish, 87% of students qualify for free or reduced lunches. Meanwhile, only 3% of students qualify in Morehouse Parish (48% Black, 48% white, and 2% Latinx).
The Criminal Legal System
Characteristics of the criminal legal system in Louisiana are unique in that the numbers for incarceration in state jails are higher than those for prisons. A prison is a long-term correctional facility operated by state or federal governments for individuals convicted of serious crimes, typically felonies, and serving sentences longer than one year, while a jail is a short-term facility run by local authorities (counties or cities) for individuals awaiting trial, serving short sentences (usually less than a year), or held for minor offenses. As of 2021, about 26,000 people were incarcerated in Louisiana state prisons.[i] Of the 26,000 in state prison, 66% are Black and 34% are white. Over 32,500 are incarcerated in state jails, according to 2019 data. Of those incarcerated in state jails, 57% are Black, 38% are white, and 4% are Latinx.
Once considered the ”world’s prison capital,” Louisiana’s incarceration rates are substantially higher than national averages overall and for both Black and white individuals, which is exacerbated by recent rollbacks in criminal legal reform. Overall, 564 per 100,000 people are incarcerated in state prisons in Louisiana, about 1.6 times higher than the national rate. In state prisons, 1,159 per 100,000 Black people are incarcerated, which is 1.3 times higher than the national rate for Black people. The incarceration rate for white people is 1.8 times higher than the national rate and equates to 329 per 100,000 white people incarcerated.
The data for state jails is even more striking compared to national levels. Nearly 700 per 100,000 people are incarcerated in state jails — about 3.5 times higher than the national rate. Of those in state jails, 457 per 100,000 white people are in state jails, nearly three times the national rate. Additionally, 1,267 Black people per 100,000 are in state jails, about 2.3 times the national rate.
Housing and Homelessness
Homeownership
According to 2019-2023 ACS data, 67% of households statewide, around 1.2 million, are owner-occupied. Owner-occupied homes are those in which the owner of the home also lives in the home. The majority of these homeowners, 69%, are white, 22% are Black, 4% are Latinx, and 4% are multiracial. The highest rate for owner-occupied homeownership is among white households at 78%. Of Latinx households, 53% are owner-occupied, 2 percentage points above the national rate. Almost 50% of Black households are owner-occupied, 6 percentage points above the national rate for Black residents.
The median home price is $236,500, about $100,000 cheaper than the national median according to 2019-2023 ACS data. The most expensive houses on average are in Plaquemines Parish (60% white, 21% Black,10% Latinx), where the median house cost is $369,000. The lowest-priced houses are in Claiborne Parish (48% Black, 45% white, 3% Latinx), where the median house cost is $97,800.
Renting
The median rent (including houses and apartments) is $1,038 per month, compared to the national median of $1,348, according to 2019-2023 ACS data. The parish with the highest rent is Plaquemines, where the median rent is $1,611 per month. LaSalle Parish (75% white, 11% Black, 9% Latinx) has the lowest rent at $576 per month.
There were 16,854 evictions in Louisiana in 2018, the latest year with data available. For the most part, parishes with higher populations also see a corresponding higher number of evictions. East Baton Rouge Parish (44% Black, 42% white, 7% Latinx) had the highest number of evictions at over 4,000.
For Louisiana residents who do not own homes, the government plays a significant role in supporting housing affordability via various assistance programs, including housing choice vouchers, public housing, and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. There were just over 50,000 housing choice vouchers in 2024, for a total of $265 million. Formerly known as “Section 8” vouchers, the housing choice voucher program is administered by local public housing authorities and funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Vouchers allow recipients to find housing on the private market. Tenants typically pay 30% of their income towards rent and the voucher covers the rest. An additional 30,000 live in public housing units, which is less than 2% of the population. Of this population, 70% are people of color. In 2022, 892 properties with over 51,000 units were enrolled in the LIHTC. Black households occupied 48% of these LIHTC units, 30% are Latinx households, and 5% are white households.
Homelessness
According to 2023 data, there are about 3,000 people experiencing homelessness in Louisiana, of which 59% are Black and 37% are white.
Federal resources are available to support students experiencing homelessness. Title I is a component of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act that provides funding to schools serving a high percentage of families with low incomes. To ensure homeless youth are provided with support through Title I, the McKinney-Vento Act is a federal law designed to address the unique educational challenges faced by students experiencing homelessness and ensure services are provided in schools for the homeless population. In fiscal year 2024, Louisiana received $2.7 million in McKinney/Title 1 funding. Nearly 12,000 youth and students were experiencing homelessness in 2020-2021.[ii]
Among youth and students experiencing homelessness, 56% are Black, 32% are white, 8% are Latinx, and 4% are multiracial. Despite being just 32% of the school-age population, Black residents comprise over half of the youth and students experiencing homelessness. White residents are 46% of the school-age population but make up only 31% of youth and students experiencing homelessness.
Health Insurance
According to 2019-2023 ACS data, 8% or 366,000 people do not have health insurance in Louisiana. Among Latinx residents, 27% do not have health insurance, over 9 percentage points higher than the national rate for Latinx residents and the highest variance from the national rate among racial and ethnic groups. The uninsured rate for Black residents is lower than the national rate, 8% in Louisiana versus 10% nationally. White residents in Louisiana are uninsured at a rate that mirrors the national rate (6%).
Overall, Jefferson Parish has the highest percentage of population without health insurance at nearly 11%. But Black and white residents face coverage gaps in different geographical areas. The highest uninsured rate for Black residents is Evangeline Parish (64% white, 26% Black, 4% Latinx) at 13%. The uninsured rate for white residents is highest in Madison Parish at 16%.
According to 2019-2023 ACS data, nearly 1.4 million Louisiana residents are enrolled in Medicaid, which is 31% of the population and 10 percentage points higher than the national rate. Medicaid is a government-funded health insurance program that provides free or low-cost medical coverage to low-income individuals and families. In Tensas Parish (53% Black, 41% white, 3% Latinx), over half of the population are covered by Medicaid, totaling about 2,000 people.
Access to Food and Cash Assistance
About 15% of Louisiana residents report food insecurity — defined as patterns of reduced food quality or intake according to the USDA — 5 percentage points higher than the national rate according to 2024 data. East Carroll Parish has the highest percentage of food insecurity at 23%.
Just over 94,000 Louisiana residents were enrolled in the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program on average each month in 2023. The WIC program is a federally funded nutrition assistance program in the U.S. that provides supplemental nutritious foods, nutrition education, breastfeeding support, and health care referrals to low-income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, as well as infants and children up to age five who are at nutritional risk. Eastern Baton Rouge Parish had the highest number of recipients, 8,548.
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program supported 4,400 people in 1,789 cases in June 2021 and spending amounted to $374,000. The TANF program is a federally funded, state-administered program that provides cash assistance to families experiencing financial crises to help them afford their basic needs. In 2023, nearly 104,000 residents receive aid from the Low-Income Heating and Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), totaling over $86 million in aid and providing essential support for energy bills, including heating and cooling costs.
According to 2019-2023 ACS data, nearly 300,000 residents in Louisiana, around 17%, are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutritional Aid Program (SNAP). The rate of enrollment is about 5 percentage points higher than the national rate of 12%. Enrollment varies by parish. Tensas Parish reports the highest percentage of people using food stamps — about 34% of residents. Cameron Parish (86% white, 1% Black) has the lowest percentage at 7%.
Enrollment also varies by race and ethnicity. Statewide, Black residents make up 55% of SNAP recipients while white residents make up about 35%. Of the total population of Black Louisiana residents, 31% are enrolled in SNAP. This means almost one-third of Black Louisianians are utilizing SNAP, a number which far outpaces other racial and ethnic groups and is 6 percentage points higher than the national rate of SNAP enrollment for Black residents. Among Latinx residents, 14% receive food stamps, around 4 percentage points lower than their national rate. Among white residents, 10% receive food stamps, about 2 points higher than the national rate.
Infrastructure
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provided $4.5 billion in funding to Louisiana since its passage in 2021. The Inflation Reduction Act sent an additional $206 million to the state since it was passed in 2022. Nearly $200,000 of these funds were directed towards workforce development projects.
Since 2002, there have been 2,045 official disaster declarations. Lafourche Parish along the Gulf Coast had the most declarations with 40 and all counties have declared at least 23 in that time. Nearly 1 million homeowners have applied for assistance to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), garnering nearly $4.5 billion in aid to recover from natural disasters. About 850,000 renters in the state applied for aid from FEMA and received nearly $4.3 billion to help recover from disasters. In total, 1.8 million Louisiana residents submitted aid applications to FEMA for $8.8 billion.
The Solution
In conclusion, there are several opportunities to improve the quality of life for Louisianians across the board, particularly for people and families of color, who are more likely to be impacted by cuts to the social safety net. As this brief demonstrates, policymakers can and should prioritize the following to vastly improve racial disparities:
Enact policies that emphasize alternatives to youth incarceration. Studies show that people who have been exposed to the legal system face increased barriers to employment. Additionally, housing children in detention centers is very expensive. Instead, policymakers should invest in support programs that help youth thrive in their homes and communities.
[i] COVID-19 pandemic-impacted prisons and jails in 2021 and many states across the country saw their lowest incarcerated populations in the last 20 years.
[ii] Student homelessness numbers are higher than overall homelessness numbers in the state for a few reasons. The two numbers are from different sources. The overall homelessness number is gathered as a point-in-time estimate one night of the year, whereas student homelessness numbers are collected throughout the school year. Additionally, the criteria for homelessness as a student is broader.