New Orleans, Louisiana | |
General information | |
Mayor: | LaToya Cantrell |
Mayor party: | Democratic |
Last mayoral election: | 2021 |
Next mayoral election: | 2025 |
Last city council election: | 2021 |
Next city council election: | 2025 |
City council seats: | 7 |
City website | |
Composition data (2013) | |
Population: | 378,715 |
Gender: | Female 51.6% |
Race: | African American 60.2% White 30.5% Asian 2.9% Two or More Races 1.7% |
Ethnicity: | Hispanic or Latino 5.2% |
Median household income: | $36,681 |
High school graduation rate: | 84.7% |
College graduation rate: | 33.0% |
Related New Orleans offices | |
Louisiana Congressional Delegation Louisiana State Legislature Louisiana state executive offices |
New Orleans is a city in Orleans Parish, Louisiana. New Orleans and Orleans Parish operate as a merged city-parish government. The city's population was 378,715 as of 2013, according to the United States Census Bureau. [1]
Click on the links below to learn more about the city's...
The city of New Orleans utilizes a strong mayor and city council system. In this form of municipal government, the city council serves as the city's primary legislative body and the mayor serves as the city's chief executive.
The mayor is the city's chief executive. The responsibilities of the mayor include proposing a budget, signing legislation into law, appointing departmental directors, and overseeing the city's day-to-day operations. The mayor also represents the city on the state, national, and international levels.[2] The current Mayor of New Orleans is LaToya Cantrell (D). Cantrell assumed office on May 7, 2018.
The New Orleans City Council is the city's primary legislative body. It is responsible for adopting the city budget, approving mayoral appointees, levying taxes, and making or amending city laws, policies, and ordinances.[3]
The city council is made up of seven members. Five members are elected by the city's five districts, while two are elected at large.[3]
New Orleans has a Democratic mayor. As of November 2021, 63 mayors in the largest 100 cities by population are affiliated with the Democratic Party, 26 are affiliated with the Republican Party, four are independents, six identify as nonpartisan or unaffiliated, and one mayor's affiliation is unknown. While most mayoral elections in the 100 largest cities are nonpartisan, most officeholders are affiliated with a political party. Click here for a list of the 100 largest cities' mayors and their partisan affiliations.
The city of New Orleans, Louisiana, held general elections for mayor and city council on November 13, 2021. A primary was scheduled for October 9, 2021. The filing deadline for this election was July 16, 2021.
Orleans Parish, Louisiana, held general elections for multiple judgeships, constable, and district attorney on December 5, 2020. A primary was scheduled for November 3, 2020. The filing deadline for this election was January 10, 2020.
The city of New Orleans held primary elections for mayor, seven seats on the city council, and six parish offices on October 14, 2017.[4] A general election took place on November 18, 2017, for races where no candidate received 50% of the primary vote. The filing deadline for this election was July 14, 2017.
The city of New Orleans held mayoral and city council elections in 2014. The primary took place on February 1, 2014, and a runoff election was held on March 15, 2014.
Mayoral incumbent Mitch Landrieu won re-election in the primary, earning more than 50% of the vote. Consequently, the mayoral runoff election scheduled for March 15, 2014, was canceled.[5]
The table below shows demographic information about the city.
Demographic data for New Orleans, Louisiana (2015) | ||
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New Orleans | Louisiana | |
Total population: | 376,738 | 4,668,960 |
Land area (square miles): | 169 | 43,204 |
Race and ethnicity[6] | ||
White: | 34.3% | 62.8% |
Black/African American: | 59.5% | 32.1% |
Asian: | 3% | 1.7% |
Native American: | 0.2% | 0.6% |
Pacific Islander: | 0% | 0% |
Two or more: | 1.5% | 1.8% |
Hispanic/Latino: | 5.5% | 4.7% |
Education | ||
High school graduation rate: | 85.2% | 83.4% |
College graduation rate: | 35.3% | 22.5% |
Income | ||
Median household income: | $36,792 | $45,047 |
Persons below poverty level: | 27% | 23.3% |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) |
The city's budget process operates on a fiscal year cycle from January 1 to December 31. The New Orleans city budget is created using the Budgeting for Outcomes (BFO) process. The first step in this method is estimating the total amount of money available. Then community meetings are held to ask citizens what outcomes they would like to see from the city government. The budget is created and framed with these priorities in mind. Departments submit offers for programs with a detailed plan that includes funding and staffing needs. Result teams review and rank the offers and compile a report, which is reviewed by the mayor. The mayor submits a budget to the city council for review and approval. The budget must be adopted by the city council on or before December 1.[7]
The fiscally standardized cities (FiSC) data below was compiled by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy to make municipal budgets comparable across cities in the United States.[8]
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FiSCs are constructed by adding revenues and expenditures of each central city municipal government to a portion of the revenues and expenditures of overlying governments, including counties, independent school districts, and special districts. The allocations to FiSCs are estimates of the revenues collected from and services provided to central city residents and businesses by these overlying independent governments. Thus FiSCs provides a full picture of revenues raised from city residents and businesses and spending on their behalf, whether done by the city government or a separate overlying government.[9] |
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—Lincoln Institute of Land Policy[10] |
The tables below show estimated finances within city limits. As such, the revenue and expenses listed may differ from the actual city budget.
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To see the historical total revenue or expenditures as a rounded amount in this city, hover over the bars.[8]
Below is a map of the nationwide salaries and pensions in this city over $95,000. To search a different ZIP code, enter it in the search bar within the map.
Mayor's office
1300 Perdido St., 2nd Floor
New Orleans, LA 70112
Phone: 504-658-4900
Click here for city council contact information.
The city of New Orleans is in Orleans Parish. A list of ballot measures in Orleans County is available here.
During the weekend of May 29-31, 2020, demonstrations and protests took place in cities nationwide, including New Orleans, following the death of George Floyd. Events in New Orleans, Louisiana, began on May 30, 2020.[11] No curfews were issued. The national guard was not deployed.
On August 8, 2017, Mayor Mitch Landrieu forced the removal of several executives of the city’s Sewerage and Water Board (S&WB) after Landrieu stated that the organization misled him about the operational status of various pumping stations in the city after heavy rain caused widespread flooding. While it was unclear whether the flooding would have been prevented if all pumps were operating properly, the mayor and some city council members stated that the S&WB did not provide accurate enough information about the situation to both them and the public. Landrieu called for, and received, the retirement or resignation of both the executive director and general superintendent of the S&WB, as well as the organization's top spokesperson and the city’s own public works director. On August 10, 2017, Landrieu also obtained city council approval to appoint an outside company to run S&WB’s operations until new executives were chosen. The Sewerage and Water Board is responsible for providing drinking water to city residents, making water available for firefighting purposes, and performing wastewater treatment and storm water drainage for the city.[12][13][14]
In July 2015, the Movement Advancement Project described New Orleans, Louisiana, as a city or county that prohibited discrimination in employment on the basis of gender identity via ordinances that apply to public and private employers. At that time, a total of 71 of America's largest 100 cities prohibited private employers from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, while 69 of those cities also prohibited discrimination based on gender identity. This did not include those jurisdictions that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity for government employees.[15]
Nondiscrimination laws can cover a variety of areas, including public employment, private employment, housing, and public accommodations. Such laws may be enacted at the state, county, or city level.
State of Louisiana Baton Rouge (capital) | |
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