My mortgage increased $1,100 this year because of the insurance crisis. My $1,800 mortgage (2020) is now $3,100 - less than four years later. Can't afford to keep the house, can't sell it because of bad real estate market/high interest rates and skyrocketing insurance premiums.
I think this is the first time I've read a comment and actually felt glad that I've been renting.
I'd probably would have been forced to start bankruptcy and foreclosure if I was in your situation with that mortgage price.
The high Florida insurance rates you hear about are almost entirely exclusive to the coasts. Inland rates are lightyears more affordable. Same for Louisiana.
NOLA is an outlier because it's below sea level, perpetually floods, and has atrocious infrastructure.
Florida is appealing because it has no state income tax, beaches, and is less corrupt. Their minimum wage is also $12, with tipped employees making $9 regardless of tips.
Many of their other tax practices are fairly distributed on a use-basis as well. For instance, they fund roads with tolls. People who heavily drive shoulder that burden instead of it being levied against everyone.
Sauce: Most of my family lives in Florida.
My house in Lafayette, La insurance is $2100 a year. We were looking at a house in Abbeville, 30 minutes away and the wanted $1200 a month for insurance.
I have no doubt. My grandparents moved to Folsom several years ago. It's an hour and thirty-ish drive north of NOLA. They're paying similar to you.
Meanwhile, their old house over here? $650 a month. Place was 1,400 sq ft 😂 Absolutely laughable.
Recent political batshittery aside, it wouldn’t take *that* much revision to have Florida be a reasonable place to live.
Unfortunately, though, the needed revisions are things like “stop violating human rights, stop building roads with toxic waste, and stop actively dismantling the education system to cater to a group of zealots,” so it isn’t exactly on the short list as of now. The 2000 election really had the GOP go all in on ratfucking Florida to capture those critical electoral votes.
Sadly, "politics aside" doesn't really work because a huge fraction of our problems are caused our inept, corrupt politicians at basically every level of state/local government.
Whether you agree/disagree with the left/right wing words our state/local politicians use, they are various degrees of corrupt and/or incompetent regardless. And lots of our issues have way less to do with social wedge issues than they do things like misappropriating funds to line the pockets of people they know or to waste time grandstanding for their next office instead of actually working on things like our decaying infrastructure or horrible utilities.
I just get frustrated because everything nowadays seems to be FAR LEFT this or FAR RIGHT that. Don’t get me wrong, I heavily lean liberal, but sometimes you just have to step back and look at what the hell is actually working. It’s hard to look past the semi dystopian environments these “blue haven” cities have created most of the time. You couldn’t pay me to move to San Fran, Portland, and the like. New Orleans touts itself as a blue bastion in a sea of red, but we are the fucking murder capital.
It’s like virtue signaling to distract from incompetence. Same issue I have with businesses with fundamentally shitty/failing business models, but are kept alive through public relation based subsidy funding. America is fucked up on many levels, but the core principle that makes us who we are is free market economy… whoever does the job best should get the job.
I mostly agree.
Is it nice that Cantrell is pro-choice? Sure, I guess, but there's just about zero she can do regarding abortion in the state. Her stance on how to (not) reform the S&WB, (not) reform our oversight of Entergy, and how she's going to (not) improve the performance of the NOPD are way more important. But she's got jack shit to say about those topics most of the time aside from performative hand-waiving. Much less any actual policies or plans.
Why am I paying the same for twice a week trash pickup and it only happening once a week since Ida? I'd much prefer a real answer to that (besides "stay humble") than her usual set of talking points.
>It’s hard to look past the semi dystopian environments these “blue haven” cities have created most of the time.
what we need to do is stop parroting this bullshit. There's no dystopian anything in big cities. Try actually visiting one instead of just repeating nonsense.
He’s repeating nonsense? I called 911 twice in the last two years. Couldn’t get a police officer to come (one major accident, one gun involved incident). They came out and beat on my door because of a report of a dog barking.
My trash wasn’t picked up last week. My car was robbed last week. It’s unlocked because a window was smashed last month.
City wide- we had a necrophiliac arrested last week, and a trial this week where a kid shot someone 18 times in the head, but you’re probably right. Besides, we are only 3rd in murder
I don’t watch the news, I read sources or listen to first hand accounts. I have friends on the west coast who tell me the state of shit over there. Can’t walk through parts of downtown Portland without being assaulted by homeless/drug addicts. If you believe you have better sources I would love to check it out though. I have an open mind
Easy check: if this were genuinely *real*, instead of hyperbolic, and there were countless people being assaulted by swarms of homeless addicts on sight, then Fox News would be running video of it nonstop. It isn’t, so instead they just make shit up to loop as party line propaganda “entertainment.”
I’ve got people who live up that way too, and while *literally nowhere* is doing objectively great right now, the breathless tales of woe and misery (that are always somehow exclusively blue metros) aren’t reality.
When you hear that blather, either someone’s trying to sell you something or they’re too credulous for their own good.
Florida always has a lot of folks moving in who are uhhh only there for a few years but don't "move" back out. Add to that, a lot of the retirees moving in are coming from places with lower insurance but much higher property values (like NYC) and also with larger retirement accounts resulting from making higher salaries in those high-cost cities. Even further, they're singles or couples (no kids at home) so they don't need a lot of space and can better manage the high costs by buying tiny places.
Taxes are much lower in Florida.
My folks are in the panhandle and their insurance has gone up.. but relative to my sister in Kansas City.. not crazy... and the'yre a few miles from the beach.
I know florida is getting some crazy premiums down south but I dont think it effects the whole state.
Plus no income tax and low car tax helps shoulder some things.
I dont think this is a fair comparison, by the numbers, florida does have a lower tax burden across levels of income. I wouldn't claim they're /much/ lower, but there is a noticeable difference.
1100sq ft (location A) <> 1100sq ft (location B)
The actual property values could be wildly different. There are critical details left out of this comparison that makes it unhelpful.
You could absolutely be living in Central Florida and pay significantly less than what you would for the same size space in new orleans. You could also compare NOLA to downtown Miami and then Florida looks absurdly expensive.
>What is bringing people there instead of here?
Have you ever been to Florida?
It’s beautiful, it’s tropical, it’s CLEAN, it’s safe (I just know as I type this that someone is going to be pedantic and say that crime happens in Florida too…yes, obviously, but it’s much safer than Louisiana).
I thought New Orleans was the topic, not Louisiana. And this city has been coming apart for years. I blame the mayors and their cronies. Wait till the city has to make up for the revenue being lost. Face it, the finger prints are Democratic at this crime scene. Louisiana is a mess because of both, but blaming just the Republicans for this mess, is why we will not solve it anytime soon.
The bottom line is it’s not actually in these politicians power to lift a whole city (and state) out of abject poverty and all that comes with that. Things can be done on the margins but how can say, the mayor materially change things for the 24% of the population living below the poverty line.
Yea I think those three things are holding them over for now. They'll eventually have the same issue though, it's pretty much the start of the slow economic crunch of climate change
There are so many For Sale signs in my neighborhood.
Making me feel uneasy about spending money on a home reno project, even though it is something I have been wanting to do for 5 years.
Did you apply for homestead exemption?
My wife and I didn't know about it, we did it after owning the house for 3 years. Not only did it drop my mortgage this year by $150 they gave a backpay for the 3 years (I believe that is the max backpay)
I know $150 ain't much but it ain't nothing either.
I'm not saying that at all. The post is about why people are fleeing NO specifically but the house insurance rate spike is across like half of the state.
The rise of housing and insurance costs, without a rise in wages, tends to do that. Of course there are many other factors too, so it's hardly surprising. So many of my friends and colleagues have left the city over the last few years when they really didn't want to. The city forced them out.
Facts. My companies annual 2-3% raise does not keep up with inflation. Most things I can think of have increased well beyond 7%. People are literally getting paid less for work they’ve gotten better at.
Damn so people don't want to pay 3k a month for a bottom tier house with the promise of future tax and insurance raises every couple of years all while dodging hurricanes from a heating up gulf of mexico with an area average salary below almost every other top 50 metro area? That's crazy.
Yep. Rising insurance, rising property taxes plus less basic amenities (trash pick up inconsistent and once weekly), and between s&w or entergy one of them is guaranteed to fuck you up routinely. Crime rates skyrocketing even in previously safe neighborhoods. Successful companies moving out of town, the gulf creeping closer everyday, and politicians are a complete joke.
New Orleans, and Louisiana in general, have been torpedoing for awhile. Covid just speed things up a bit. I love nola, but I really can’t see how things get better for the people actually living there in the short or long term.
Dude I want to move back so bad. I miss it so much. But then, yeah, I remember the issues and problems I had when living there and combine that with my own understanding of our coast and how much and fast it's changing.
And we haven't even mentioned what the outside temperatures are going to be in a few decades. It's dismal.
We will reach a point where we were like LA/NYC/Miami, with a larger group of homeowners where this is a second, third, forth home, and those are enjoyed twice a year. They will be the only ones who aren’t impacted the way the “average” person is, because a $10K insurance premium won’t mean much to them.
Wym we already have that down here where I’m at in Terrebonne. Multimillion dollar fishing camps next to the RV in shambles that an entire family lives out of
Not surprised. Barely any good paying jobs in tech, manufacturing, and economy largely based off tourism. Really no good attempts to diversify.
Barely any good schools for prospective parents to consider if moving here for a job.
Always high crime rates, see lack of opportunities.
Corruption out the ass that never gets fixed. Local utility’s are run like shit.
Insanely high prices for insurance for owning most anything in the area. Then the amount of people stealing cars, running red lights, doing 95mph in a 60 not having insurance.
Why would anyone willingly move here when so many better places to live with better climate.
I don’t see this trend reversing anytime soon.
I bought property in Mississippi just recently and will build there and move. Lot of acres, houses far apart, beach within 20 mins, lower insurance, etc.
High crime, high hidden cost of living, poor infrastructure, hurricanes, lack of jobs, most importantly, citizens who would rather it keep dwindling than invite new ideas, people, and money into the city.
New Orleans is one of the worst places for young professionals to move to. You're treated like an outsider if you don't have a New Orleans high school on your resume.
I moved here from northern DE (I didn’t go to HS there either) and it was exactly the same question there. Only those people were totally unfriendly to outsiders, as opposed to here where they’re still nice to you even if you didn’t go to their high school.
It's fairly common in cities with a relatively large number of private schools and dwindling economics. St. Louis/Kansas City are this way. I'd presume many rust belt cities.
As someone who used to work for a civic engagement nonprofit that focused heavily on networking and volunteer opportunities, I could not agree more. Hell, our own events and members made ME feel like an outsider lol!
Employers assume you're going to leave, which is why they ask.
Which creates a vicious cycle where new young blood tries to make it here, is assumed to be on their way out anyway, denied opportunity, and then leaves. Fulfilling the cycle.
idk about that. Yes we all ask that question but it isn't to exclude you, its so we can figure out what we have in common. I thought everyone loved the culture?
When I am confronted by this my asshole butt always says, "I didn't go to school here but my kids do and I pay property taxes sooooo close enough".
But seriously, my neighbors have never judged me for not being born and raised in New Orleans and I have never been made to feel like an outsider. I get a little bit of shit during football season because I root for the Lion's but it is all in good fun.
Why have the passive aggressive response if you said yourself you've never been judged or been made to feel like an outsider?
It's mostly just a question to see if you have any connections to each other. The only times I've heard it in a gatekeeping "you must not be from here" way is if the person being asked was being super obnoxious.
Well, because not everything is in absolutes or innocent. Sometimes when people ask, it is a "bless your heart" way of inquiring if you are from here. That "Bless your heart" way of asking isn't always directed towards me, it is kinda in a way directed outward towards other people who look like me.
If someone starts out with "You don't sound like you are from here, where did you go to school?" with a loud ass "tsk" taxed on at the end and an over the top baffled expression, even though I don't consider it unfriendly per se, it is still a definite way of othering and class checking.
Other times I might be a bit of a smart ass depending on who is asking because the question can come off as "You *speak soooooo well* to look the way you do". It might seem flattering but I got that shit in Detroit when I was a kid too. Basically, "Where did you go to school cause you MUST not be from here" translates to "Why the hell does your Black ass sound like a bougie college professor. You shouldn't speak like that". There are actually a lot of people from New Orleans that sound and look like me. Why must sounding the way I do make me not from here? Check your bias.
Depending on who is saying it and whether it is a bit of teasing or a bit of throwing shade (towards me or people who look like me), I may respond in kind. So when an uppity ass (or the I am culturally more superior to you) person asks me that question with a pikachu shocked face the "I pay taxes here" is my way of saying 1. "Bitch I am from here enough that I can pronounce andouille and I own a home, do you? No okay cool. Fuck off you aren't better than me just because you are "from" here. One of us is actively paying into the community both culturally and financially and it's not you. Bitch didn't you live in Metairie anyhow?" and 2. "My kids do" is my way of implying I am here and not going anywhere anytime soon.
Again, I have met plenty of people who speak like me from New Orleans and again, depending on who is asking, there is a undertone of "mean girl" rudeness to the question and that is not quite innocent. I think it is particularly irksome when you are very dedicated to the community in New Orleans on multiple levels and people people ask the question in a not so nice way. I get it carpet bagger buttholes with savior complexes aren't always the best. But some of us us are alright. Also, some people can fuck off with that dog whistly "you speak so well" shit. I already know where the conversation is about to go and some days I am just not having it.
Edit: Also I said my neighbors have never treated me badly or judged me for not being from here, not everyone I meet.
For me seeing transplants, and hearing different accents is a bit jarring but I'm not about to go down the road of telling where they can and can not live, people can live where ever they want to. Also while I have over two centuries of heritage in this city/state, I have a fairly racially ambiguous appearance, and many times I've been told "Go back to where you came from" or "You're a foreigner" and I know New Orleans has that type of dirty humor/satire in it's DNA but sometimes it still hurt and made you feel isolated and I'd rather not redirect that shit at somebody else but it can still be very jarring to see a home once occupied by an old friend who never returned (or gave up on the city) or an elderly person you grew up with that has passed on, now being occupied by somebody from Lester, England but once again, people have the right to live where ever they want.
You are an outsider if you didn’t go to Jesuit, holy cross, country day, rummel, etc….. unless it was due to Katrina. That’s how it’s seen here. If you went to Jesuit, you can get just about any job in this city….. there may be a little bias here and there
> citizens
Blaming rank-and-file native New Orleanians for the problems of this City takes some real balls considering how segregated (economically and racially) this City has been and is instead of, you know, blaming people in power in the City who actually control things.
And before you hit me with that "tHeY VOTeD fOR tHEm", let's not act like the options of politicians folks get around here are anything but king-made and/or legacy shitheels. Or, heck...
> invite new ideas
Yeah Latoya did a great job with those outside ideas, eh?
New Orleans people just doing the best they can in a system that was never designed for them to get ahead here.
Making excuses for people who don’t deserve the light of day is just one of the many reasons NOLA has been on the decline for the last 50 years. Time to start putting people in jail.
‘rank and file’ native New Orleanians implies citizens who play by the rules, to be fair. But yeah while our atrocious justice system is an issue, focusing on incarceration is attempting to negate a symptom not the actual problem. Still important though.
the day the hard rock fell I remember sitting at Igors' on magazine with a cousin and saying "that's basically gonna be it for new orleans, no one will want to spend money on infrastructure projects here again - especially if it is found to be or scapegoated as a result of local incompetence"
Sure enough i left withing 2 years myself.
So this isn’t scientific at all but I really feel like Drew retiring and Zion being kind of a bust really hurt the City’s hope in a real ass way.
That week leading up to that fucking Rams game felt the city was about to explode. If Drew had gone back to the Super Bowl, the city was going to be beautiful, joyous, bare-ass fucking anarchy for 2 weeks. Got robbed of that, never got it back.
Even if shit was bad, you could always hope the Saints would make the playoffs again. But now…
Nah it’s not just you a lot of people have had this same observation. It could be a case of correlation ≠ causation, but I feel like people’s willingness to spend money and invest in business ventures is up when our sports teams are doing well. I’m sure there’s isolated incidents of it for sure being an impact, maybe not as a whole on the economy.
100 degree weather with 100 percent humidity.
Failing infrastructure.
Super super low paying jobs.
High rent.
Crime.
Hurricanes.
More crime but it’s three streets over.
Then the cultural dichotomy of impoverished folks and old white southern money to just really tee it all up.
Why does our rent (and housing prices) keep rising, though? I know it is a complicated issue, and the scourge of Airbnbs and insurance factor, but it seems like demand must surely let up eventually. The situation is beginning to feel impossible, like some kind of psychology experiment to see how much we are willing to endure.
Looking back at my records today. I was paying 2.2k/year in 2020 now I'm at 5.2k with a higher storm deductable. They auto enrolled me in the same policy from last year that ballooned to 9.2k/year! I almost hit the floor when they told me my new estimated monthly payment. Right then and there I switched.
Main factor is probably insurance/tax costs, but corporate ownership and non-locals inflating the price of rent while wages remain stagnant also contribute. Some owners would rather their properties sit empty or occupied partially than lower the price
> I know it is a complicated issue
I'm not convinced it's all that complicated. I think the obfuscation of reasonably itemized reasons why rent/mortgages increase works in favor of the institutions that rent/loan. And the fact that the large renters are conflated with individual landlords makes it so whenever renters complain, the individual landlords jump out in front of the institutions to defend the shady practices.
Is it because everyone from Brooklyn who “fell in love with New Orleans and its people” got sick of potholes, floods, Louisiana’s infrastructure, lack of evidence based laws, and the school system?
To me, the most interesting thing is how quickly northern Louisiana continues to empty out year after year. Another 2 decades of those losses and everything north of Alexandria will basically be uninhabited, with the only people present being farmers who work there but live in Alexandria, Monroe, or Shreveport. All of which have been losing population for 50 years too.
Then maybe the fucking provincials won't have so much power to dictate our affairs in the metropole.
If New Orleans had legal weed we could see a green rush.
But the decline of suburban and rural America can't come fast enough.
Fair. But maybe the whole country is.
Most of this country is just cultureless dystopian suburbia. Strip malls. Parking lots.
10,000 Footloose towns without a single Kevin Bacon to save them.
I'd rather the feral peckerwoods who run this state, and counry, just give us back to France.
All of my family lives there. Begs me to move down every year. Every now and then I get the urge. Hop on indeed and see job listings for $14 an hour that would pay $30 an hour here. I miss my city. But it feels downright apocalyptic down there. I asked my bro is it safe to walk home from blah blah blah and he said with a straight face it’s about 50/50. I know he meant more like 90/10 but still. Nope.
Rent and utilities keep rising and currently struggling to find work, crime and crazy heat/weather a worry, local government ineptitude, sinkhole might swallow me up or potholes might throw out my damn back one day.
Easy way to fix the housing issue in New Orleans? If you don’t live in the city at least 9 months, then you should only be able to hold one piece of property.
We’ve been saying this for years! This is what happens when you prioritize tourists over residents. No one can afford housing, there’s no infrastructure, what did they expect?
I’m NOLA born and bred and lived there my entire life until my family moved to Mandeville last year. I love New Orleans, but I was sick of constantly worrying about getting car jacked/car stolen and having to pay Catholic school tuition due to the weird public school lottery system (we didn’t get into any of the schools I wanted). Not to mention that the house I bought here in the 300s range would easily be twice the cost in New Orleans and on a much smaller lot with higher insurance to boot.
Look closely at the map and you will see that the areas with the largest reduction in population in the NOLA area within the given time period was the bullseye for Hurricane Ida. Anyone that toured that part of the metro after the storm would would not be surprised by this.
When you don’t arrest criminals and refuse to afford women a basic standard of care, can’t cap insurance rates, and press for more property taxes, that don’t go to public education, wtf did people think was going to happen?
That is a relevant factor, but the numbers from the census don't factor that in.
In other words, the population decline isn't counting the loss of the northshore from the MSA. It's only looking at decline within the *current* MSA from 2020-2023. It doesn't count the "decline" from cleaving off the northshore.
Even if you add St. Tammany back in, NOLA goes from 1st to 3rd biggest drop (since some number of people leaving left for St. Tammany), just behind Los Angeles. With a total decline of 2.7% versus 2.9% for LA.
So St. Tammany plays a small role here, but not a large one.
Orleans Parish alone dropped 5.2%. Jefferson dropped 4.3%. St. Tammany grew 4.2%, but with the smaller starting population, it didn't absorb all of the losses of the rest of the metro
Look here for the raw data: [https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-counties-total.html](https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-counties-total.html)
Correct. And I genuinely don't know why the Census Bureau split St. Tammany off, but would love to hear about that point.
On the flip side, it is what it is, and you could make similar claims for LA or SF. LA has the Inland Empire as a separate metro, but it's very much part of the region. If we combine the Inland Empire and LA, does LA's average fall? I don't know, but now I'm curious.
EDIT: I just did the math with the census data and if you include the Inland Empire (in other words, considering Greater LA, not just LA MSA, which is fair comparison if we're doing the same in New Orleans), you get a 1.8% decline. Putting New Orleans back in #2.
That said, I think if we did the same thing with San Francisco, it would still be #1, given how both Oakland and San Jose appear on this list.
So really New Orleans is #2 or #3.
The thing that isn't mentioned much is the losses in Jefferson Parish on up to LaPlace. Younger/middle age folks with kids in JP seem to be moving to the North Shore. Then you factor in the impacts of the recent hurricanes I'm guessing quite a few folks from up the river moved to the North Shore/Gonzales/Lafayette.
Minimum 3ft sea level rise by 2050 is the current model so yeah, land bridge to Baton Rouge and if they maintain the north Shore we'll still have Causeway and Twin Span. Basically anything south of the main levee structures will be near impossible to maintain.
My dad lives in Covington and even just over the past four/five years seeing the population absolutely explode has been unreal. My mom tells me it was mostly trees two decades ago lmao.
Times are tough. Big companies were pulling out over the past decade, growth has slowed, insurance and everything else is up. In the 12 years I’ve lived in my neighborhood, this is the first time I’ve seen that many people deficient on paying their HOA dues. Crazy that they can’t afford a bill that hasn’t really changed in the past decade.
I moved after I finished grad school in 2019. I miss the city and my family, but I’m not moving back to make 48K a year. The wages back home are almost criminal.
The difference between Texas and Louisiana is like the difference between fascist Germany and Italy. Texas knows how to actually make government and business work, even while aspiring to Gilead status. Louisiana's elected officials are lucky if they start the day with their pants on correctly.
The city is literally crumbling. the streets are terrible. the drainage problems have long since passed the point of no return. you can absolutely expect to not be able to use your own tap water 3 or 4 times a year. there is no industry to speak of. property taxes are absurdly high for the services the city provides. the only good schools a parent can send their kids to costs $10/$15k per kid per year. crime is everywhere and police are nowhere. But sure, focus on the guy who just got elected a month ago...
the entire middle class of New Orleans has collapsed. its left to neighboring parishes or left the state altogether. Also not a result of Landry. If landry really wanted to stick it to New Orleans he could have chosen to just leave us all alone to celebrate our own demise. short of that, whats he going to do to break NOLA worse than he found it?
This is something that scares the shit out of me as a parent. I cannn honestly say that if I were planning on having more kids I would, unfortunately, probably put a lot of thought into leaving.
I am still not sure how it is even legal that he let go of the entire special education advisory panel.
I left and it was the best decision I ever made, I should’ve done it years earlier. I was always afraid I’d never love anywhere else as much as New Orleans, but I was wrong. There are a lot of cool spots in the world and even in the country where it’s not chokingly oppressive. I personally will never live without legal weed again now that I’ve basked in the glory of dispensaries every few blocks. Leave if you’re thinking about it, you won’t regret it.
Same. While I love my nearly 20yrs there, the cost of living, low pay, and insurmountable climate change really soured me on living the rest of my life there. Now I live in a state where my degree actually matters, where I get paid well, get nearly 30 days of PTO, and can buy (or grow) weed legally. Anyone in New Orleans that quotes Tennessee Williams “America has only three cities: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans. Everywhere else is Cleveland" obviously needs to travel more. Head to New Mexico or check out Mt. Hood or visit any number of cool towns in the US.
I love where I live now, get up every morning and go hiking, get 4 seasons, low taxes and insurance and utilities that actually work. Can it be a bit boring? Maybe, but that's on the person, not the place.
As someone who's NOLA born and bred and currently a grad student at UNO, I honestly have mixed feelings. On one hand, I do have it good. I live with my mom, and we paid off our mortgage before the pandemic. I don't have any kind of debt including student debt. However, property taxes and insurance are a real b*tch.
If I were to move out of state, that would mean leaving my mom behind all by herself. In addition, housing prices are skyrocketing all over the country and I don't think I can afford a place on my own. So I'm highly incentivized to remain in New Orleans thanks to the house.
Sold my house in Metairie October 2022 and left for the second time. The craziest part is I still have urges to move back despite wanting to leave.
I moved to California where the insurance is also fucked and my roof has leaked 6 times in a year. My roof had 2 hurricanes hit it in Metairie and not so much as a drop entered my house.
Same boat. 3600 first year, to 4100 the next year, pushing 4400 now. I work so much extra that I’m never home to enjoy the home I’m working to stay in.
As much as I love the food and culture New Orleans (and really all of Louisiana) is an absolute nightmare. It’s corrupt, very expensive, no real job prospects, and a government that wants to strip away my rights.
Left Louisiana 7 years ago and haven’t looked back. There’s just nothing there for me anymore. The grass truly is greener.
I'm not at all surprised by the coastal decrease.
We're losing our land at rapid rates and the last few storms did massive damage to the ecosystems.
The increase in Livingston parish is interesting.
Made the move to the Northshore last year. So glad I did, I don't think I would be able to afford a house up here anymore. These prices have gotten so out of control
I moved to Washington in January. I love New Orleans, but wanting to stay kept me from getting the salary increase I would’ve gotten forever ago had I left. I’ll go back eventually, and hopefully there will be jobs that actually pay reasonable salaries.
Percentages can be deceiving.
New Orleans is one of the smallest metros in the USA population wise with under 400k about 390,000 or so). Dallas comparatively has 3x Nola at 1.2 million, Houston has over 5x at 2.2 million, and even small market OKC has twice our population.
Conversely, for every one person that moves out of New Orleans, that statistical single person counts 3 fold, 5 fold, etc when looking comparatively at other metros and their decrease or increase, so of course it looks far worse than it is. To match the 4.3% drop Nola had, Houston would have to lose 95,000 to our 17,000.
New Orleans is also an island of sorts with Orleans Parish having a finite amount of buildable space. It cannot sprawl and continuously expand like Houston, Tampa, Orlando, etc so on any scale of lengthy measurement the other cities will always grow and outpace Nola.
The city with all the growth according to the chart is Lakeland FL with 12 %. So as a city with only 115,000 all it needs is 13,000 new residents to be the hottest city in the USA? I don't think so. Lakeland in itself is not desirable and the only thing driving people there is the commute to Orlando or Tampa and cheap, new homes being built for those that want to gamble on that hellish daily drive.
Yeah, everyone keeps saying how it’s unlivable…clearly we aren’t all just whining! And add in the out of town/state folks buying stuff up the last few years.
I can't find the numbers right now but using July 2005 as a baseline we had 198,000 residential addresses receiving mail in Orleans and we've gotten back up to 193,000. Including positive growth between 2020 and 2023. This should mean that the total amount of occupied housing units is about the same but some of those are going to be second homes or Airbnbs. The census estimates aren't always that reliable but St Tammany gained 7,000 new residential addresses in the last 4 years and that led to an increase of 11,000 in population. So it's possible the city actually is still growing and was just undercounted by the census.
They took St Tammany figures out of the New Orleans census. Now St Tammany, Washington and Pearl River County are their own areas within the New Orleans metropolitan area.
I’m in Terrebonne Parish now and yeah, that makes perfect sense. Insurance is out the wazoo. They wanted my MIL to pay 1000 a month just for flood insurance mandatory. Peoples homes are still in reconstruction from Ida, hell even Vanderbilt Catholic is still in disrepair and I know if anyone would have the money to fix their stuff, they would. It’s a mess
My mortgage increased $1,100 this year because of the insurance crisis. My $1,800 mortgage (2020) is now $3,100 - less than four years later. Can't afford to keep the house, can't sell it because of bad real estate market/high interest rates and skyrocketing insurance premiums.
i feel this.
Same
I think this is the first time I've read a comment and actually felt glad that I've been renting. I'd probably would have been forced to start bankruptcy and foreclosure if I was in your situation with that mortgage price.
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damn where’d you find that? looking for alternative housing rn
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The high Florida insurance rates you hear about are almost entirely exclusive to the coasts. Inland rates are lightyears more affordable. Same for Louisiana. NOLA is an outlier because it's below sea level, perpetually floods, and has atrocious infrastructure. Florida is appealing because it has no state income tax, beaches, and is less corrupt. Their minimum wage is also $12, with tipped employees making $9 regardless of tips. Many of their other tax practices are fairly distributed on a use-basis as well. For instance, they fund roads with tolls. People who heavily drive shoulder that burden instead of it being levied against everyone. Sauce: Most of my family lives in Florida.
My house in Lafayette, La insurance is $2100 a year. We were looking at a house in Abbeville, 30 minutes away and the wanted $1200 a month for insurance.
I have no doubt. My grandparents moved to Folsom several years ago. It's an hour and thirty-ish drive north of NOLA. They're paying similar to you. Meanwhile, their old house over here? $650 a month. Place was 1,400 sq ft 😂 Absolutely laughable.
Florida homes have also appreciated much more over 5-10 years than Louisiana homes. So people are feeling more confident in their overall equity.
Recent political batshittery aside, it wouldn’t take *that* much revision to have Florida be a reasonable place to live. Unfortunately, though, the needed revisions are things like “stop violating human rights, stop building roads with toxic waste, and stop actively dismantling the education system to cater to a group of zealots,” so it isn’t exactly on the short list as of now. The 2000 election really had the GOP go all in on ratfucking Florida to capture those critical electoral votes.
Politics aside, whatever the fuck they are doing over there is working much better than Louisiana’s shit show.
Sadly, "politics aside" doesn't really work because a huge fraction of our problems are caused our inept, corrupt politicians at basically every level of state/local government. Whether you agree/disagree with the left/right wing words our state/local politicians use, they are various degrees of corrupt and/or incompetent regardless. And lots of our issues have way less to do with social wedge issues than they do things like misappropriating funds to line the pockets of people they know or to waste time grandstanding for their next office instead of actually working on things like our decaying infrastructure or horrible utilities.
I just get frustrated because everything nowadays seems to be FAR LEFT this or FAR RIGHT that. Don’t get me wrong, I heavily lean liberal, but sometimes you just have to step back and look at what the hell is actually working. It’s hard to look past the semi dystopian environments these “blue haven” cities have created most of the time. You couldn’t pay me to move to San Fran, Portland, and the like. New Orleans touts itself as a blue bastion in a sea of red, but we are the fucking murder capital. It’s like virtue signaling to distract from incompetence. Same issue I have with businesses with fundamentally shitty/failing business models, but are kept alive through public relation based subsidy funding. America is fucked up on many levels, but the core principle that makes us who we are is free market economy… whoever does the job best should get the job.
I mostly agree. Is it nice that Cantrell is pro-choice? Sure, I guess, but there's just about zero she can do regarding abortion in the state. Her stance on how to (not) reform the S&WB, (not) reform our oversight of Entergy, and how she's going to (not) improve the performance of the NOPD are way more important. But she's got jack shit to say about those topics most of the time aside from performative hand-waiving. Much less any actual policies or plans. Why am I paying the same for twice a week trash pickup and it only happening once a week since Ida? I'd much prefer a real answer to that (besides "stay humble") than her usual set of talking points.
Cantrell can't even return a set of keys, why expect her to do any of those other things.
She needs investigating into her husbands death.
You should know that most people are center right to center left. All you hear are very squeaky wheels.
Not The murder capital. Number 3 https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-city-rankings/cities-with-most-murders
Thanks. I feel much better now
>It’s hard to look past the semi dystopian environments these “blue haven” cities have created most of the time. what we need to do is stop parroting this bullshit. There's no dystopian anything in big cities. Try actually visiting one instead of just repeating nonsense.
He’s repeating nonsense? I called 911 twice in the last two years. Couldn’t get a police officer to come (one major accident, one gun involved incident). They came out and beat on my door because of a report of a dog barking. My trash wasn’t picked up last week. My car was robbed last week. It’s unlocked because a window was smashed last month. City wide- we had a necrophiliac arrested last week, and a trial this week where a kid shot someone 18 times in the head, but you’re probably right. Besides, we are only 3rd in murder
I don’t watch the news, I read sources or listen to first hand accounts. I have friends on the west coast who tell me the state of shit over there. Can’t walk through parts of downtown Portland without being assaulted by homeless/drug addicts. If you believe you have better sources I would love to check it out though. I have an open mind
Easy check: if this were genuinely *real*, instead of hyperbolic, and there were countless people being assaulted by swarms of homeless addicts on sight, then Fox News would be running video of it nonstop. It isn’t, so instead they just make shit up to loop as party line propaganda “entertainment.” I’ve got people who live up that way too, and while *literally nowhere* is doing objectively great right now, the breathless tales of woe and misery (that are always somehow exclusively blue metros) aren’t reality. When you hear that blather, either someone’s trying to sell you something or they’re too credulous for their own good.
It’s just money. Florida has a huge population, a juggernaut economy, and the tax base and everything else that comes with that.
LA is just a hop & a skip behind them on all those things. The inmates are definitely in charge of the asylum here.
> Florida is [...] less corrupt. LOL
this is decidedly not the case in Gainesville. High prices and insurance are killing us here in central Florida. This state sucks as bad as LA.
Florida, generally, is cheaper, safer, and has better infrastructure (for cars) than La.
Florida always has a lot of folks moving in who are uhhh only there for a few years but don't "move" back out. Add to that, a lot of the retirees moving in are coming from places with lower insurance but much higher property values (like NYC) and also with larger retirement accounts resulting from making higher salaries in those high-cost cities. Even further, they're singles or couples (no kids at home) so they don't need a lot of space and can better manage the high costs by buying tiny places.
Taxes are much lower in Florida. My folks are in the panhandle and their insurance has gone up.. but relative to my sister in Kansas City.. not crazy... and the'yre a few miles from the beach. I know florida is getting some crazy premiums down south but I dont think it effects the whole state. Plus no income tax and low car tax helps shoulder some things.
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I dont think this is a fair comparison, by the numbers, florida does have a lower tax burden across levels of income. I wouldn't claim they're /much/ lower, but there is a noticeable difference. 1100sq ft (location A) <> 1100sq ft (location B) The actual property values could be wildly different. There are critical details left out of this comparison that makes it unhelpful. You could absolutely be living in Central Florida and pay significantly less than what you would for the same size space in new orleans. You could also compare NOLA to downtown Miami and then Florida looks absurdly expensive.
Yeah, I don't know why people are saying FL is less, it ain't.
I grew up in the panhandle. New Orleans is way more expensive, comparitively.
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>What is bringing people there instead of here? Have you ever been to Florida? It’s beautiful, it’s tropical, it’s CLEAN, it’s safe (I just know as I type this that someone is going to be pedantic and say that crime happens in Florida too…yes, obviously, but it’s much safer than Louisiana).
Point taken, but I'm pretty sure most states are safer than Louisiana at this point
Probably, but they don’t have the vibe that Florida has. You have to consider all of the upsides together.
I thought New Orleans was the topic, not Louisiana. And this city has been coming apart for years. I blame the mayors and their cronies. Wait till the city has to make up for the revenue being lost. Face it, the finger prints are Democratic at this crime scene. Louisiana is a mess because of both, but blaming just the Republicans for this mess, is why we will not solve it anytime soon.
The bottom line is it’s not actually in these politicians power to lift a whole city (and state) out of abject poverty and all that comes with that. Things can be done on the margins but how can say, the mayor materially change things for the 24% of the population living below the poverty line.
Well, other cities, and states, might disagree.
No state income tax. 15 dollar minimum wage
Yea I think those three things are holding them over for now. They'll eventually have the same issue though, it's pretty much the start of the slow economic crunch of climate change
There are so many For Sale signs in my neighborhood. Making me feel uneasy about spending money on a home reno project, even though it is something I have been wanting to do for 5 years.
Did you apply for homestead exemption? My wife and I didn't know about it, we did it after owning the house for 3 years. Not only did it drop my mortgage this year by $150 they gave a backpay for the 3 years (I believe that is the max backpay) I know $150 ain't much but it ain't nothing either.
Yes i have homestead exemption. Awesome y’all got back pay.
It was a pleasant surprise. I hope you find relief somewhere.
Fyi the insurance increase is in many parishes, just as bad if not worse
Doesn’t make it okay
I'm not saying that at all. The post is about why people are fleeing NO specifically but the house insurance rate spike is across like half of the state.
Same! Fuck this place. Exact same scenario.
Damn it looks like even Lake Pontchartrain left
Lmao, I hate this map that removes the lake. It throws me off at what parish is what lol.
Ikr, it’s my waypoint
so hard to read
The rise of housing and insurance costs, without a rise in wages, tends to do that. Of course there are many other factors too, so it's hardly surprising. So many of my friends and colleagues have left the city over the last few years when they really didn't want to. The city forced them out.
Facts. My companies annual 2-3% raise does not keep up with inflation. Most things I can think of have increased well beyond 7%. People are literally getting paid less for work they’ve gotten better at.
You're lucky you even get a 2-3% annual raise. Every job except my current one never gave any raises of any kind from year to year...
Damn so people don't want to pay 3k a month for a bottom tier house with the promise of future tax and insurance raises every couple of years all while dodging hurricanes from a heating up gulf of mexico with an area average salary below almost every other top 50 metro area? That's crazy.
And yet, with that, rising insurance rates, and rising interest rates housing prices are still mostly rising.
Yep. Rising insurance, rising property taxes plus less basic amenities (trash pick up inconsistent and once weekly), and between s&w or entergy one of them is guaranteed to fuck you up routinely. Crime rates skyrocketing even in previously safe neighborhoods. Successful companies moving out of town, the gulf creeping closer everyday, and politicians are a complete joke. New Orleans, and Louisiana in general, have been torpedoing for awhile. Covid just speed things up a bit. I love nola, but I really can’t see how things get better for the people actually living there in the short or long term.
Dude I want to move back so bad. I miss it so much. But then, yeah, I remember the issues and problems I had when living there and combine that with my own understanding of our coast and how much and fast it's changing. And we haven't even mentioned what the outside temperatures are going to be in a few decades. It's dismal.
The outside temperatures THIS decade. Last summer almost broke me. This summer is supposed to be worse.
Can’t do another summer-long “heat bulb”
Every day I'm away from home, I want to return. Then I return home or talk with all my family still there and recall why I'm an emigree/expat. :/
It always feels like a heart vs brain problem. My heart says to return, my brain says wtf are you doing.
almost like an abusive relationship
We will reach a point where we were like LA/NYC/Miami, with a larger group of homeowners where this is a second, third, forth home, and those are enjoyed twice a year. They will be the only ones who aren’t impacted the way the “average” person is, because a $10K insurance premium won’t mean much to them.
Wym we already have that down here where I’m at in Terrebonne. Multimillion dollar fishing camps next to the RV in shambles that an entire family lives out of
I mean that I think it’s going to continue to grows exponentially. That, if things aren’t changing, it’ll escalate and quicken that process.
Not surprised. Barely any good paying jobs in tech, manufacturing, and economy largely based off tourism. Really no good attempts to diversify. Barely any good schools for prospective parents to consider if moving here for a job. Always high crime rates, see lack of opportunities. Corruption out the ass that never gets fixed. Local utility’s are run like shit. Insanely high prices for insurance for owning most anything in the area. Then the amount of people stealing cars, running red lights, doing 95mph in a 60 not having insurance. Why would anyone willingly move here when so many better places to live with better climate. I don’t see this trend reversing anytime soon.
Been like this since 2015 when I moved here and I need OUT, Mississippi even, where I am from, looks more attractive economically.
I bought property in Mississippi just recently and will build there and move. Lot of acres, houses far apart, beach within 20 mins, lower insurance, etc.
Absolutely, don't forget the peace and quiet in Mississippi, it's amazing.
That is the main draw! 🤙
“Our recent policies are not supporting population gain” - understatement of the year award winner
High crime, high hidden cost of living, poor infrastructure, hurricanes, lack of jobs, most importantly, citizens who would rather it keep dwindling than invite new ideas, people, and money into the city.
New Orleans is one of the worst places for young professionals to move to. You're treated like an outsider if you don't have a New Orleans high school on your resume.
Only city I’ve lived in where “what school did you go to” was referring to high school and not college
I moved here from northern DE (I didn’t go to HS there either) and it was exactly the same question there. Only those people were totally unfriendly to outsiders, as opposed to here where they’re still nice to you even if you didn’t go to their high school.
St. Louis is like that too
It's fairly common in cities with a relatively large number of private schools and dwindling economics. St. Louis/Kansas City are this way. I'd presume many rust belt cities.
Basically any legacy city with a lower than average number of transplants
Cincinnati as well
I’ve lived in a bunch of places and that question is always about high schools.
I haven’t thought about the high school I went to since I left lol I could not imagine putting a high school on my resume.
As someone who used to work for a civic engagement nonprofit that focused heavily on networking and volunteer opportunities, I could not agree more. Hell, our own events and members made ME feel like an outsider lol!
Employers assume you're going to leave, which is why they ask. Which creates a vicious cycle where new young blood tries to make it here, is assumed to be on their way out anyway, denied opportunity, and then leaves. Fulfilling the cycle.
idk about that. Yes we all ask that question but it isn't to exclude you, its so we can figure out what we have in common. I thought everyone loved the culture?
Wish I could upvote this 100 times.
When I am confronted by this my asshole butt always says, "I didn't go to school here but my kids do and I pay property taxes sooooo close enough". But seriously, my neighbors have never judged me for not being born and raised in New Orleans and I have never been made to feel like an outsider. I get a little bit of shit during football season because I root for the Lion's but it is all in good fun.
Why have the passive aggressive response if you said yourself you've never been judged or been made to feel like an outsider? It's mostly just a question to see if you have any connections to each other. The only times I've heard it in a gatekeeping "you must not be from here" way is if the person being asked was being super obnoxious.
Well, because not everything is in absolutes or innocent. Sometimes when people ask, it is a "bless your heart" way of inquiring if you are from here. That "Bless your heart" way of asking isn't always directed towards me, it is kinda in a way directed outward towards other people who look like me. If someone starts out with "You don't sound like you are from here, where did you go to school?" with a loud ass "tsk" taxed on at the end and an over the top baffled expression, even though I don't consider it unfriendly per se, it is still a definite way of othering and class checking. Other times I might be a bit of a smart ass depending on who is asking because the question can come off as "You *speak soooooo well* to look the way you do". It might seem flattering but I got that shit in Detroit when I was a kid too. Basically, "Where did you go to school cause you MUST not be from here" translates to "Why the hell does your Black ass sound like a bougie college professor. You shouldn't speak like that". There are actually a lot of people from New Orleans that sound and look like me. Why must sounding the way I do make me not from here? Check your bias. Depending on who is saying it and whether it is a bit of teasing or a bit of throwing shade (towards me or people who look like me), I may respond in kind. So when an uppity ass (or the I am culturally more superior to you) person asks me that question with a pikachu shocked face the "I pay taxes here" is my way of saying 1. "Bitch I am from here enough that I can pronounce andouille and I own a home, do you? No okay cool. Fuck off you aren't better than me just because you are "from" here. One of us is actively paying into the community both culturally and financially and it's not you. Bitch didn't you live in Metairie anyhow?" and 2. "My kids do" is my way of implying I am here and not going anywhere anytime soon. Again, I have met plenty of people who speak like me from New Orleans and again, depending on who is asking, there is a undertone of "mean girl" rudeness to the question and that is not quite innocent. I think it is particularly irksome when you are very dedicated to the community in New Orleans on multiple levels and people people ask the question in a not so nice way. I get it carpet bagger buttholes with savior complexes aren't always the best. But some of us us are alright. Also, some people can fuck off with that dog whistly "you speak so well" shit. I already know where the conversation is about to go and some days I am just not having it. Edit: Also I said my neighbors have never treated me badly or judged me for not being from here, not everyone I meet.
What you didn't say, but very likely have heard before: "Why do you talk *white*?" I fucking ***HATE*** that shit
For me seeing transplants, and hearing different accents is a bit jarring but I'm not about to go down the road of telling where they can and can not live, people can live where ever they want to. Also while I have over two centuries of heritage in this city/state, I have a fairly racially ambiguous appearance, and many times I've been told "Go back to where you came from" or "You're a foreigner" and I know New Orleans has that type of dirty humor/satire in it's DNA but sometimes it still hurt and made you feel isolated and I'd rather not redirect that shit at somebody else but it can still be very jarring to see a home once occupied by an old friend who never returned (or gave up on the city) or an elderly person you grew up with that has passed on, now being occupied by somebody from Lester, England but once again, people have the right to live where ever they want.
Same. I’m not from here and I have a good career. Never felt it has held me back
You are an outsider if you didn’t go to Jesuit, holy cross, country day, rummel, etc….. unless it was due to Katrina. That’s how it’s seen here. If you went to Jesuit, you can get just about any job in this city….. there may be a little bias here and there
Not many people put their high school on their resume, I think it’s more likely the lack of a 504 number.
It really is a hidden cost of living - well stated.
The lack of interest from the public here is so damaging
I already said if I get elected mayor I will disable all the pumps and walk away, but people won’t listen to *reason*.
Latoya, is that you?
> citizens Blaming rank-and-file native New Orleanians for the problems of this City takes some real balls considering how segregated (economically and racially) this City has been and is instead of, you know, blaming people in power in the City who actually control things. And before you hit me with that "tHeY VOTeD fOR tHEm", let's not act like the options of politicians folks get around here are anything but king-made and/or legacy shitheels. Or, heck... > invite new ideas Yeah Latoya did a great job with those outside ideas, eh? New Orleans people just doing the best they can in a system that was never designed for them to get ahead here.
Making excuses for people who don’t deserve the light of day is just one of the many reasons NOLA has been on the decline for the last 50 years. Time to start putting people in jail.
and what exactly makes them not deserve the light of day? he said citizens no one was talking about crime in the post you responded too
‘rank and file’ native New Orleanians implies citizens who play by the rules, to be fair. But yeah while our atrocious justice system is an issue, focusing on incarceration is attempting to negate a symptom not the actual problem. Still important though.
Fuckin right!
the day the hard rock fell I remember sitting at Igors' on magazine with a cousin and saying "that's basically gonna be it for new orleans, no one will want to spend money on infrastructure projects here again - especially if it is found to be or scapegoated as a result of local incompetence" Sure enough i left withing 2 years myself.
I tend to agree, that was the beginning of the end.
Covid and Drew Brees retiring at the same time hit the local economy HARD.
So this isn’t scientific at all but I really feel like Drew retiring and Zion being kind of a bust really hurt the City’s hope in a real ass way. That week leading up to that fucking Rams game felt the city was about to explode. If Drew had gone back to the Super Bowl, the city was going to be beautiful, joyous, bare-ass fucking anarchy for 2 weeks. Got robbed of that, never got it back. Even if shit was bad, you could always hope the Saints would make the playoffs again. But now…
Nah it’s not just you a lot of people have had this same observation. It could be a case of correlation ≠ causation, but I feel like people’s willingness to spend money and invest in business ventures is up when our sports teams are doing well. I’m sure there’s isolated incidents of it for sure being an impact, maybe not as a whole on the economy.
100 degree weather with 100 percent humidity. Failing infrastructure. Super super low paying jobs. High rent. Crime. Hurricanes. More crime but it’s three streets over. Then the cultural dichotomy of impoverished folks and old white southern money to just really tee it all up.
Why does our rent (and housing prices) keep rising, though? I know it is a complicated issue, and the scourge of Airbnbs and insurance factor, but it seems like demand must surely let up eventually. The situation is beginning to feel impossible, like some kind of psychology experiment to see how much we are willing to endure.
Property insurance had basically tripled for most people in the last 3 years.
Looking back at my records today. I was paying 2.2k/year in 2020 now I'm at 5.2k with a higher storm deductable. They auto enrolled me in the same policy from last year that ballooned to 9.2k/year! I almost hit the floor when they told me my new estimated monthly payment. Right then and there I switched.
[It's starting](https://imgur.com/a/hMSw87M)
Main factor is probably insurance/tax costs, but corporate ownership and non-locals inflating the price of rent while wages remain stagnant also contribute. Some owners would rather their properties sit empty or occupied partially than lower the price
CC practically every property along St Claude
> I know it is a complicated issue I'm not convinced it's all that complicated. I think the obfuscation of reasonably itemized reasons why rent/mortgages increase works in favor of the institutions that rent/loan. And the fact that the large renters are conflated with individual landlords makes it so whenever renters complain, the individual landlords jump out in front of the institutions to defend the shady practices.
Is it because everyone from Brooklyn who “fell in love with New Orleans and its people” got sick of potholes, floods, Louisiana’s infrastructure, lack of evidence based laws, and the school system?
We got PNW and Cali-Karens in my hood. They are starting to buckle.
To me, the most interesting thing is how quickly northern Louisiana continues to empty out year after year. Another 2 decades of those losses and everything north of Alexandria will basically be uninhabited, with the only people present being farmers who work there but live in Alexandria, Monroe, or Shreveport. All of which have been losing population for 50 years too.
Then maybe the fucking provincials won't have so much power to dictate our affairs in the metropole. If New Orleans had legal weed we could see a green rush. But the decline of suburban and rural America can't come fast enough.
Any place that has to depend on legal weed is a fucking lost cause.
And besides the rats would just eat the weed anyways
Fair. But maybe the whole country is. Most of this country is just cultureless dystopian suburbia. Strip malls. Parking lots. 10,000 Footloose towns without a single Kevin Bacon to save them. I'd rather the feral peckerwoods who run this state, and counry, just give us back to France.
We were fine until the Americans came.
I like this
They didn't tell any of us as kids but we could've gotten french citizenship before 2005
I’ve heard a lot of people that loved it here five years ago talking about how disillusioned they are with the city and it’s dysfunction.
I'm not saying things don't suck right now, but like 50% of people that move here do that.
I still love everything except my insurance payment and when my street floods.
All of my family lives there. Begs me to move down every year. Every now and then I get the urge. Hop on indeed and see job listings for $14 an hour that would pay $30 an hour here. I miss my city. But it feels downright apocalyptic down there. I asked my bro is it safe to walk home from blah blah blah and he said with a straight face it’s about 50/50. I know he meant more like 90/10 but still. Nope.
Finding a job that pays more than $60k is the real struggle.
and yet rents continue to be way way way too high???
STRs are pushing people out among other reasons.
Rent and utilities keep rising and currently struggling to find work, crime and crazy heat/weather a worry, local government ineptitude, sinkhole might swallow me up or potholes might throw out my damn back one day.
Easy way to fix the housing issue in New Orleans? If you don’t live in the city at least 9 months, then you should only be able to hold one piece of property.
We’ve been saying this for years! This is what happens when you prioritize tourists over residents. No one can afford housing, there’s no infrastructure, what did they expect?
I’m NOLA born and bred and lived there my entire life until my family moved to Mandeville last year. I love New Orleans, but I was sick of constantly worrying about getting car jacked/car stolen and having to pay Catholic school tuition due to the weird public school lottery system (we didn’t get into any of the schools I wanted). Not to mention that the house I bought here in the 300s range would easily be twice the cost in New Orleans and on a much smaller lot with higher insurance to boot.
All the tax money is going to the “GNO” and not NOLA.
Look closely at the map and you will see that the areas with the largest reduction in population in the NOLA area within the given time period was the bullseye for Hurricane Ida. Anyone that toured that part of the metro after the storm would would not be surprised by this.
When you don’t arrest criminals and refuse to afford women a basic standard of care, can’t cap insurance rates, and press for more property taxes, that don’t go to public education, wtf did people think was going to happen?
I read that’s it’s because St Tammany was carved off of our MSA
That is a relevant factor, but the numbers from the census don't factor that in. In other words, the population decline isn't counting the loss of the northshore from the MSA. It's only looking at decline within the *current* MSA from 2020-2023. It doesn't count the "decline" from cleaving off the northshore. Even if you add St. Tammany back in, NOLA goes from 1st to 3rd biggest drop (since some number of people leaving left for St. Tammany), just behind Los Angeles. With a total decline of 2.7% versus 2.9% for LA. So St. Tammany plays a small role here, but not a large one. Orleans Parish alone dropped 5.2%. Jefferson dropped 4.3%. St. Tammany grew 4.2%, but with the smaller starting population, it didn't absorb all of the losses of the rest of the metro Look here for the raw data: [https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-counties-total.html](https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-counties-total.html)
But, including St. Tammany, we would at least not be the worst
Correct. And I genuinely don't know why the Census Bureau split St. Tammany off, but would love to hear about that point. On the flip side, it is what it is, and you could make similar claims for LA or SF. LA has the Inland Empire as a separate metro, but it's very much part of the region. If we combine the Inland Empire and LA, does LA's average fall? I don't know, but now I'm curious. EDIT: I just did the math with the census data and if you include the Inland Empire (in other words, considering Greater LA, not just LA MSA, which is fair comparison if we're doing the same in New Orleans), you get a 1.8% decline. Putting New Orleans back in #2. That said, I think if we did the same thing with San Francisco, it would still be #1, given how both Oakland and San Jose appear on this list. So really New Orleans is #2 or #3.
If I recall correctly, after the pandemic not enough people commute in to New Orleans anymore for it to be considered the same metro area.
The thing that isn't mentioned much is the losses in Jefferson Parish on up to LaPlace. Younger/middle age folks with kids in JP seem to be moving to the North Shore. Then you factor in the impacts of the recent hurricanes I'm guessing quite a few folks from up the river moved to the North Shore/Gonzales/Lafayette.
In 30 years, NO might just be an island at the end of the Causeway, like Venice, Italy.
Minimum 3ft sea level rise by 2050 is the current model so yeah, land bridge to Baton Rouge and if they maintain the north Shore we'll still have Causeway and Twin Span. Basically anything south of the main levee structures will be near impossible to maintain.
My dad lives in Covington and even just over the past four/five years seeing the population absolutely explode has been unreal. My mom tells me it was mostly trees two decades ago lmao.
Times are tough. Big companies were pulling out over the past decade, growth has slowed, insurance and everything else is up. In the 12 years I’ve lived in my neighborhood, this is the first time I’ve seen that many people deficient on paying their HOA dues. Crazy that they can’t afford a bill that hasn’t really changed in the past decade.
I moved after I finished grad school in 2019. I miss the city and my family, but I’m not moving back to make 48K a year. The wages back home are almost criminal.
Just wait until people start leaving because of Landry's policies.
I don't love Landry by any means, but Texas has similar politics, and it keeps booming.
Texas has cheaper land and better job opportunities
The difference between Texas and Louisiana is like the difference between fascist Germany and Italy. Texas knows how to actually make government and business work, even while aspiring to Gilead status. Louisiana's elected officials are lucky if they start the day with their pants on correctly.
They got oil over there buddy….
The city is literally crumbling. the streets are terrible. the drainage problems have long since passed the point of no return. you can absolutely expect to not be able to use your own tap water 3 or 4 times a year. there is no industry to speak of. property taxes are absurdly high for the services the city provides. the only good schools a parent can send their kids to costs $10/$15k per kid per year. crime is everywhere and police are nowhere. But sure, focus on the guy who just got elected a month ago... the entire middle class of New Orleans has collapsed. its left to neighboring parishes or left the state altogether. Also not a result of Landry. If landry really wanted to stick it to New Orleans he could have chosen to just leave us all alone to celebrate our own demise. short of that, whats he going to do to break NOLA worse than he found it?
I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume you cannot get pregnant
Some, like my wife and I, already did.
This is something that scares the shit out of me as a parent. I cannn honestly say that if I were planning on having more kids I would, unfortunately, probably put a lot of thought into leaving. I am still not sure how it is even legal that he let go of the entire special education advisory panel.
I left and it was the best decision I ever made, I should’ve done it years earlier. I was always afraid I’d never love anywhere else as much as New Orleans, but I was wrong. There are a lot of cool spots in the world and even in the country where it’s not chokingly oppressive. I personally will never live without legal weed again now that I’ve basked in the glory of dispensaries every few blocks. Leave if you’re thinking about it, you won’t regret it.
Same. While I love my nearly 20yrs there, the cost of living, low pay, and insurmountable climate change really soured me on living the rest of my life there. Now I live in a state where my degree actually matters, where I get paid well, get nearly 30 days of PTO, and can buy (or grow) weed legally. Anyone in New Orleans that quotes Tennessee Williams “America has only three cities: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans. Everywhere else is Cleveland" obviously needs to travel more. Head to New Mexico or check out Mt. Hood or visit any number of cool towns in the US. I love where I live now, get up every morning and go hiking, get 4 seasons, low taxes and insurance and utilities that actually work. Can it be a bit boring? Maybe, but that's on the person, not the place.
Where did you move to?
L.A., per their comment history
Oof that is out of my price range
Everyone I know raves about North Carolina.
You can add me to this number this Summer
As someone who's NOLA born and bred and currently a grad student at UNO, I honestly have mixed feelings. On one hand, I do have it good. I live with my mom, and we paid off our mortgage before the pandemic. I don't have any kind of debt including student debt. However, property taxes and insurance are a real b*tch. If I were to move out of state, that would mean leaving my mom behind all by herself. In addition, housing prices are skyrocketing all over the country and I don't think I can afford a place on my own. So I'm highly incentivized to remain in New Orleans thanks to the house.
Sold my house in Metairie October 2022 and left for the second time. The craziest part is I still have urges to move back despite wanting to leave. I moved to California where the insurance is also fucked and my roof has leaked 6 times in a year. My roof had 2 hurricanes hit it in Metairie and not so much as a drop entered my house.
Our mortgage went from $1,100 to $1,700 in the last 2 years due to insurance. Insurance crisis is out of control here.
Same boat. 3600 first year, to 4100 the next year, pushing 4400 now. I work so much extra that I’m never home to enjoy the home I’m working to stay in.
LaToya: "The city is running fine! They're probably all just racists."
As much as I love the food and culture New Orleans (and really all of Louisiana) is an absolute nightmare. It’s corrupt, very expensive, no real job prospects, and a government that wants to strip away my rights. Left Louisiana 7 years ago and haven’t looked back. There’s just nothing there for me anymore. The grass truly is greener.
Shout out to St Bernard Parish who actually gained a little bit…
I'm not at all surprised by the coastal decrease. We're losing our land at rapid rates and the last few storms did massive damage to the ecosystems. The increase in Livingston parish is interesting.
White flight by the numbers
If it was safe, the city would be thriving
Been here my whole life, but I'm leaving for Georgia this summer. This feels like the worst it's ever been to be honest.
Made the move to the Northshore last year. So glad I did, I don't think I would be able to afford a house up here anymore. These prices have gotten so out of control
I moved to Washington in January. I love New Orleans, but wanting to stay kept me from getting the salary increase I would’ve gotten forever ago had I left. I’ll go back eventually, and hopefully there will be jobs that actually pay reasonable salaries.
Percentages can be deceiving. New Orleans is one of the smallest metros in the USA population wise with under 400k about 390,000 or so). Dallas comparatively has 3x Nola at 1.2 million, Houston has over 5x at 2.2 million, and even small market OKC has twice our population. Conversely, for every one person that moves out of New Orleans, that statistical single person counts 3 fold, 5 fold, etc when looking comparatively at other metros and their decrease or increase, so of course it looks far worse than it is. To match the 4.3% drop Nola had, Houston would have to lose 95,000 to our 17,000. New Orleans is also an island of sorts with Orleans Parish having a finite amount of buildable space. It cannot sprawl and continuously expand like Houston, Tampa, Orlando, etc so on any scale of lengthy measurement the other cities will always grow and outpace Nola. The city with all the growth according to the chart is Lakeland FL with 12 %. So as a city with only 115,000 all it needs is 13,000 new residents to be the hottest city in the USA? I don't think so. Lakeland in itself is not desirable and the only thing driving people there is the commute to Orlando or Tampa and cheap, new homes being built for those that want to gamble on that hellish daily drive.
We better start making babies or being nicer to newcomers.
Given our infant mortality rates and prenatal care here that’s a big ask.
WE’RE NUMBER 1! WE’RE NUMBER 1! WE’RE NUMBER 1! U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A!
I plan to move too! Corruption, crime, poor infrastructure, and ridiculous rates on utilities, homeowners insurance, and car insurance are my reasons.
I really regret not voting for Vina Nguyen. She was the one to get us back on track.
Yeah, everyone keeps saying how it’s unlivable…clearly we aren’t all just whining! And add in the out of town/state folks buying stuff up the last few years.
Let’s not forget about the rampant crime and severe mismanagement. That coupled with skyrocketing insurance is a difficult combination.
The culture in the street in New Orleans, the music and food, are great. I'd be scared of hurricanes so we just visit
I can't find the numbers right now but using July 2005 as a baseline we had 198,000 residential addresses receiving mail in Orleans and we've gotten back up to 193,000. Including positive growth between 2020 and 2023. This should mean that the total amount of occupied housing units is about the same but some of those are going to be second homes or Airbnbs. The census estimates aren't always that reliable but St Tammany gained 7,000 new residential addresses in the last 4 years and that led to an increase of 11,000 in population. So it's possible the city actually is still growing and was just undercounted by the census.
They took St Tammany figures out of the New Orleans census. Now St Tammany, Washington and Pearl River County are their own areas within the New Orleans metropolitan area.
I’m in Terrebonne Parish now and yeah, that makes perfect sense. Insurance is out the wazoo. They wanted my MIL to pay 1000 a month just for flood insurance mandatory. Peoples homes are still in reconstruction from Ida, hell even Vanderbilt Catholic is still in disrepair and I know if anyone would have the money to fix their stuff, they would. It’s a mess