Most African American cities in Louisiana research summary. We used Saturday Night Science to analyze Louisiana’s most recent Census data to determine the cities with the largest Black population, based on the percentage of Black residents.
The city with the largest African American population in Louisiana is Baker (87.0% Black); the least is Mandeville (2.5%). Statewide, Louisiana is 30.5% Black — the 3rd blackest state in the country.
Roughly 42 million people identifying as Black or African American live in the United States, about 12% of the total population. In Louisiana, the Black population is 1,407,844, at 30.5% of the state total.
We broke down the most recent Census data to determine the cities in Louisiana with the largest African American population in 2026.
#1 most African American in Louisiana
Located in
East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana
Baker is a small city in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, United States, and a part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is the fourth-largest city in East Baton Rouge Parish. The population was 13,895 as of the 2010 census, an increase of 102 persons from the 2000 tabulation of 13,793.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#2 most African American in Louisiana
Located in
Madison Parish, Louisiana
Tallulah is a small city in and the parish seat of Madison Parish in northeastern Louisiana, United States. The 2010 population was 7,335, a decrease of 1,854, or 20.2 percent, from the 9,189 tabulation at the 2000 census. The city is nearly 77 percent African American. Tallulah is the principal city of the Tallulah Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Madison Parish. The Madison Parish Sheriff’s office operates the Steve Hoyle Rehabilitation Center in Tallulah.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#3 most African American in Louisiana
Located in
Ascension Parish, Louisiana
Donaldsonville is a small city in and the parish seat of Ascension Parish in south Louisiana, United States, located along the River Road of the west bank of the Mississippi River. The population was 7,436 at the 2010 census, a decrease of more than 150 from the 7,605 tabulation in 2000. Donaldsonville is part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#4 most African American in Louisiana
Located in
Morehouse Parish, Louisiana
Bastrop is the largest city and the parish seat of Morehouse Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 11,365 at the 2010 census, a decrease of 1,623 from the 12,988 tabulation of 2000. The population of Bastrop is 73 percent African American. It is the principal city of and is included in the Bastrop, Louisiana Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Monroe-Bastrop, Louisiana Combined Statistical Area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#5 most African American in Louisiana
Located in
St. Landry Parish, Louisiana
Opelousas is a small city in and the parish seat of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies at the junction of Interstate 49 and U.S. Route 190. The population was 22,860 at the 2000 census. Although the 2006 population estimate was 23,222, a 2004 annexation should have put the city’s population above 25,000. In the 2010 census, however, the population shrank to 16,634. Opelousas is the principal city for the Opelousas-Eunice Micropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 92,178 in 2008. Opelousas is also the third largest city in the Lafayette-Acadiana Combined Statistical Area, which has a population of 537,947.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#6 most African American in Louisiana
Located in
Evangeline Parish, Louisiana
Ville Platte is a city in, and the parish seat of, Evangeline Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 7,430 at the 2010 census, down from 8,145 in 2000. The city’s name is of French origin, roughly translating to “flat city”, in reference to its relatively flat topography in contrast to the more hilly terrain north of the area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#7 most African American in Louisiana
Located in
Ouachita Parish, Louisiana
Monroe is the eighth-largest city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the parish seat of Ouachita Parish. In the official 2010 census, Monroe had a population of 48,815. The municipal population declined by 8.1 percent over the past decade; it was 53,107 in the 2000 census. After a recheck in 2012, the Census Bureau changed the 2010 population from 48,815 to 49,147. Mayor Jamie Mayo, however, maintains that the Monroe population is more than 50,000 and indicated that he will pursue a continued challenge to the count.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#8 most African American in Louisiana
Located in
Caddo Parish, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third-largest city in the state of Louisiana and the 122nd-largest city in the United States. It is the seat of Caddo Parish and extends along the Red River into neighboring Bossier Parish. Bossier City is separated from Shreveport by the Red River. The population of Shreveport was 199,311 in 2010, and the Shreveport-Bossier City Metropolitan Area population exceeds 441,000. The Shreveport-Bossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area ranks 111th in the United States, according to the United States Census Bureau.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers | Compare
#9 most African American in Louisiana
Located in
Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana
Natchitoches is a small city and the parish seat of Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. Established in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis as part of French Louisiana, the community was named after the indigenous Natchitoches people.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
#10 most African American in Louisiana
Located in
Rapides Parish, Louisiana
Alexandria is the ninth-largest city in the state of Louisiana and is the parish seat of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River in almost the exact geographic center of the state. It is the principal city of the Alexandria metropolitan area which encompasses all of Rapides and Grant parishes. Its neighboring city is Pineville. In 2010, the population was 47,723, an increase of 3 percent from the 2000 census.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Louisiana’s statewide median.
On the map
Where Louisiana’s Black communities live
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How We Determined The Cities In Louisiana With The Largest Black Population For 2026
We still believe in the accuracy of data — especially from the Census. So that’s where we went to get the race breakdown across Louisiana.
That leads us to the Census’s most recently available data, the 2020-2024 American Community Survey data from the US Census.
Specifically, we looked at table B03002: Hispanic OR LATINO ORIGIN BY RACE. Here are the category names as defined by the Census:
- Hispanic or Latino
- White alone*
- Black or African American alone*
- American Indian and Alaska Native alone*
- Asian alone*
- Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone*
- Some other race alone*
- Two or more races*
Our particular column of interest was the number of people who identified as Black or African American.
We limited our analysis to non-CDPs with a population greater than 5,000 people in Louisiana. That left us with 57 cities.
We then calculated the percentage of residents that are Black or African American. The percentages ranked from 87.0% to 2.5%.
Finally, we ranked each city based on the percentage of the Black population, with a higher score being more Black than a lower score. Baker took the distinction of being the most Black, while Mandeville was the least African American city.
We updated this article for 2026. This is our eleventh time ranking the cities in Louisiana with the largest African American population.
The full plate
African American Population By City In Louisiana
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Population | African American Population | % African American |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baker | 12,253 | 10,656 | 87.0% |
| 2 | Tallulah | 5,969 | 4,936 | 82.7% |
| 3 | Donaldsonville | 6,831 | 5,618 | 82.2% |
| 4 | Bastrop | 9,232 | 7,182 | 77.8% |
| 5 | Opelousas | 15,495 | 11,847 | 76.5% |
| 6 | Ville Platte | 6,253 | 4,051 | 64.8% |
| 7 | Monroe | 47,004 | 28,085 | 59.8% |
| 8 | Shreveport | 180,982 | 101,251 | 55.9% |
| 9 | Natchitoches | 17,577 | 9,770 | 55.6% |
| 10 | Alexandria | 44,060 | 24,326 | 55.2% |
| 11 | New Orleans | 371,853 | 200,368 | 53.9% |
| 12 | Carencro | 11,619 | 6,112 | 52.6% |
| 13 | Plaquemine | 6,075 | 3,125 | 51.4% |
| 14 | Breaux Bridge | 7,501 | 3,808 | 50.8% |
| 15 | Zachary | 19,952 | 10,118 | 50.7% |
| 16 | Minden | 11,455 | 5,780 | 50.5% |
| 17 | Baton Rouge | 222,771 | 112,180 | 50.4% |
| 18 | Franklin | 6,461 | 3,207 | 49.6% |
| 19 | Bogalusa | 10,468 | 5,119 | 48.9% |
| 20 | St. Martinville | 5,297 | 2,588 | 48.9% |
| 21 | St. Gabriel | 6,639 | 3,004 | 45.2% |
| 22 | New Iberia | 27,571 | 12,445 | 45.1% |
| 23 | Gonzales | 13,108 | 5,859 | 44.7% |
| 24 | Hammond | 21,539 | 9,340 | 43.4% |
| 25 | Ruston | 22,284 | 9,631 | 43.2% |
| 26 | Lake Charles | 81,143 | 34,381 | 42.4% |
| 27 | Abbeville | 11,003 | 4,605 | 41.9% |
| 28 | West Monroe | 12,729 | 5,237 | 41.1% |
| 29 | Patterson | 5,744 | 2,292 | 39.9% |
| 30 | Rayne | 7,105 | 2,736 | 38.5% |
| 31 | Leesville | 5,495 | 1,978 | 36.0% |
| 32 | Eunice | 9,239 | 3,045 | 33.0% |
| 33 | Ponchatoula | 7,808 | 2,489 | 31.9% |
| 34 | Pineville | 14,160 | 4,346 | 30.7% |
| 35 | Gretna | 17,389 | 5,212 | 30.0% |
| 36 | Lafayette | 121,715 | 35,285 | 29.0% |
| 37 | DeRidder | 9,763 | 2,744 | 28.1% |
| 38 | Bossier City | 62,901 | 17,341 | 27.6% |
| 39 | Oakdale | 6,546 | 1,798 | 27.5% |
| 40 | Jennings | 9,553 | 2,328 | 24.4% |
| 41 | Westwego | 8,335 | 1,974 | 23.7% |
| 42 | Thibodaux | 15,732 | 3,633 | 23.1% |
| 43 | Crowley | 11,422 | 2,606 | 22.8% |
| 44 | Slidell | 28,561 | 5,594 | 19.6% |
| 45 | Scott | 8,609 | 1,684 | 19.6% |
| 46 | Houma | 32,392 | 6,315 | 19.5% |
| 47 | Kenner | 64,904 | 11,021 | 17.0% |
| 48 | Morgan City | 11,064 | 1,845 | 16.7% |
| 49 | Broussard | 14,322 | 2,371 | 16.6% |
| 50 | Covington | 11,658 | 1,917 | 16.4% |
| 51 | Denham Springs | 9,323 | 935 | 10.0% |
| 52 | Central | 29,783 | 2,915 | 9.8% |
| 53 | Youngsville | 17,427 | 1,665 | 9.6% |
| 54 | Walker | 6,390 | 594 | 9.3% |
| 55 | Sulphur | 20,775 | 1,250 | 6.0% |
| 56 | Harahan | 8,904 | 304 | 3.4% |
| 57 | Mandeville | 12,946 | 318 | 2.5% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 57 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
Summary: Black Populations Across Louisiana
If you’re looking for a breakdown of African American populations across Louisiana according to the most recent data, this is an accurate list.
The blackest cities in Louisiana are Baker, Tallulah, Donaldsonville, Bastrop, Opelousas, Ville Platte, Monroe, Shreveport, Natchitoches, and Alexandria. Not sold on Louisiana? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
