New Orleans - The Census Bureau says New Orleans is the fastest growing big city in America. A designation that could help the city and the region attract more economic development.
Austin Marks of GNO, Inc., the group that works to bring new businesses to the area, said Wednesday that the news will help this community in many ways. "First in the country, that puts us on the map on so many levels," he said.
Marks said businesses shy away from regions with fewer than a million people and those barely clinging to a population of that size, so having New Orleans' people count at 311, 853 is a huge help. He told FOX 8 News, "the talking points are simple, we have both a city and a region that supports a large population. We are clearly now one of the top 50 cities in the country and growing at a staggering rate."
But some believe there are more people living in New Orleans than what the Census Bureau gives the city credit for in its new population estimate.
Allison Plyer of the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center said their data supports a population of 336,000. She said many families have received their road home grants and have been able to rebuild and return to the city. Plyer said soon they will supply the Census Bureau with the updated count which is based on households using electricity.
"The data we pulled together is exactly the same type of data that they accepted last year when they revised the estimate and typically they look for localities to supply the alternative data, just in case their methodology cannot track everybody who is there," Plyer said.
