Andre M. Perry, Allison Plyer, Lamar Gardere, Manann Donoghoe, and Robert Puentes

The New Orleans metropolitan area is a vibrant thread in the cultural tapestry of the United States. Its cultural, political, economic, and social significance resonates far beyond its levees, bayous, and the Gulf. As the soulful birthplace of jazz, the rhythms of Congo Square and the nearby French Quarter echo a rich blend of African, Caribbean, French and Spanish influences—much like its renowned gumbo. It has long been a sacred ground for civil rights struggles and stands as a testament to the enduring community power and resilience of its residents, past and present.

Reflecting on New Orleans’ progress since Hurricane Katrina slammed ashore in August 2005 is to recognize its importance as a modern city, and its role as a living archive that embodies the complexity and promise of our nation. The Category 5 hurricane as it approached the Gulf coast and the levee failures devastated the New Orleans metropolitan area, destroying or severely damaging more than a million homes, displacing more than 1 million people, causing at least 986 deaths in Louisiana alone, and resulting in more than $135 billion in damages. The national tragedy put a spotlight on longstanding income and race divides that shaped the impacts of the disaster and the emergency response.

More than a year after the storm, close to 380,000 residents—29.2% of metropolitan New Orleans’s residents—had not returned, and the share of Black residents had declined to 21% from 36%. In January 2006, just months after residents were allowed to return, New Orleans’ social aid and ”pleasure clubs” organized the first second line parade after the storm. A local tradition composed of brass bands, buckjumpers, and happy mourners, the second line is traditionally a funerary rite but has evolved into a symbol of the city’s resilience—an opportunity to rebound and rejoice through a celebration of community and culture.

On this day, many held up street signs bearing the names such as “Desire” and “Marais” as to say “we belong here.”

As the residents of New Orleans and we at the Brookings Institution and The Data Center, a Louisiana-based nonprofit research institution, commemorate the lives lost, the relationships forged, and the struggles and triumphs of the past two decades, we should all second line toward a brighter tomorrow—clear-eyed about the challenges ahead but optimistic about the future. In this new research series, we explore what happened since Hurricane Katrina slammed against the Gulf Coast. How has the metro area adapted over the past 20 years? What progress has been made? What challenges remain?

The New Orleans metropolitan area is rich in culture and steeped in history. It’s a place where people, through figurative and literal storms, happily call home. But it is also a place grappling with persistent economic challenges, located in a region facing increasingly extreme weather amplified by climate change. The research and data in this series show that while the region has made remarkable progress, many of the 2005 challenges persist.

This is evident in the indicators of economic security and well-being such as wealth, income, and employment. New Orleans has a poverty rate of 23%, down from 28% in 2000, but still nearly double the current national average. White households in the metro area hold ten times the wealth of Black households and six times the wealth of Hispanic households. Employment trends have improved, with greater employment diversity across industries, including health care and the performing arts, but greater New Orleans is still overly reliant on tourism, oil and gas, and upstream chemical manufacturing—sectors that, despite their dominance, have been shedding jobs since 2004.

The social and economic challenges that the metropolitan area faces today amplify the physical risks of climate change and extreme weather. New Orleans, and many other regions across the United States, face new and different climate impacts than they did even 20 years ago. Increasingly severe and frequent extreme weather events are straining regional infrastructures, such as bridges and roads, and placing new financial burdens on families. According to The New Orleans Index, each parish in the New Orleans metropolitan area has had at least 17 declared disasters since 2020—four times more than the national average. For low-income families who are less likely to have insurance, job security, or financial safety nets, even relatively small events can be catastrophic.

Predicting exactly when or how the next disaster will strike is impossible, but it’s clear that major disasters will continue to occur. Leaders in all cities, not just New Orleans, must prepare for them. That’s why all of the reports presented in our series ask a simple, but transformative, question: How could policy change help the New Orleans metropolitan area, and its communities and residents, be more resilient to climate change and other shocks?

Resilience refers to the capacities, resources, and traits—whether inherent or developed—that enable a metropolitan area to absorb, adapt to, or recover from a shock. It’s a dynamic concept, rooted not in any one sector or industry, but rather in the strength and flexibility of social, economic, and ecosystems acting together. Resilience is a concept that cities and regions should embrace to transform their communities to weather today’s more unpredictable and unstable climate. As recent weather disasters prove out, nature’s wrath cannot be contained. But for New Orleans, building resilience means that when the next Katrina-level hurricane occurs, its infrastructure, systems, and institutions are up to the task of empowering and protecting its people.

Reflecting on the past 20 years requires deep introspection, lucid analysis, and courageous planning. The authors in this series, many hailing from New Orleans themselves, analyze its resilience across a range of topics, including flood preparedness and adaptation, community safety and criminal justice, education, civic life, housing and land-use, business ownership and entrepreneurialism, environmental justice, and urban infrastructure.

While not exhaustive, together these reports present a policy blueprint for how metropolitan New Orleans can move forward and build resilient and adaptive communities that provide an example to other disaster-prone regions across the United States. While much of the data in these reports are sobering, it’s our response to these outcomes that should set the narrative for what a thriving community looks like. It’s our responses to challenges that define how to move forward.

What’s needed now is the spirit reflected in the second line. A key data point in The New Orleans Index is attachment to place: 71% of New Orleanians are native to Louisiana—a much higher nativity rate than the U.S. average—and the greater metropolitan area has one of the highest densities of social clubs per capita in the country. The people of New Orleans are the city’s greatest strength. Building a resilient New Orleans for the next 20 years and beyond will require investing in and nurturing this vital asset—its people and its place.