The Baton Rouge metropolitan statistical area, as defined by the

United States Office of Management and Budget The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). OMB's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, but it also examines agency programs, pol ...

, or simply the Baton Rouge metropolitan area or Greater Baton Rouge, is a sprawling

metropolitan statistical area In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally incorporated as a city or tow ...

surrounding the city of Baton Rouge. Its principal city Baton Rouge is unusual because it has no major incorporated satellite cities, a rarity for a metropolitan area of its size. Including the western edge of the

Florida Parishes The Florida Parishes ( es, Parroquias de Florida, french: Paroisses de Floride), on the east side of the Mississippi River—an area also known as the Northshore or Northlake region—are eight List of parishes in Louisiana, parishes in the southe ...

regions, it is known as "Plantation Country", the "Capital Region", and "The 225" (a reference to its area code). At the

2010 U.S. census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators serving ...

, the metropolitan area had a population of 802,484, up from 705,973 in 2000. At the 2020 census, its population increased to 870,569, up from 2020 estimates at 858,571.

Parishes

* Ascension * East Baton Rouge * East Feliciana * Iberville * Livingston *

Pointe Coupee Pointe Coupee Parish ( or ; french: Paroisse de la Pointe-Coupée) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 22,802; in 2020, its population was 20,758. The parish seat is New Roads. Pointe ...

* St. Helena * West Baton Rouge * West Feliciana

Communities

Places with more than 225,000 inhabitants

* Baton Rouge (Principal city)

Places with 10,000 to 30,000 inhabitants

* Baker * Central *

Denham Springs Denham Springs is a city in Livingston Parish, Louisiana, United States. The 2010 U.S. census placed the population at 10,215, up from 8,757 at the 2000 U. S. census. At the 2020 United States census, 9,286 people lived in the city. The city is ...

Gardere Gardere is an unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, United States. The area is also known as Riverland. The population was 10,580 at the 2010 census, up from 8,992 in 2000. It is part of the ...

(census-designated place) * Gonzales * Merrydale (

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the count ...

) * Shenandoah (census-designated place) *

Zachary Zachary is a male given name, a variant of Zechariah – the name of several Biblical characters. People *Pope Zachary (679–752), Pope of the Catholic Church from 741 to 752 * Zachary of Vienne (died 106), bishop of Vienne (France), martyr an ...

* Prairieville (census-designated place)

Places with 5,000 to 10,000 inhabitants

Brownfields In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land pre ...

(census-designated place) * Donaldsonville * Oak Hills Place (census-designated place) * Old Jefferson (census-designated place) *

Plaquemine Plaquemine is a city in and the parish seat of Iberville Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the Baton Rouge metropolitan statistical area. At the 2010 United States census, the population was 7,119; the 2020 census determined i ...

* Port Allen * St. Gabriel * Village St. George (census-designated place) *

Walker Walker or The Walker may refer to: People * Walker (given name) *Walker (surname) * Walker (Brazilian footballer) (born 1982), Brazilian footballer Places In the United States *Walker, Arizona, in Yavapai County *Walker, Mono County, California ...

Places with 1,000 to 5,000 inhabitants

* Addis * Brusly * Clinton *

Inniswold Inniswold is an unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 6,180 at the 2010 census, up from 4,944 in 2000. In 2020, its population was 5,987. It is part of the B ...

(census-designated place) *

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...

* Killian * Livingston *

Livonia Livonia ( liv, Līvõmō, et, Liivimaa, fi, Liivinmaa, German and Scandinavian languages: ', archaic German: ''Liefland'', nl, Lijfland, Latvian and lt, Livonija, pl, Inflanty, archaic English: ''Livland'', ''Liwlandia''; russian: Ли ...

* Maringouin *

Monticello Monticello ( ) was the primary plantation of Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, who began designing Monticello after inheriting land from his father at age 26. Located just outside Charlottesville, V ...

(census-designated place) *

New Roads New Roads (historically french: Poste-de-Pointe-Coupée) is a city in and the parish seat of Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, United States. The center of population of Louisiana was located in New Roads in 2000. The population was 4,831 at the ...

* St. Francisville * Slaughter *

Sorrento Sorrento (, ; nap, Surriento ; la, Surrentum) is a town overlooking the Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the south-eastern terminus of the Circumvesuviana ra ...

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

(census-designated place) * White Castle

Places with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants

* Albany * Fordoche * French Settlement * Greensburg * Grosse Tête * Montpelier * Morganza * Norwood * Port Vincent * Rosedale * Springfield * Wilson

Unincorporated places

* Abend * Acy * Alma *

Anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal , used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ''ancora'', which itself comes from the Greek ἄ� ...

* Barmen * Batchelor * Bayou Goula * Bayou Latenache * Bayou Pigeon * Baywood * Belle Helene * Blanks *

Bowden Bowden may refer to: Places Australia * Bowden Island, one of the Family Islands in Queensland * Bowden, South Australia, northwestern suburb of Adelaide * Bowden railway station Canada * Bowden, Alberta, town in central Alberta England * Bowde ...

* Brignac *

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

Brooks Brooks may refer to: Places ;Antarctica *Cape Brooks ;Canada *Brooks, Alberta ;United States * Brooks, Alabama * Brooks, Arkansas *Brooks, California *Brooks, Georgia * Brooks, Iowa * Brooks, Kentucky * Brooks, Maine * Brooks Township, Michigan ...

* Bullion * Burnside * Chenal * Cofield * Columbo * Colyell * Coon * Cornerview * Darrow * Duckroost * Duplessis * Dupont * Dutchtown * East Krotz Springs * Elliot City * False River * Frisco * Galvez * Geismar * Glynn * Hermitage * Hillaryville * Hobart * Hohen Solms * Holden * Hope Villa * Ingleside * Innis * Jacoby * Jarreau * LaBarre * Lacour *

Lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

* Lakeland * Legonier * Lemannville * Lettsworth * Little Prairie * Lottie * Marchand *

Maurepas Maurepas may refer to: * Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, Count of Maurepas, French statesman Count of Maurepas (Yvelines) * Fort Maurepas, also known as Old Biloxi, a settlement in Louisiana (New France) * Maurepas, Louisiana, an unincorporated comm ...

* McCrea * McElroy * Miles * Mix * Modeste * New California * New Texas * Noel * Oak Grove *

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

Palo Alto Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was es ...

* Parlange * Philadelphia Point *

Point Coupee Point Coupee is the name of an unincorporated community located in Pointe Coupée Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is the home of St. Francis Chapel and is located along Louisiana Highway 420, north of New Roads. History The community was f ...

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...

* Red River Landing * Rougon * Saint Amant * St. Dizier * Saint Elmo * Satsuma * Sherburne * Smoke Bend * Southwood * Torbert * Torras * Valverda * Ventress *

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

* Waterloo * Watson * Weber City

Demographics

The Baton Rouge metropolitan area was first defined in

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...

. Then known as the Baton Rouge standard metropolitan area (or Baton Rouge SMA), it consisted of a single parish–East Baton Rouge–and had a population of 158,236. Following a term change by the Bureau of the Budget (present-day U.S. Office of Management and Budget) in 1959, the Baton Rouge SMA became the Baton Rouge standard metropolitan statistical area (or Baton Rouge SMSA). By the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Jan ...

, the population had grown to 230,058, a 45% increase over the previous census. A total of 285,167 people lived in East Baton Rouge Parish in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

. Three additional parishes were added to the Baton Rouge SMSA in 1973–Ascension, Livingston, and West Baton Rouge. These four parishes had a combined population of 375,628 in 1970. The area grew rapidly during the 1970s and by the

1980 census The United States census of 1980, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 226,545,805, an increase of 11.4 percent over the 203,184,772 persons enumerated during the 1970 census. It was th ...

, the population had increased 32% to 494,151. In 1983, the official name was shortened to the Baton Rouge metropolitan statistical area (or Baton Rouge MSA), which is still in use to date. It was determined 528,264 residents lived in the metropolitan statistical area in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

, and 602,894 people lived in the four parishes by the year

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

. In 2003, the Baton Rouge area was expanded to its current size with the addition of five more parishes: East Feliciana, Iberville, Pointe Coupee, St. Helena, and West Feliciana. This nine-parish region had a population of 705,973 in 2000. At the 2019 American Community Survey, the metropolitan area had an estimated population of 854,884. In 2020, its population was an estimated 858,571. The 2020 U.S. census tabulated a population of 870,569. In 2019, the racial and ethnic makeup of the area was 56%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

, 36% Black and African American, 2% Asian, 1% multiracial, and 4% Hispanic and Latin American of any race. There was a median household income of $60,746 and per capita income of $31,571. An estimated 15% of the metropolitan population lived at or below the poverty line. Of the population in 2019, there were 305,441 households and an average of 3.7 people per household. The median value of owner-occupied housing units was $195,500, and 4% of its population was foreign born.

Economy

Exxon Mobil oil refinery - Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The metropolitan economy is primarily centered in the city of Baton Rouge; dominated by

oil and gas companies The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry or the oil patch, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The largest ...

, alongside the

Louisiana State University System The Louisiana State University System is a system of public colleges and universities in Louisiana. It is budgetarily the largest public university system in the state. William F. Tate IV is president of the LSU system, and also serves as chan ...

, the area has the furthest inland port on the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

that can accommodate ocean-going tankers and cargo carriers. ExxonMobil's Baton Rouge Refinery complex is the fourth-largest

oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, lique ...

in the country; it is the world's 10th largest. Baton Rouge also has rail, highway, pipeline, and deep-water access. Dow Chemical Company has a large plant in Iberville Parish near

, 17 miles (27 km) south of Baton Rouge. Shaw Construction, Turner, and Harmony all started with performing construction work at these plants. The metropolitan also has a large medical research and clinical presence. Research hospitals have included Our Lady of the Lake, Our Lady of the Lake Children's Hospital (affiliated with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital),

Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center is a cancer care organization with locations in Louisiana and Mississippi. History In the late 1960s, community leaders headed by Dr. M.J. Rathbone, Jr. and Anna B. Lipsey saw the need for a community owned, nonp ...

, and Earl K. Long (closed 2013). Together with an emerging medical corridor at Essen Lane, Summa Avenue and Bluebonnet Boulevard, Baton Rouge has been developing a medical district expected to be similar to the

Texas Medical Center The Texas Medical Center (TMC) is a medical district and neighborhood in south-central Houston, Texas, United States, immediately south of the Museum District and west of Texas State Highway 288. Over 60 medical institutions, largely concentrat ...

. LSU and

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

both announced plans to construct satellite medical campuses in Baton Rouge to partner with Our Lady of the Lake Medical Center and Baton Rouge General Medical Center, respectively.

External links

Official Baton Rouge Government Web Site

Downtown Development District

Baton Rouge Today

Baton Rouge City Guide and Internet Rest Area

Perkins Rowe Shopping

References

{{USLargestMetros Geography of Ascension Parish, Louisiana Geography of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana Geography of East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana Geography of Iberville Parish, Louisiana Geography of Livingston Parish, Louisiana Geography of Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana Geography of St. Helena Parish, Louisiana Geography of West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana Geography of West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana