The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, officially designated Shreveport–Bossier City by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, or simply Greater Shreveport, is a metropolitan statistical area in northwestern

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

that covers three parishes:

Caddo The Caddo people comprise the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, a federally recognized tribe headquartered in Binger, Oklahoma. They speak the Caddo language. The Caddo Confederacy was a network of Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, who ...

, Bossier, and DeSoto. At the 2020 United States census, the metropolitan region had a population of 393,406; its

American Community Survey The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual demographics survey program conducted by the United States Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the United States census, decennial census ...

population was 397,590 per census estimates. With a 2010 census population of 439,000, it declined to become Louisiana's fourth largest metropolis at 394,706 residents at the 2019 census estimates. Shreveport–Bossier City is the largest economic and cultural center of North Louisiana and the wider

Ark-La-Tex The Ark-La-Tex (a portmanteau of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas; also stylized as Arklatex or ArkLaTex) is a socio-economic region where the Southern United States, Southern U.S. states of Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Texas join together. ...

region. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan region comprises the highest concentration of colleges and universities in the Ark-La-Tex. It is part of the

I-20 I20, I 20 or I-20 may refer to: * Interstate 20, a highway in the southeastern United States * I-20 (form), a United States government document that provides supporting information for the issuance of a student visa or change of status * I-20 (rap ...

Cyber Corridor linking the area to Ruston, Grambling, and

Monroe Monroe or Monroes may refer to: People and fictional characters * Monroe (surname) * Monroe (given name) * James Monroe, 5th President of the United States * Marilyn Monroe, actress and model Places United States * Monroe, Arkansas, an unincorp ...

, Louisiana;

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

and Tyler,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

; and

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. Shreveport–Bossier City's metropolitan economy is primarily based on oil and natural gas,

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer ...

casinos Casinos may refer to: * Casinos, Valencia, municipality in Spain * David Casinos (born 1972), Spanish Paralympian athlete * The Casinos The Casinos was a nine-member doo-wop group from Cincinnati, Ohio, led by Gene Hughes and which included ...

restaurants A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in app ...

commerce Commerce is the organized Complex system, system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions that directly or indirectly contribute to the smooth, unhindered large-scale exchange (distribution through Financial transaction, transactiona ...

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

healthcare Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

and

medical research Medical research (or biomedical research), also known as health research, refers to the process of using scientific methods with the aim to produce knowledge about human diseases, the prevention and treatment of illness, and the promotion of ...

, and

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

. The largest companies operating within the metropolitan statistical area are

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

, Calumet Specialty Products Partners, SWEPCO, AT&T Mobility and Cricket Wireless,

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. (stylized as JPMorganChase) is an American multinational financial services, finance corporation headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It is List of largest banks in the United States, the largest ba ...

Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...

Regions Financial Corporation Regions Financial Corporation is an American bank holding company headquartered in the Regions Center in Birmingham, Alabama. The company provides retail and commercial banking, trust, stock brokerage, and mortgage services. Its banking subsi ...

Brookshire Grocery Company Brookshire Grocery Company is a supermarket chain based in Tyler, Texas. There are more than 200 stores in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma under their five banners: Brookshire's, Super 1 Foods, Fresh by Brookshire's, Spring Market, and ...

, and

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

. The metropolis is one of the most religious in the United States, Shreveport being one of the top 5 most religious cities in the United States in 2016.

Geography

The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area has a total area a little over 2,699 square miles. The area is slightly larger than the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

, and smaller than

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

and the U.S. territory of

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget defines the metropolitan region as covering

, Bossier, and DeSoto parishes. Previously, Webster Parish was considered part of Greater Shreveport; it is now part of the Shreveport–Bossier City–Minden combined statistical area. Communities of the metropolis sit at elevations over 100 feet above sea level making them primary locations for coastal retreat due to rising sea levels. The Shreveport–Bossier City area is located in the

South Central United States The West South Central states, colloquially known as the South Central states, is a region of the United States defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as covering four states: Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. The West South Central or Sou ...

, bordering

East Texas East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that consists of approximately 38 counties. It is roughly divided into Northeast Texas, Northeast, Southeast Texas, Sout ...

and

South Arkansas South Arkansas lies within the southernmost portions of Arkansas Gulf Coastal Plain and Delta regions. It encompasses the lower 15 counties of the state. History In the 1920s, nationwide attention focused on South Arkansas when the Smackover Fi ...

. As such, it is within the Piney Woods

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and c ...

. Its vegetation is classified as temperate forest and grassland. Much of the urbanized area was built on forested land, marshes, swamp, or prairie, remnants of which can still be seen throughout the metropolitan region.

Communities

Cities

Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, Lo ...

(Principal city) * Bossier City (Principal city) *

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of the Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area and the second largest settlement in Nottinghamshire (following the city ...

(Principal city)

Towns

* Benton * Blanchard (suburb) * Greenwood (suburb) * Haughton (suburb) * Keachi * Logansport * Oil City * Plain Dealing * Stonewall (suburb) * Vivian * Mooringsport

Villages

* Belcher * Gilliam * Grand Cane * Hosston * Ida * Longstreet * Rodessa * South Mansfield *

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

Unincorporated areas

Census-designated places

* Eastwood * Frierson * Gloster * Lakeview * Red Chute

Other communities

* Keithville *

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

Demographics

At the 2010 United States census, there were 557,201 people, 189,000 households, and 139,000 families residing within the metropolitan statistical area; in 2020, the

United States census The United States census (plural censuses or census) is a census that is legally mandated by the Constitution of the United States. It takes place every ten years. The first census after the American Revolution was taken in 1790 United States ce ...

determined it had a population of 393,406. The

's 2020 census estimates postulated a rebound of 397,590. According to census estimates from 2015 to 2020, approximately 156,594 households were in the metropolitan area with an average of 2.5 people per household; 46% of the household were married, and spread among 184,148 housing units of which 85% were occupied. Of the housing units, 63% were owner-occupied and 71% were single-unit detached homes at a median value of $156,900. Residents in the metropolitan statistical area had a median household income of $46,610 and 20.9% of its population lived at or below the poverty line. According to the 2020 census, the racial and ethnic makeup of Shreveport–Bossier City was 35.6%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 57.9%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.1% Native American, 1.88% Asian, 1.4%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.1% from other races, 0.1% from two or more races, and 1.4%

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any heritage 3.4%.This demographic makes White citizens the minority group in Shreveport Louisiana. Females make up 54% of the population in Shreveport whereas males only make up 46% of the Shreveport population. This information is all according to the United States Census Bureau. In 2020 according to

Sperling's BestPlaces Bertrand T. Sperling was born in 1950 in Brooklyn, New York. He is an author and researcher. His books and studies on quality of life in America have made him "an internationally recognized expert in cities." Work Studies Sperling is commissi ...

, roughly 63.5% of Shreveport–Bossier City was religious. According to the

Association of Religion Data Archives The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) is a free source of online information related to American and international religion. One of the primary goals of the archive is to democratize access to academic information on religion by making t ...

in 2020, it remained one of the most Christian areas of the United States. Per Sperling's, the largest religion in the metropolitan statistical area is

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

, followed by

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

, and

eastern religions The Eastern religions are the religions which originated in East, South and Southeast Asia and thus have dissimilarities with Western and African religions. Eastern religions include: * East Asian religions such as Confucianism, Taoism, Tengrism ...

including

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

Sikhism Sikhism is an Indian religion and Indian philosophy, philosophy that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century CE. It is one of the most recently founded major religious groups, major religio ...

, and

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

. There is also a growing

spiritual but not religious "Spiritual but not religious" (SBNR), also known as "spiritual but not affiliated" (SBNA), or less commonly "more spiritual than religious", is a popular phrase and initialism used to self-identify a life stance of spirituality that does not reg ...

community. Among Christians,

Baptists Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

, Methodists, and

Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

form the largest communities in the metropolitan area. A 2014 study determined the leading Baptist denomination was the

Southern Baptist Convention The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), alternatively the Great Commission Baptists (GCB), is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist organization, the largest Protestant, and the second-largest Chr ...

. The

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...

was the largest Methodist body and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Shreveport was the primary Catholic jurisdiction. The same study also named Islam the second-largest religion in the area, with Shreveporter Muslims making up about 14% of Louisiana's total Muslim-affiliated population. In a separate study by the Association of Religion Data Archives for 2020, the Southern Baptists had 111,745 members spread throughout 151 churches in the area; and the United Methodists had 19,114 members in 46 churches. Historically African American Christian denominations including the National Baptist Convention, National Baptist Convention of America, and National Missionary Baptist Convention had 32,132 members altogether.

Economy

Shreveport–Bossier City is the economic and cultural center of Northwest Louisiana and the wider

tri-state region. It is also the largest economic metropolitan area in North Louisiana. The area's economic activity is centered in the city of

, the parish seat of Caddo Parish. Much of the Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area's economy is based on oil and natural gas,

, and

. The city of Shreveport was once a major player in the national oil industry. Standard Oil of Louisiana and United Gas Corporation were headquartered in the city until the 1960s and 1980s. Since the downturn in the oil industry,

and

, and

have been rising industries since the early 2000s.

Filming Cinematography () is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to focus reflected light from objects into a real image that is transferred to some image sensor or light-s ...

has also been a prevalent industry in the metropolitan area. The largest companies operating within the metropolitan area are

, Calumet Specialty Products Partners, SWEPCO, AT&T Mobility and Cricket Wireless,

, and

. AT&T, Chase, and Regions have regional offices within Shreveport's downtown area. The

Tyler, Texas Tyler, officially the City of Tyler, is a city in and the county seat of Smith County, Texas, United States. As of 2020, the population is 105,995. Tyler was the List of municipalities in Texas, 38th most populous city in Texas (as well as the m ...

-based

operates numerous Super 1 Foods and Brookshire's supermarkets in the area. From 2013-2014, Greater Shreveport had a

gross metropolitan product Gross metropolitan product (GMP) is a monetary measure that calculates the total economic output of a statistical metropolitan unit during a specific time period. It represents the market value of all final goods and services produced within the u ...

of nearly $23.6 billion and negative growth rate of 5.4 percent. Its gross metropolitan product had been declining since 2011 to a low of $19 billion in 2016. In 2018, its gross metropolitan product rebounded to $23.7 billion. Following statewide economic recovery trends, the Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area was expected to gain at least 5,000 jobs by the third quarter of 2021. As of 2021, its gross metropolitan product grew to $24.1 billion.

Media

The principal cities of Shreveport and Bossier City have their own newspapers, '' The Shreveport Times'' and '' Bossier Press-Tribune'', respectively. Other major publications in the metropolitan area include ''The Barksdale Warrior, The Shreveport Sun, Caddo Citizen, SB Magazine, The Forum Newsweekly, City Lights, The Inquisitor'' and ''The Shreveport Catalyst''. The central city of Shreveport is home to several radio stations, particularly KWKH and

KEEL The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element of a watercraft, important for stability. On some sailboats, it may have a fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The keel laying, laying of the keel is often ...

. The three commercial television outlets for the metropolis are KSLA (

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

), founded in 1954;

KTBS-TV KTBS-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Shreveport, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The station is owned by the locally based KTBS, LLC (owned by the Wray Properties Trust, which is managed b ...

( ABC), founded in 1955; and KTAL-TV, which arrived in Shreveport in September 1961 as the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

station. KTBS was an NBC station, with occasional ABC programs, from 1955–1961, when it switched affiliation to ABC. KTAL, formerly known as KCMC of

Texarkana The Texarkana metropolitan statistical area (MSA), as defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget, is a two-county region anchored by the Twin cities (geographical proximity), twin cities of Texarkana, Texas (population 37,33 ...

, was a CBS outlet prior to conversion to NBC, when it began to cover Shreveport as well as

Television

Radio

AM stations FM stations

Education

The Shreveport–Bossier City area is home to several colleges: among them, the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

-affiliated Centenary College of Louisiana (originally founded in the East Feliciana Parish town of Jackson in 1825, eventually relocating to Shreveport in 1908), Louisiana Baptist University and Theological Seminary (founded in 1973), Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Shreveport (opened in 1969 as the only

medical school A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, professional school, or forms a part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, ...

in northern Louisiana) and one of the largest nursing schools in northern Louisiana, the Northwestern State University College of Nursing (opened in 1949) as well as satellite campuses of

(opened as a two-year institution in 1967, and expanded into a four-year college in 1976), and

Southern University Southern University and A&M College (Southern University, Southern, SUBR or SU) is a Public university, public historically black colleges and universities, historically black land-grant university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. It i ...

(opened in 1967 with a two-year

associate's degree An associate degree or associate's degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of academic qualification above a high school diploma and below a bachelor's degree. ...

program).

Transportation

The Shreveport Regional Airport is the major airport for the metropolitan region. Interstate 20 and

Interstate 49 Interstate 49 (I-49) is a north–south Interstate Highway with multiple segments. The original portion is entirely within Louisiana with an additional signed portion extending from Interstate 220 (Louisiana), I-220 in Shreveport, Louisian ...

are also major highways connecting the metro area to others including the DFW metroplex in Texas and

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shreveport - Bossier City metropolitan area Geography of Bossier Parish, Louisiana Geography of Caddo Parish, Louisiana Geography of DeSoto Parish, Louisiana

Geography

Communities

Cities

Towns

Villages

Unincorporated areas

Census-designated places

Other communities

Demographics

Economy

Media

Television

Radio

Education

Transportation

See also

References