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Demographics of Bogalusa, LA
Affluence Level in Bogalusa, LA
A low-income area with significant economic hardship. Household wealth and educational attainment are well below national averages.
People of Bogalusa, LA
The people of Bogalusa, Louisiana, today form a majority-Black city of roughly 10,500 residents, marked by a deep working-class identity rooted in the timber and paper industries that built the town. With a population density of about 1,100 people per square mile, Bogalusa is a compact, historically industrial city where nearly half the residents are Black (47.0%), about four in ten are White (39.7%), and Hispanic residents make up 8.7% of the population. The city’s distinctive identity is shaped by its origin as a company town for the Great Southern Lumber Company, a legacy that still influences neighborhood boundaries and community pride. Only 2.1% of residents are foreign-born, and just 14.0% hold a college degree, reflecting a population that has long relied on blue-collar employment in the region’s manufacturing sector.
How the city was settled and grew
Bogalusa was founded in 1906 as a planned company town by the Great Southern Lumber Company, which selected the site for its abundant yellow pine forests and rail access. The original population was drawn almost entirely by the promise of steady work in the sawmill and later the paper mill, which became the world’s largest pine mill at its peak. The first wave of settlers were White laborers and managers from the rural South, many from Mississippi and Alabama, who built homes in what is now known as Old Town, the original residential district near the mill. A second wave of Black workers arrived from surrounding parishes and states, settling in the East Side neighborhood, which developed as the city’s historically African American community, with its own schools, churches, and businesses. By the 1920s, the company had constructed segregated housing, with White workers concentrated in West Side neighborhoods and Black workers in East Side, a pattern that persisted for decades. The third major wave came during the 1940s and 1950s, when the mill expanded and attracted additional White and Black laborers from rural Louisiana, filling out neighborhoods like Poplarville and Pinecrest, which remain predominantly White and Black, respectively, today.
Modern era (post-1965)
After the 1965 Hart-Cellar Act, Bogalusa saw little direct international immigration, but the city experienced significant domestic demographic shifts. The White population began a steady decline after the 1970s, as the paper mill automated and jobs disappeared, prompting many White families to move to nearby suburbs like Franklinton or out of state. Meanwhile, the Black population grew as a share of the total, rising from roughly 35% in 1970 to 47% by 2020, with many Black families remaining in the East Side and Pinecrest neighborhoods. Hispanic residents, now 8.7% of the population, began arriving in the 1990s and 2000s, primarily from Mexico and Central America, drawn by low-cost housing and remaining mill-related jobs. These newer arrivals have concentrated in the Old Town area, where rental housing is most affordable, and in scattered pockets near the industrial corridor. The East/Southeast Asian population remains negligible at 0.3%, and the Indian-subcontinent population is effectively zero, reflecting the city’s lack of professional-sector employment that typically attracts those groups. The college-educated share of just 14.0% underscores that Bogalusa has not attracted the knowledge-economy migrants that have reshaped larger Louisiana cities like Baton Rouge or New Orleans.
The future
The population of Bogalusa is likely to continue its slow decline, as the city lost roughly 15% of its residents between 2010 and 2020, a trend driven by out-migration of younger adults seeking better opportunities. The White population is projected to shrink further, while the Black share may stabilize or grow slightly, and the Hispanic share is expected to rise gradually as families already in the area have children and attract limited chain migration. The city is not tribalizing into distinct new enclaves but rather consolidating into its existing historic neighborhoods: East Side remains overwhelmingly Black, West Side and Poplarville are increasingly White but aging, and Old Town is becoming more Hispanic. No significant immigrant communities are growing from Asia or the Indian subcontinent, and the foreign-born share of 2.1% is unlikely to rise above 5% in the next decade. The next 10 to 20 years will likely see Bogalusa become a smaller, older, and more heavily Black and Hispanic city, with the paper mill continuing to anchor the economy but offering fewer jobs than in the past.
For someone moving in now, Bogalusa is becoming a quieter, more affordable, and more racially diverse working-class town, but one with limited economic dynamism and a shrinking tax base. The city’s future depends on whether it can attract new industry or retain its younger residents, neither of which is guaranteed. Newcomers should expect a tight-knit community where neighborhood identity still reflects the original company-town layout, and where the cost of living is low but opportunities for professional advancement are scarce.
* Values derived from national, state, county, city and local statistics and may differ in a specific area. Last updated: 2026-05-01T13:51:23.000Z
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