Gretna vs Metairie

A side-by-side comparison of Gretna and Metairie: population, income, housing, and more.

Gretna and Metairie are places in Louisiana. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Metairie has the higher population (138,995 vs 17,468 in Gretna). Metairie has the higher median household income ($73,256 vs $46,045 in Gretna). Metairie has the higher median home value ($308,900 vs $242,600 in Gretna).

Population, income & housing

	Gretna	Metairie
Population	17,468	138,995
Median age	37.3 yrs	41.5 yrs
Median household income	$46,045	$73,256
Median home value	$242,600	$308,900
Median gross rent	$1,017	$1,159
Housing units	8,258	65,791
Homeownership rate	48.6%	61.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.0%	39.9%
Unemployment rate	6.9%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Gretna	Metairie
Population	17,774 → 17,468 (-1.7%)	142,135 → 138,995 (-2.2%)
Median household income	$47,244 → $46,045 (-2.5%)	$59,346 → $73,256 (+23.4%)
Median home value	$171,800 → $242,600 (+41.2%)	$236,900 → $308,900 (+30.4%)
Median gross rent	$883 → $1,017 (+15.2%)	$952 → $1,159 (+21.7%)

Gretna

Population

17,77417,468

Median household income

$47,244$46,045

Median home value

$171,800$242,600

Median gross rent

$883$1,017

Metairie

Population

142,135138,995

Median household income

$59,346$73,256

Median home value

$236,900$308,900

Median gross rent

$952$1,159

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Gretna	Metairie
Under 5	7.6%	6.1%
5 to 17	14.9%	14.4%
18 to 24	8.6%	6.6%
25 to 34	15.1%	13.7%
35 to 44	14.9%	13.6%
45 to 54	10.9%	10.7%
55 to 64	13.2%	13.7%
65 to 74	7.8%	11.9%
75 and over	7.0%	9.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Gretna	Metairie
White (non-Hispanic)	38.9%	64.6%
Black or African American	32.0%	10.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.1%
Asian	2.5%	3.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.6%
Two or more races	3.0%	3.4%
Hispanic or Latino	22.8%	17.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Gretna	Metairie
No high school diploma	24.5%	8.2%
High school graduate	28.0%	24.2%
Some college or associate's	21.5%	27.7%
Bachelor's degree	14.9%	24.8%
Graduate or professional degree	11.1%	15.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Gretna	Metairie
Drove alone	74.4%	76.1%
Carpooled	13.6%	9.5%
Public transit	1.4%	0.7%
Walked	1.1%	2.4%
Bicycle	1.6%	0.1%
Worked from home	7.9%	10.1%
Other means	0.1%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Gretna	Metairie
1-unit, detached	55.6%	60.9%
1-unit, attached	6.6%	4.5%
2 to 4 units	15.5%	10.1%
5 to 19 units	15.2%	9.5%
20 or more units	5.7%	14.5%
Mobile home & other	1.3%	0.6%

Poverty & households

	Gretna	Metairie
Poverty rate	25.0%	12.7%
Average household size	2.20	2.27
Mean commute (minutes)	24	22
Median year structure built	1966	1972