The population of New Orleans was steadily decreasing, between the years of 2000 to 2005, 30,000 (6%) of the population left New Orleans in search of a better life (4) . The population decline shows us that before Hurricane Katrina residents were already thinking about leaving the city, some factors pushing them away from the city include poverty and unemployment (5). According to the 2005 US Census Bureau, approximately 23% of residents lived in poverty, this may be a result of the unemployment rate of nearly 12% (5). With an unemployment rate double the national standard and nearly a quarter of the population living in poverty, the city of New Orleans had many push factors against resolving its pre-Hurricane Katrina population decline. At the time of the storm, nearly 400,000 residents were displaced from homes too close to safe areas or other states. The population remaining in the city dropped to a few thousand (6). A month after the disaster, when levee breaches were repaired and flood water was pumped out of the city, residents were allowed to return to what remained of their homes. The first reliable estimate of New Orleans' population after Hurricane Katrina was an "American Community Survey." The survey predicted that about a third or 158,000 of the population would return by early 2006. By mid-2006 the city