In the most extensive population study since the deadly storm, the Louisiana Public Health Institute estimated 200,665 people live in Orleans Parish, which comprises the city proper, compared with a 2000 U.S. Census number of 484,674.

The metropolitan area, which also includes Jefferson and hard-hit St. Bernard parishes, has a population of 666,122, three-quarters of the pre-storm number, the survey estimates.

The institute conducted the work between June and October on behalf of the Louisiana Recovery Authority and Louisiana Dept. of Health and Hospitals.

Surveys, being released for numerous parishes this week, have wide margins of error, ranging from 9.8 percent to 14.4 percent, but the data is still the most reliable to date, Louisiana Recovery Authority spokeswoman Natalie Wyeth said.

"We are facing some unique challenges as far as surveying goes — being able to reach people when they are home and that kind of thing," Wyeth said.

Results will be used by officials to determine where clinics, hospitals and other public services will be needed as south Louisiana recovers from America’s costliest natural disaster.

Hurricane Katrina slammed the U.S. Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, triggering levee failures that caused flooding in 80 percent of the city famous for jazz music and fine cuisine.

Contrasts among neighborhoods are stark. Rebuilding is well under way in some, while huge swathes of the city remain nearly deserted with homes gutted and thick weeds choking lawns.

SLOWER PROGRESS THAN EXPECTED

In September, Mayor Ray Nagin and an official charged with bringing evacuees home predicted the city would have 300,000 residents by the end of the year as rebuilding grants began to flow to homeowners and public housing units were renovated.

But progress has been slower than expected, and frustration is building many residents and community activists.

Officials from Nagin’s office were not immediately available for comment.

In a separate study of attitudes that may bode ill for population growth, the University of New Orleans (UNO) found almost one-third of New Orleanians surveyed said they were very likely or somewhat likely to move from the city within the next two years.

The top concerns among the small sample of people surveyed are rising crime rates and the slow pace of government help.

"The message of our survey is that there’s a window of time where you have a chance to keep people in the city … to convince them, to give them the confidence to stay," UNO political science professor Susan Howell said.

Among other parishes, according to the state data, Jefferson staged the largest population recovery with 439,968 people, 97 percent of the pre-Katrina number.

An estimated 25,489 people live in St. Bernard parish, just east of New Orleans where virtually every structure sustained damage, or 38 percent of the 2000 census.

The state survey, which had input from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and U.S. Census Bureau, also confirmed New Orleans’ changed racial makeup since the storm.

In 2000, blacks made up 67 percent of the population and whites accounted for 28 percent. The split is now 47 percent black and 43 percent white.