Community Foundation of North Louisiana (CFNLA) announces the release of Community Counts 2025: Data for a Brighter Tomorrow. Community Counts, published by CFNLA since 2008, serves as a report card on the quality of life for the Shreveport-Bossier Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). Publicly available data is presented in six categories: Population, Economic Well-Being, Human Capital, Health, Social Environment, and Physical Environment.
The report, researched and compiled by Dr. Dave N. Norris and Dr. Amanda M. Norris, uses 41 indicators to evaluate and rank Shreveport-Bossier alongside 10 peer communities. In this year’s report, Shreveport-Bossier improved or held its ranking on 30 of 41 indicators, the best year-over-year improvement by that measure since 2015.
Community Counts aims to equip local leaders and organizations with vital information to monitor trends in economic and social indicators that affect our communities’ well-being. While the report does not fully explain the underlying factors of these trends, it serves as a pivotal tool for galvanizing community efforts towards addressing and resolving significant local challenges.
On September 24, CEO Kristi Gustavson and Director of Community Investment Kate Pedrotty presented an overview of Community Counts data at the Center for Medical Education at LSU Health Shreveport. Gustavson also updated attendees on the progress of CFNLA’s Early Childhood Education Scholarship Initiative, which has leveraged more than $25 million in public and private funds to provide scholarships for children ages birth to 3 to attend high-quality Type III childcare programs in Caddo Parish.
The Community Counts presentation also featured a data visualization installation by Callie Dean, a Shreveport writer, researcher, and musician and member of CFNLA’s Women’s Philanthropy Network. This interactive display allowed participants to envision the demographic makeup of the Shreveport-Bossier MSA as if it consisted of just 100 individuals. Attendees were provided cards tracking the life journey of a hypothetical child, allowing them to grasp the real-life implications of the data presented.
Key findings from the 2025 Community Counts report include:
- 28.0% of families with children under 5 years live below the poverty threshold.
- In both owner-occupied and rental housing, Shreveport-Bossier has seen an improvement in housing affordability over the past decade with a reduction in the percentage of households spending more than 35% of their income on housing costs.
- Shreveport-Bossier ranks 3rd among peer communities in the percentage of 3- and 4-year-olds enrolled in school (49.3%). National research demonstrates that children who attend preschool are more kindergarten-ready and have more long-term academic success than their peers who remain at home during this crucial period of early learning.
- High school cohort graduation rates have risen more than 10 percentage points in the last decade, but 11.9% of 16-to-19-year-olds remain “idle:” neither enrolled in school, employed, nor active in the labor force.
- 7.3% of the Shreveport-Bossier MSA population lacks health insurance, which ranks 4th among the peer communities.
The data presented in Community Counts consistently reveals a relationship between poverty, education, and economic well-being within the Shreveport-Bossier MSA. In response, CFNLA is committed to implementing long-term strategies to help families break the cycle of poverty, focusing on quality early childhood education and evidence-based educational programs for at-risk students.
To access the complete data report, please visit cfnla.org/data.