Louisiana is a Southern state in the United States of America. The capital of Louisiana is Baton Rouge, and the most populous city is New Orleans based on recent population data which found the city's population increased by 14 percent or 32,000 more people since the Census Bureau's count in July 2006 to bring the population to 255,000 people which is more than half pre-Katrina residents within the city proper area over the 229,000 in the Baton Rouge proper area. The largest parish by population is Jefferson Parish and largest by land area is Terrebonne Parish (Louisiana is the only state that has parishes instead of counties). The New Orleans metropolitan area is Louisiana's largest metro area.