Bossier Draws New Residents From Across The River
But not the Red River:
Psst. Did you hear? Caddo residents, specifically those from Shreveport, are packing up the family homestead and heading in droves to Bossier Parish. Fed up with the urban life, high crime and poor schools to name a few ills, they’re intent on living “la vida loca” across the Red River.
At least that’s been the scuttlebutt heard for years on the street.
Yet an e-mail that arrived this week in my in-box seems to indicate something else.
In 2006, Bossier Parish actually lost more residents to other parishes statewide than it gained from those same parishes, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2007 American Community Survey released in August.
Yup, you read that right. That’s a net loss. More interesting, in-state migration for Caddo was a scratch. It gained as many residents from other parishes as it lost to them.
That should not surprise anyone other than people who live in Bossier. The Bossier-as-the-place-to-be myth is something Bossierites created to cope with the fact that they live in such a dump.
Anyway, the article goes on to say that while Bossier loses residents to other parishes, Bossier Parish has actually increased its population by a couple thousand, due to “out-of-state and international migration.” No one interviewed in the article will touch that one. Knowing a few Bossierites, though, I think the source of that international migration is a big reason Bossier loses residents to other parishes. The faces are always whiter on the other side of the parish line.
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The NorLa Blog 
October 17, 2008 at 2:14 pm
I could be nice and say SB Land is great no matter which side of the river you pick! But in all honesty I wouldn’t live anywhere but Highland. I am fascinated with Highway 80 with its history and stretches of bleakness and one day would like to write a screenplay based in the area but I wouldn’t want to live there.
I currently work as a dealer at a local casino. Whenever I ask “Where is everybody from?” My next question, if they answer, “Here,” is “Do you live on the good side of the river or the bad?” They usually pause and look a little shocked and reveal where they reside. Bossier folks will almost leap up and shout “The good side, Bossier.” I then have to say “you mean the boring side, you couldn’t pay me to live in that hell hole, too much like Texas.” Of course, I say it with nicer words since I do make my living from tips… but the sentiment is the same.
Slogans for SB Land “Shreveport -Austin for the rest of us.” “Shreveport – affordable Austin and “Bossier -someone’s got to live there…grateful it’s not me.”