Ethnic heterogeneity is prevalent in the Delta region of Louisiana. After World War II, the Delta Region includes people of French, Spanish, Italian, and Chinese origin.

Blacks constitute about 32.5% of the population in 2000 , the 2nd-highest percentage among the 50 states.  They include descendants of "free people of color," some of whom were craftsmen and rural property owners before the Civil War. Blacks of mixed blood are locally referred to as the “colored Creoles". The black population of New Orleans constituted 67.3% of the city's residents in 2000. New Orleans elected its first black mayor, Ernest N. "Dutch" Morial, in 1977.

Two groups that have been highly identified with the culture of Louisiana are Creoles and Acadians also called Cajuns both descendants of early French immigrants.

Although Acadians have intermingled with Spaniards and Germans, they still speak a French patois and retain a distinctive culture and cuisine of its own. In 2000, 179,739 residents claimed Acadian/Cajun ancestry. In 2000, 107,738, or 2.4% of the population, were Hispanic or Latino, 25,477 American Indians, 24,358 Vietnamese.