If you're moving to New Orleans, here's the short version: learn the directions, sign up for emergency alerts, get your Louisiana license within 30 days, and say yes to every invitation for the first year. The city rewards people who show up.
Blake has a name for people like you. When he moved back home after college, a lot of the people he met who loved the city as much as he did were what he called Nola Converts. They visited once, felt like they were home, and made the move. In his words, "These folks knew the city much deeper than I did." So welcome. Here's what nobody puts in the relocation brochure.
How Do Directions Work in New Orleans?
Throw out north, south, east and west. Nobody uses them, and the river bends so much that they'd be wrong half the time anyway. Here, everything is either toward the river or toward the lake, uptown or downtown. "It's on the lake side of Magazine, downtown of Napoleon" is a perfectly normal sentence, and in about six months you'll be saying it too.
This one was so central to living here that Patrick, one of the people who built Dirty Coast with Blake, pushed for a design about it early on. It's still on our shelves as River. Lake. Uptown. Downtown., and the keychain version works as a pocket cheat sheet.
While you're at it, the strip of grass in the middle of the boulevard is the neutral ground, not the median. You make groceries; you don't buy them. And "where y'at" is a greeting, not a question about your location.
What Should I Know Before Moving to New Orleans?
Hurricane season is part of the calendar
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. Most years it means a few nervous weeks of watching the cone on TV, and a lot of locals have a ritual for it. Your first move should be signing up for the city's NOLA Ready emergency alerts: text NOLAREADY to 77295. Then make a real plan for where you'd go if you had to leave, and keep enough gas in the car during peak season that you're not sitting in a line when everyone else remembers at once.
Water is the main character
New Orleans sits mostly below sea level, and the city runs on pumps. A hard afternoon thunderstorm can flood a street in under an hour, so learn which roads near you go underwater and park on higher ground when the sky turns green. When you're shopping for a place, ask about flood history and flood zones. Standard homeowners and renters policies generally don't cover flood damage, so price a separate flood policy before you sign anything.
We put the city's relationship with water on a hat: Strange Things Happen Below Sea Level. It reads like a joke until your first summer.
The streets will test you
The potholes here are big enough to have personalities. People decorate them and occasionally plant banana trees in them. We've been making fun of the city's infrastructure for years, and Unknown Potholes, our spin on a famous album cover, is one of the ones locals recognize instantly. Drive slowly, especially at night and after rain, and budget for an alignment.
The humidity is real
Summer runs roughly April through October, and the air feels like a wet towel for most of it. You'll stop using your blow dryer and start carrying a spare shirt. Locals plan errands around the 4 o'clock thunderstorm. There's a reason one of our designs is called Died of Humidity, and there's a reason it's sleeveless.
The Paperwork Nobody Mentions
A few things to handle in your first month:
- Your driver's license. Louisiana gives new residents 30 days to transfer an out-of-state license through the Office of Motor Vehicles. Go early in the morning, bring everything on their list, and bring a book.
- The homestead exemption. If you buy a home and live in it, Louisiana's homestead exemption takes the first $75,000 of its value off your property taxes. It isn't automatic. You apply through the Orleans Parish Assessor, and it's easy to miss in the chaos of a move.
How Do I Actually Become a New Orleanian?
This is the part that matters most, and nobody can do it for you.
Go to the neighborhood bar more than once. Learn your neighbors' names, because in New Orleans they will absolutely learn yours. Find a second line on a Sunday afternoon (WWOZ's calendar is the place to look) and walk with it for a few blocks. Say yes when someone invites you to a crawfish boil, and stay late enough to help clean up.
Learn the calendar, too, because the city runs on one that has nothing to do with the rest of the country. Football season starts in the heat and runs into Carnival. Carnival season runs from Twelfth Night to Mardi Gras day. Spring is festival season, summer is snowball season, and every one of those has its own rules you'll pick up from your neighbors faster than from any guide.
During parade season, know that the parade route will change how you get home for weeks, and that the neutral ground side and the sidewalk side are two very different experiences. Don't park on the route, and don't touch anybody's ladder.
And eat. The fastest way into this city is through its kitchens. Red beans on Monday, and a plate from the corner spot that's been there since before you were born. There's a reason we made a shirt called New Orleans Is My Favorite Restaurant. It's the most accurate review of the city anybody has written.
A Few Honest Warnings
New Orleans isn't for everyone, and it's better to know the rough edges going in. Things run on their own schedule, and city services can be frustrating. Insurance and utilities can also cost more than you expect. If you need everything to work perfectly, it will wear on you.
But the people who stay tend to stay for good, and they usually can't explain it to anyone back home. The joy here shows up in regular life, like a brass band on a Tuesday or a neighbor who comes by with a plate. That old line we put on a shirt still says it best: so far behind, we're ahead.
Welcome Home
When you're ready to look the part, our If You Can Read This You're A Local shirt lays out the street names you'll spend your first year mispronouncing. Come see us on Magazine Street or Chartres Street and tell us you just moved here. We'll point you to our favorite po-boy.
You're a New Orleanian now. Act like it.
Moving to New Orleans FAQ
What do I need to do when I move to New Orleans?
Transfer your driver's license within 30 days, sign up for NOLA Ready emergency alerts by texting NOLAREADY to 77295, and if you buy a home, apply for the homestead exemption through the Orleans Parish Assessor.
Do I need flood insurance in New Orleans?
Standard homeowners and renters policies generally don't cover flood damage, so most residents should price a separate flood policy. Check the flood zone and flood history of any property before you rent or buy.
When is hurricane season in New Orleans?
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. Have an evacuation plan ready before it starts.
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