Shotgun House Statistics: How Many Survive in New Orleans, and What They're Worth

No current public agency dataset answers that question citywide, which is why the district survey comparison is built from documented per-district reports rather than a single official count. The City publishes parcel, zoning, permit, historic-district and address data, but none of those systems provides a complete, current architectural-type field that identifies every single, double, converted or camelback shotgun.

The strongest numerical evidence comes from official architectural surveys prepared for National Register and local historic-district work. Those surveys are valuable because trained reviewers classified buildings, but they cover defined districts, use different dates and methods, and do not automatically update after demolition, relocation, construction or major alteration.

That distinction is essential: a historic survey count documents what the survey found within its boundary at that time. It is not proof that every recorded building survives in the same form today.

The four clearest large-district sources report the following figures. They are presented as the source describes them, without converting the results into a current inventory claim.

Assessor and listing systems organize property for taxation and transactions, not for a complete architectural census. They may record address, parcel, use, building area, year, price and unit information without consistently identifying the underlying shotgun form.

A double shotgun illustrates the classification problem. One exterior form can contain two current units, one converted residence or another documented use. A camelback may be classified separately in an architectural survey. A listing may use the word shotgun in marketing copy even when the public property-type field says house or multi-family.

A reliable modern count would need a parcel-level classification layer that reconciles photographs or survey records with municipal address, parcel and demolition data. The shotgun-house identifier, one of the site's research tools, explains the visible typology clues, while the anatomy glossary defines details such as galleries and transoms. Neither substitutes for a citywide professional survey.

The best public price answer is a dated market distribution, not one permanent number. In the site's August 14, 2026 analysis of 52 priced homes surfaced by Zillow's public Shotgun Style search, the median asking price was $267,000.

The sample ranged from $45,000 to $725,000, and the middle 50% of asking prices fell between approximately $199,750 and $380,500. About 67% of the priced sample was categorized as multi-family and about 33% as a house or single-family property.

Those are active asking prices, not completed sale prices or appraisals. They also describe a changing public result set rather than every shotgun house in New Orleans. The live methodology, distribution and ZIP-code breakdown appear in the New Orleans shotgun-home market report.

Yes, but only after the houses are classified consistently. A neighborhood median made from all homes would not answer what shotguns cost, while a median made from two or three keyword-matched listings could look precise without being stable.

The neighborhood guides therefore use the same dated citywide shotgun sample as a common benchmark and identify the documented local building stock separately. They do not publish a neighborhood-specific shotgun median unless the sample is large enough, the boundary is explicit and the building form has been checked.

This keeps Bywater, Faubourg Marigny, Tremé, Mid-City, Irish Channel, Algiers Point and Holy Cross comparable without implying that every house within a neighborhood belongs in one valuation set.

For a current comparison, begin with the dated market methodology and citywide distribution, define the neighborhood boundary, verify each house's architectural form and current use, and report both the sample size and date. If too few genuinely comparable properties remain, publish the records and limitations rather than a standalone neighborhood number.

A defensible update would classify buildings at the parcel or municipal-address level, preserve the source for each classification and publish the uncertainty rather than hiding it.

Until that work is complete, the correct editorial choice is to publish the official district evidence and its limits. Readers researching one address can use the permit-history workflow and City Property Viewer rather than applying a citywide estimate to an individual property.