Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana and its second-largest city. Located on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish. As its capital city, Baton Rouge is the political hub of Louisiana. It is the second-largest city in the state, with an estimated population of 227,715 in 2016. The metropolitan area surrounding the city, known as Greater Baton Rouge, is also the second-largest in Louisiana, with a population of 830,480 people as of 2015. The urban area has around 594,309
Louisiana State University and LSU Health Sciences Center Shreveport. The University of New Orleans was a member of Louisiana State University from 1958 until 1963 as LSUNO and under its own name 1963 until 2011 when it was transferred to the University of Louisiana System by the Louisiana Legislature. In addition, LSU owns and operates the J. Bennett Johnston, Sr. Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices (CAMD), which is a 1.3 GeV synchrotron radiation facility. Louisiana State University is ranked 140th in the "national universities" category and 70th among public universities by the 2019 U.S. News & World Report ranking of U.S. colleges.