The city of Bay Saint Louis is in the state of Mississippi. It is the county seat of Hancock County and is part of the Gulfport-Biloxi Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population of Bay Saint Louis City is approximately 9,260. In the early 1800s, French colonists moved to Bay Saint Louis, where they built a settlement and brought Louisiana Creole culture with them. This ethnic group dominated the city's population, which was later joined by white colonists.
When Hurricane Camille made landfall in the area, Bay St. Louis suffered from a storm surge of 28 feet. At that time, it was a high tide. The city's population was primarily middle class and educated. Saint Stanislaus College, the premier Catholic high school in the Southeastern United States, was located here. As of November 2010, Saint Stanislaus College is expected to reopen in Bay St. Louis.
Blacks moved out of the city in the late 1950s. They moved to new neighborhoods and followed their children to new schools. The city's black population decreased to less than 20%. The child poverty rate was 37.5%, and the city closed many neighborhoods. The African American population in Bay Saint Louis City is mostly concentrated in the north. Its largest ethnic group is Mexican, accounting for about 2.2% of the total population.