The city of Houma (pronounced /homˈɑ/) is the parish seat of Terrebonne Parish, in the U.S. state of Louisiana and the hub of a metropolitan area of over 200,000 residents. The city's powers of government have been absorbed by the parish, which is now run by the Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government. The population was 32,393 at the 2000 census. There are many unincorporated areas adjacent to the city of Houma; the largest, Bayou Cane, is an urbanized area commonly referred to by locals as Houma but is not included in the 2000 census count, and is in fact a separate census-designated place. For this reason the actual population of the Houma area is estimated to be significantly greater than the census figure.

As of the census of 2000, there were 32,393 people, 11,634 households, and 8,283 families residing in the city. The population density was 891.4/km² (2,308.5/mi²). There were 12,514 housing units at an average density of 344.4/km² (891.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 67.46% White, 26.12% African American, 3.45% Native American, 0.71% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.68% from other races, and 1.57% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.76% of the population.