Metairie (local pronunciation /ˈmɛtəri/) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States and is a major part of the New Orleans Metropolitan Area. Metairie is the largest community in Jefferson Parish. It is an unincorporated area that would be larger than most of the state's cities if it were incorporated. The zip codes that serve the community are 70001-70006. Métairie is the French language term for a tenant farm which paid the landlord with a share of the produce (sharecropping); this was the main activity of original French denizens of the area in the 1760s, and indeed, was true of the majority of the community's inhabitants until the 1910s.