The latest census provides a sometimes surprising look at city population ratings.
New York City remains the largest city in the United States, with a population of 8.8 million. Then comes Los Angeles (3.9 million), Chicago (2.7 million), and Houston (2.3 million). Rounding out the top five is Phoenix (1.6 million). Other cities in the top 10 are Philadelphia (1.6 million), San Antonio and San Diego (each about 1.4 million), Dallas (1.3 million), and San Jose (1 million).
Note that seven of the top 10 cities are located in the Southwest, two in the Northeast, and one in the Midwest.
Since 1970, New York has remained No. 1, but Chicago and Los Angeles have switched second and third place. Two cities have fallen out of the top five: Philadelphia, then fourth and currently sixth, and Detroit, dropping from fifth to 27th. Phoenix shot up from 20th to fifth.
The immense growth of Texas is apparent in its urban centers. It now has four cities with populations of about 1 million or more: Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, and Austin. The biggest state, California, has three cities in this category: Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Jose.
Among major cities with at least 15% population growth between 2010 and 2020 are Fort Worth (up 24%), Austin (up 22%), Seattle (up 21%), Charlotte (up 20%), Denver (up 19%), Omaha (up 19%), Atlanta (up 19%), Oklahoma City (up 17%), Raleigh (up 16%), and Jacksonville (up 16%). Six cities grew by about 15%: Bakersfield, California; Columbus, Ohio; Colorado Springs; Nashville; Washington, D.C.; and Mesa, Arizona.
Big cities with the least population growth were Chicago (up 2%) and Los Angeles (up 3%). Cities that suffered population losses included Detroit (down 10%), Baltimore (down 6%), Milwaukee (down 3%), and Memphis (down 2%).
Austin, with 962,000 people, has zoomed ahead of places we once thought of as much bigger, such as San Francisco (874,000), Washington, D.C. (690,000), Boston (676,000), Detroit (639,000), and Atlanta (499,000). In 1970, Austin didn’t even make the top 50 list. Now it’s nipping at the top 10.
Historically, some cities have seen big changes. In 1840, New York, Baltimore, and New Orleans were the nation’s three largest cities. While New York remains No. 1, Baltimore is now 30th, and New Orleans, which suffered significant population loss after Hurricane Katrina, is 53rd.
Considering urban sprawl and the rapid growth of connecting suburbs, city population data don’t tell the whole story. A fuller view of a city’s economic power and cultural influence is measured by population data based on metropolitan areas that each city dominates.
Metropolitan New York, for example, has 20.1 million people — more than twice that of the city proper. The LA area has 13.2 million people, more than three times the city. The entire Dallas-Ft. Worth area has 7.6 million people compared to a total of 2.2 million in its two dominant cities. Greater Washington has a population of 6.4 million, nine times the District of Columbia itself. Atlanta sits in the middle of a metro area with 6.1 million people, 12 times bigger than the city.
Just as the largest cities demand recognition, so do the smallest. For example, Monowi, Nebraska, has a population of one. The sole resident is both the town mayor and librarian; she granted herself a liquor license to run the local tavern.
My father’s birthplace – Taft, Louisiana – has a population of 61. Perhaps importance isn’t always about size.
Ron Faucheux is a nonpartisan political analyst based in New Orleans and publisher of LunchtimePolitics.com, a newsletter on polls. Population data used in this piece is based on incorporated places from the U.S. Census on April 1, 2020.
