100 year metro population trends

[goat314]

St. Louis is a major underachiever. Probably more than any other metro.

[KerrTown]

Originally Posted by R1070

The 2010 numbers don't seem right. DFW had 6,426,214 at the 2010 census.

Houston had 5.9 million in 2010. Philadelphia, not Miami, edged out Houston by only a few hundred thousand. Miami was towards the bottom of the top 10 along with Atlanta and Boston.

[manitopiaaa]

^^ It appears to be urban area since Washington DC is still listed as under 5 million

[YIMBY]

Originally Posted by pnwguy2

I found this site that offers decades of metro populations. One that stuck out was 1920, as we are approaching 100 years from that census.

Compare to 2010: (x1000)

Rank Metro Area Pop
1. New York 20009
2. Los Angeles 15750
3. Chicago 9023
4. San Francisco 6828
5. Philadelphia 6003
6. Dallas 5685
7. Miami 5513
8. Houston 5382
9. Atlanta 4743
10. Washington 4697
11. Boston 4407
12. Detroit 4160
13. Phoenix 3863
14. Seattle 3446
15. San Diego 2985
16. Denver 2716
17. Minneapolis 2651
18. Baltimore 2497
19. Tampa 2442
20. St. Louis 2246

Biggest winners: Los Angeles #11 to #2, San Francisco #9 to #4, Dallas --to #6, Miami --to #7, Houston --to #8, Atlanta --to #9

Biggest losers: St. Louis #6 to #20, Cleveland #7 to --, Detroit #5 to #12, Pittsburgh #8 to --, Baltimore #10 to #18.

Source: Historical Metropolitan Populations of the United States - Peakbagger.com

In terms of metro population, neither San Diego nor Denver have passed Minneapolis.

[STLgasm]

Originally Posted by pnwguy2

I found this site that offers decades of metro populations. One that stuck out was 1920, as we are approaching 100 years from that census.

Here is how it looked almost 100 years ago: (x1000)

1. New York 7041
2. Chicago 2859
3. Philadelphia 2072
4. Boston 1366
5. Detroit 1071
6. St. Louis 859
7. Cleveland 834
8. Pittsburgh 775
9. San Francisco 771
10. Baltimore 753
11. Los Angeles 682
12. Minneapolis 626
13. Buffalo 539
14. Milwaukee 478
15. Cincinnati 470
16. Washington 467
17. Kansas City 455
18. New Orleans 393
19. Seattle 334
20. Indianapolis 323

Compare to 2010: (x1000)

Rank Metro Area Pop
1. New York 20009
2. Los Angeles 15750
3. Chicago 9023
4. San Francisco 6828
5. Philadelphia 6003
6. Dallas 5685
7. Miami 5513
8. Houston 5382
9. Atlanta 4743
10. Washington 4697
11. Boston 4407
12. Detroit 4160
13. Phoenix 3863
14. Seattle 3446
15. San Diego 2985
16. Denver 2716
17. Minneapolis 2651
18. Baltimore 2497
19. Tampa 2442
20. St. Louis 2246

Biggest winners: Los Angeles #11 to #2, San Francisco #9 to #4, Dallas --to #6, Miami --to #7, Houston --to #8, Atlanta --to #9

Biggest losers: St. Louis #6 to #20, Cleveland #7 to --, Detroit #5 to #12, Pittsburgh #8 to --, Baltimore #10 to #18.

Source: Historical Metropolitan Populations of the United States - Peakbagger.com

Very misleading to call some of those cities "losers" because most aren't losing metro population, they're just being surpassed by faster growing ones.