Most Crowded U.S. Global Cities in 2025 (Bloomberg) (best, state, America)

[qworldorder]

U.S. rankings:

1. Los Angeles
2. San Francisco
3. Miami
4. New York City
5. Chicago
6. Washington D.C.
7. Detroit
8. Phoenix
9. Philadelphia
10. Houston
11. Dallas
12. Boston
13. Atlanta

Thoughts? This ranking seems waaay offf--not sure if these are CSA level stats or what.
Just difficult to fathom Phoenix more crowded than Philadelphia and Boston...

Most Crowded in 2025: Global Cities - Bloomberg Best (and Worst)

[Bluefox]

Detroit is crowded? And more crowded than Boston? Indeed it does seem a bit off.

[GatsbyGatz]

I suspect the author of the article was under the influence while composing this list.

[Nafster]

Los Angeles does seem pretty over crowded. The city I don't think was planned well enough to hold as many people as it does. The traffic getting worse and worse is a sign of that. Also, even though there are very few high rise apartments, many, many people live in small homes and apartments. LA is far denser than it seems at first glance.

[Trafalgar Law]

Urban Area density was their measuring scale. That explains it.

[qworldorder]

Originally Posted by GatsbyGatz

I suspect the author of the article was under the influence while composing this list.

The sources seem reasonable enough, though. I wonder what the methodology was. If urban area density as suggested, then it's an unexpected metric that shakes the common perception of Sun belt metros being less dense.

Sources:

Bloomberg, Demographia, International Monetary Fund, United Nations

[Trafalgar Law]

Originally Posted by qworldorder

The sources seem reasonable enough, though. I wonder what the methodology was. If urban area density as suggested, then it's an unexpected metric that shakes the common perception of Sun belt metros being less dense.

Sources:

Bloomberg, Demographia, International Monetary Fund, United Nations

Huge hints in bold. Definitely urban area density. Miami just surpassed New York in density this year (2014).

Here is how these same cities rank today, for perspective:

01. Los Angeles, CA: 6,300 people per square mile
02. San Francisco-San Jose-Oakland, CA: 5,600 people per square mile
03. Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL: 4,700 people per square mile
04. New York, NY-NJ-CT-PA: 4,600 people per square mile
05. Washington, DC-MD-VA-WV: 3,600 people per square mile
06. Chicago, IL-IN-WI: 3,500 people per square mile
07. Phoenix, AZ: 3,400 people per square mile
08. Houston, TX: 3,100 people per square mile
09. Dallas-Fort Worth, TX: 3,000 people per square mile
10. Philadelphia, PA-NJ-DE-MD: 2,800 people per square mile
11. Detroit, MI: 2,800 people per square mile
12. Boston, MA-NH-RI: 2,200 people per square mile
13. Atlanta, GA: 1,800 people per square mile

Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed

Don't know where these people are getting the idea that Detroit is moving ahead of three or four cities but they are the experts and not me for a reason.

Outside of the United States, urban area is just about the only measurement they use. Most world agencies realize that "metropolitan area" and "city" boundaries are grossly inflated by national definitions (unless you're Japan, then you're underrating yourself actually). It's almost always going to be the measure they use when looking at American cities with other cities of the world. Not saying that is a good or bad, but just is what it is, I suppose.

[qworldorder]

^^ Really puts into perspective how undense American urban areas are on the global scale. LA comes in only at 27th--and this list excludes poorer areas so realistically, it's further down than even that.

[nei]

The numbers are correct, they're just rather misleading. Boston has a ton of large lot suburbs in its outer half, that resemble... Atlanta's. The inner part is obviously more crowded than Detroit, but since it's so crowded it doesn't take up much area. Los Angeles doesn't really do detached homes on big lots at all.

Or maybe not... 2025 numbers? The international numbers appear off or just inconsistent, London as dense as Barcelona?

[Trafalgar Law]

I get the sense that Atlanta's suburbs are denser than Boston's overall. When you remove each of their cores, I feel the Atlanta area is denser. Boston is 2,200 people per square mile and that's with a very densely packed core (by American standards). That's only 400 people per square mile higher than Atlanta, which doesn't have that same high density core as Boston.