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For fun, I’ve compiled a list of how US cities would rank given their historically highest population. (This pertains to city populations only, not metro areas.) When a year is given, this represents the year that the city recorded its highest population. Figures for other cities are based on current population estimates, as those cities are now at their peak.
How about “highest population densities”? This list still doesn’t rule out cities like Jacksonville that are only “big” because they’ve annexed so many suburbs as to be 1,000,000,000 square miles large.
Looking at cities that have just plummeted in population from where they once were, Chicago has lost almost 1 million, as has Detroit with almost 1.2 million lost !! Unbelievable.
Less of a decline but still with a devastating population drop are Cleveland and St Louis, both losing about 550,000 each, roughly.
I wonder how low Detroit, Cleveland and St Louis will go before stabilizing somewhat ?
For fun, I’ve compiled a list of how US cities would rank given their historically highest population. (This pertains to city populations only, not metro areas.) When a year is given, this represents the year that the city recorded its highest population. Figures for other cities are based on current population estimates, as those cities are now at their peak.
I don’t doubt the old time populations, but many of the “current” ones don’t jive with estimates given for those cities. Do you have access to early results of the 2020 census we’re not aware of?
What I find most impressive is that Detroit, while at one time being the fourth largest city, is still the sixth largest ever?
In response to my sources used: Wikipedia; estimates from World Population Review; census.gov; and various city websites. As previously stated, current population figures are best estimates, since the 2020 census is nowhere near complete.
How about “highest population densities”? This list still doesn’t rule out cities like Jacksonville that are only “big” because they’ve annexed so many suburbs as to be 1,000,000,000 square miles large.
I did the calculations for the Bos-Was corridor a while back using Chicago land area as "measuring" stick (228 sq. miles)
DC/Boston/Philly all have 1.7-1.8 million people in that land area (about 7/10th the size Chicago), while Baltimore has 1.1 million people that land area (about 4/10th the size of Chicago )
Administrative limits skew these numbers massively
Cincinnati is another. From 1830 - 1900 it was in the top 10 US cities by population. It peaked in rank as the 6th largest city nationally in the 1830's and 1840's and peaked in population at 504,000 in 1950. Today it is about 303,000 (though the metropolitan area has grown significantly since 1950 and it appears the city may be growing again since 2010 for the first time since 1950).
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Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
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