U.S. Cities 1790-2000

Below are lists of the largest cities and metro areas in the U.S. at various times over the last 2+ centuries, plus a list of the metro areas currently experiencing the greatest and least growth.

• Largest cities in the U.S.
  • 1790:

    1	New York, NY	33,131
    2	Philadelphia, PA	28,522
    3	Boston, MA	18,320
    4	Charleston, SC	16,359
    5	Baltimore, MD	13,503
    6	Northern Liberties township, PA	9,913
    7	Salem, MA	7,921
    8	Newport, RI	6,716
    9	Providence, RI	6,380
    10t	Marblehead, MA	5,661
    10t	Southwark, PA	5,661

  • 1890:

    1	New York, NY	1,515,301
    2	Chicago, IL	1,099,850
    3	Philadelphia, PA	1,046,964
    4	Brooklyn, NY	806,343
    5	St. Louis, MO	451,770
    6	Boston, MA	448,477
    7	Baltimore, MD	434,439
    8	San Francisco, CA	298,997
    9	Cincinnati, OH	296,908
    10	Cleveland, OH	261,353

  • 2000:

    1	New York, NY	8,008,278
    2	Los Angeles, CA	3,694,820
    3	Chicago, IL	2,896,016
    4	Houston, TX	1,953,631
    5	Philadelphia, PA	1,517,550
    6	Phoenix, AZ	1,321,045
    7	San Diego, CA	1,223,400
    8	Dallas, TX	1,188,580
    9	San Antonio, TX	1,144,646
    10	Detroit, MI	951,270

• Largest Metropolitan Areas in the U.S. (2000):
  1. New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT-PA
  2. Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, CA
  3. Chicago-Gary-Kenosha, IL-IN-WI
  4. Washington-Baltimore, DC-MD-VA-WV
  5. San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA
  6. Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, PA-NJ-DE-MD
  7. Boston-Worcester-Lawrence, MA-NH-ME-CT
  8. Detroit-Ann Arbor-Flint, MI
  9. Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
  10. Houston-Galveston-Brazoria, TX
• Fastest growing metro areas, 1990-2000

  1	Las Vegas	83.3%
  2	Naples, FL	65.3%
  3	Yuma, AZ	49.7%
  4	McAllen, TX	48.5%
  5	Austin, TX	47.7%
  6	Fayetteville, AR	47.5%
  7	Boise	46.1%
  8	Phoenix	45.3%
  9	Laredo, TX	44.9%
  10	Provo, UT	39.8%

• Fastest declining metro areas, 1990-2000

  271	Anniston, AL	-3.3%
  272	Johnstown, PA	-3.6%
  273	Wheeling, WV	-3.8%
  274	Alexandria, LA	-4.0%
  275	Elmira, NY	-4.3%
  276	Pittsfield, MA	-4.5%
  277	Binghamton, NY	-4.6%
  278	Utica, NY	-5.3%
  279	Grand Forks, ND	-5.5%
  280	Steubenville, OH	-7.4%