Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
List of the largest U.S. cities by population
References & Edit History Related Topics
Images
New York City: Manhattan Largest U.S. cities by population
Quick Facts
Related Topics:
United States
city
See all related content
Britannica AI Icon
Adding us as a Preferred Source tells Google you trust our content, so our articles show up more often in your Google Search, Discover feed, and AI Overviews.
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
print Print
Please select which sections you would like to print:
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites
New York City: Manhattan
New York City: Manhattan Manhattan, New York City.

List of the largest U.S. cities by population

Written by
Amy Tikkanen
Amy Tikkanen is Managing Editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Amy TikkanenAll
Fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
Last updated
•History

Since 1790, when the first U.S. census was conducted, New York City has held the title as the most-populated city in the United States. In that initial census, New York City had 33,131 people. Today it is home to more than 8,335,000. That is more than double the second largest city, Los Angeles, and triple the third largest city, Chicago. How do other cities stack up? Find out in the table below, which ranks the 25 largest U.S. cities based on the most recent population estimate.

city state population: estimate (2025) population: census
Source: U.S. Census Bureau website.
1. New York City New York 8,584,629 (2020) 8,804,190
2. Los Angeles California 3,869,089 (2020) 3,898,747
3. Chicago Illinois 2,731,585 (2020) 2,746,388
4. Houston Texas 2,397,315 (2020) 2,304,580
5. Phoenix Arizona 1,665,481 (2020) 1,608,139
6. Philadelphia Pennsylvania 1,574,281 (2020) 1,603,797
7. San Antonio Texas 1,548,422 (2020) 1,434,625
8. San Diego California 1,406,106 (2020) 1,386,932
9. Dallas Texas 1,329,491 (2020) 1,304,379
10. Fort Worth Texas 1,028,117 (2020) 918,915
11. Jacksonville Florida 1,017,689 (2020) 949,611
12. Austin Texas 1,002,632 (2020) 961,855
13. San Jose California 989,814 (2020) 1,013,240
14. Charlotte North Carolina 964,784 (2020) 874,579
15. Columbus Ohio 938,396 (2020) 905,748
16. Indianapolis Indiana 901,116 (2020) 887,642
17. San Francisco California 826,079 (2020) 873,965
18. Seattle Washington 784,777 (2020) 737,015
19. Denver Colorado 740,613 (2020) 715,522
20. Nashville Tennessee 721,074 (2020) 689,447
21. Oklahoma City Oklahoma 719,849 (2020) 681,054
22. Washington, D.C. District of Columbia 693,645 (2010) 601,723
23. El Paso Texas 683,012 (2020) 678,815
24. Las Vegas Nevada 679,817 (2020) 641,903
25. Boston Massachusetts 672,973 (2020) 675,647

Discover more

World map showing locations of the world's largest cities by population, marked with large orange dots mostly in Asia, plus buttons for viewing a table and footnotes.
What’s the largest city in the world?
St. Peter's Basilica with its large dome rises above surrounding buildings in Vatican City, viewed from the rooftop of Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome, Italy.
What’s the smallest country in the world?
New York City: Manhattan
What’s the largest U.S. state by population?
The Tower of Babel, a classic symbol of language diversification
What’s the most widely spoken language?
Amy Tikkanen World Data Editors