Cities
See also: List of United States cities by population and Cities and metropolitan areas of the United StatesThe United States has dozens of major cities, including 8 of the 60 "global cities" of all types, with three in the "alpha" group of global cities: New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago. As of 2011, the United States had 51 metropolitan areas with a population of over 1,000,000 people each. (See Table of United States Metropolitan Statistical Areas.)
As of 2011, about 250 million Americans live in or around urban areas. That means more than three-quarters of the U.S. population shares just about three percent of the U.S. land area.
The following table shows the populations of the top ten metropolitan areas, as of the 2010 Census.
Leading population centers |
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Rank | Core city | Metro area pop. | Metropolitan Statistical Area | Region | New York City Los Angeles |
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1 | New York | 19,015,900 | New York–Northern New Jersey–Long Island, NY–NJ–PA MSA | Northeast | |||
2 | Los Angeles | 12,944,801 | Los Angeles–Long Beach–Santa Ana, CA MSA | West | |||
3 | Chicago | 9,504,753 | Chicago–Joliet–Naperville, IL–IN–WI MSA | Midwest | |||
4 | Dallas | 6,526,548 | Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington, TX MSA | South | |||
5 | Houston | 6,086,538 | Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown, TX MSA | South | |||
6 | Philadelphia | 5,992,414 | Philadelphia–Camden–Wilmington, PA–NJ–DE–MD MSA | Northeast | |||
7 | Washington, D.C. | 5,703,948 | Washington, DC–VA–MD–WV MSA | South | |||
8 | Miami | 5,670,125 | Miami–Fort Lauderdale–Pompano Beach, FL MSA | South | |||
9 | Atlanta | 5,359,205 | Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Marietta, GA MSA | South | |||
10 | Boston | 4,591,112 | Boston–Cambridge–Quincy, MA–NH MSA | Northeast | |||
based on the 2011 U.S. Population Estimate |
Read more about this topic: Demographics Of The United States
Famous quotes containing the word cities:
“Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land,
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.”
—Emma Lazarus (18491887)
“... in the cities there are thousands of rolling stones like me. We are all alike; we have no ties, we know nobody, we own nothing. When one of us dies, they scarcely know where to bury him.... We have no house, no place, no people of our own. We live in the streets, in the parks, in the theatres. We sit in restaurants and concert halls and look about at the hundreds of our own kind and shudder.”
—Willa Cather (18731947)
“In great cities men are brought together by the desire of gain. They are not in a state of co-operation, but of isolation, as to the making of fortunes; and for all the rest they are careless of neighbours. Christianity teaches us to love our neighbour as ourself; modern society acknowledges no neighbour.”
—Benjamin Disraeli (18041881)