1850
By 1850, the United States was in the midst of the First Industrial Revolution. A list of the hundred largest cities from the 1850 census is available from the Census Bureau and the source of this information.
| Rank | City | State | Population | Notes |
| 1 | New York | New York | 515,547 | |
| 2 | Baltimore | Maryland | 169,054 | |
| 3 | Boston | Massachusetts | 136,881 | |
| 4 | Philadelphia | Pennsylvania | 121,376 | |
| 5 | New Orleans | Louisiana | 116,375 | |
| 6 | Cincinnati | Ohio | 115,435 | |
| 7 | Brooklyn | New York | 96,838 | |
| 8 | St. Louis | Missouri | 77,860 | First Top 10 appearance of any city west of the Mississippi River. |
| 9 | District of Spring Garden | Pennsylvania | 58,894 | Now a neighborhood of Philadelphia. |
| 10 | Albany | New York | 50,763 | Last appearance in the top 10. |
Read more about this topic: Largest Cities In The United States By Population By Decade