The 20 Largest Cities in the United States

Last reviewed: October 31, 2026

The largest city in the United States is New York, with about 8.6 million residents, followed by Los Angeles (3.9 million), Chicago (2.7 million), Houston (2.4 million) and Phoenix (1.7 million). Those figures count only people inside city limits. Measured by metropolitan area, which includes the suburbs, New York reaches about 20 million and the ranking below the top three changes noticeably.

The 20 largest US cities by population

This table ranks cities by population inside their municipal limits, using Census Bureau estimates for July 1, 2025 (Vintage 2025, published in May 2026), rounded for readability.

Only 12 US cities have more than a million residents inside their limits, and four of the top ten are in Texas. New York remains more than twice the size of Los Angeles, even though it recorded the largest numeric population loss of any city between 2024 and 2025 (about 12,000 people). For current figures, see the U.S. Census Bureau.

City limits vs metro area: why the numbers disagree

If you see very different populations for the same city, the two sources are probably counting different things.

• City proper: residents inside the municipal boundary. That boundary is a legal accident as much as a geographic fact. Jacksonville merged with its county in 1968 and covers a huge area, while Boston and San Francisco are tightly drawn, so comparisons can mislead.
• Metropolitan statistical area (MSA): a core city plus the surrounding counties tied to it by commuting. This is the better measure of the real economic city, the one that shares a job market, a housing market and a road network.

Miami is the clearest example. It does not make the top 20 by city limits, with fewer than 500,000 residents, yet its metro area has about 6.4 million people. Atlanta, Boston and Washington show the same gap.

The largest metro areas

What each major city is known for

• New York: finance, media, publishing and theater; the densest big city in the country, the headquarters of the United Nations and the historic gateway for immigrants.
• Los Angeles: film and television, a vast car-oriented metro area, and large Latino and Asian American communities.
• Chicago: the transport hub of the Midwest, birthplace of the modern skyscraper and a center for commodities trading.
• Houston: oil and gas, one of the world's largest medical complexes, NASA's Johnson Space Center, and a highly diverse population.
• Phoenix: a fast-growing desert metro and a symbol of the Sun Belt.
• Philadelphia: where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written; today a university and medical center.
• San Antonio: deep Hispanic heritage and the Alamo.
• San Diego: mild climate, a major Navy presence, biotech, and the border with Mexico.
• Dallas–Fort Worth: corporate headquarters, banking and air transport, in the country's fourth-largest metro area.
• San Jose and San Francisco: the two poles of the Bay Area, home of Silicon Valley.
• Austin: the Texas state capital, a growing tech hub with a strong live-music scene.

The capital is not a big city

Visitors often assume Washington, D.C. is among the largest American cities. It is not: about 694,000 people live in the District, which ranks it outside the top 20, although its metro area has around 6.5 million residents. The same pattern repeats at the state level, where many capitals are mid-sized towns. Albany, not New York City, is the capital of New York State; Sacramento, not Los Angeles, is California's; Springfield, not Chicago, is Illinois's. Our list of US states and capitals has all 50. To understand why, see what the United States is and how its states work.

Sun Belt growth and the Rust Belt

For decades, population has moved toward the Sun Belt, the southern band from Florida through Texas to Southern California. Cheaper housing than on the coasts, warm weather and job growth have fed cities such as Houston, Dallas, Austin, Phoenix, Atlanta and Charlotte. Meanwhile, industrial cities in the Northeast and Midwest (the Rust Belt) lost residents through the second half of the 20th century. Detroit, the fourth-largest city in 1920, is well outside today's top 20. Recent growth has been slower everywhere: national population growth fell sharply between 2024 and 2025 as international migration dropped.

These shifts follow the regional contrasts described in our guide to the regions of the United States. If you are comparing cities to live in, housing is usually the deciding cost: see the cost of living in the US.

Choosing cities as a visitor

• Without a car: New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington and San Francisco have the most usable public transit. Most other cities are easier with a car; see getting around the US.
• Distances: Los Angeles to New York is about 2,450 miles (3,900 km) in a straight line, a five- to six-hour flight. Do not plan on crossing the country by road in a short trip.
• Gateways to nature: Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Denver are practical starting points for the western national parks.

Related articles:

• Regions of the United States
• US national parks
• Cost of living in the US
• What is the United States?