National ranking · Top 100 · ACS 2023

100 Most Populous Cities in the US

This list ranks the 100 most populous, or most populated, cities in the US by resident population, using U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates (2023). It compares individual cities and Census-designated places, not metropolitan areas or combined urban regions.

100
Cities ranked
#1
New York
8,516,202
Population

Data updated July 2026

The headline finding

New York, NY tops this list at 8,516,202 population, making the top 100 requires at least 229,021.

New York, NY
#1 · 8,516,202
229,021
#100 cutoff
100
cities in this ranking

Every figure here is read live from the same U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates (2023) data rendered in the table below.

These 100 cities span 35 states. California has the most entries on this list: 16 (16% of the total). California state page.

How we calculate the state breakdown

The state count and leader above are a live tally of this list's own 100 rows, grouped by state. See the methodology page for the full source-to-figure lineage.

Top 12 cities by population

Hover or tap a bar for the city, value and rank

Population

What this shows New York, New York ranks #1 on population among the cities in this ranking; the full top 100 is listed below.

Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates (2023) As of July 2026

Which states show up most

State tally of this list's own rows

Cities on this list

What this shows California leads with 16 of the 100 spots on this list.

Source PlainCities tally of this ranking's own rows As of July 2026
Rank City Population
1 New York , NY 8,516,202
2 Los Angeles , CA 3,857,897
3 Chicago , IL 2,707,648
4 Houston , TX 2,300,419
5 Phoenix , AZ 1,624,832
6 Philadelphia , PA 1,582,432
7 San Antonio , TX 1,458,954
8 San Diego , CA 1,385,061
9 Dallas , TX 1,299,553
10 San Jose , CA 990,054
11 Austin , TX 967,862
12 Jacksonville , FL 961,739
13 Fort Worth , TX 941,311
14 Columbus , OH 906,480
15 Charlotte , NC 886,283
16 Indianapolis city (balance) , IN 882,043
17 San Francisco , CA 836,321
18 Seattle , WA 741,440
19 Denver , CO 713,734
20 Oklahoma City , OK 688,693
21 Nashville-Davidson metropolitan government (balance) , TN 684,298
22 El Paso , TX 678,147
23 Washington , DC 672,079
24 Boston , MA 663,972
25 Las Vegas , NV 650,873
26 Portland , OR 642,715
27 Detroit , MI 636,644
28 Memphis , TN 629,063
29 Louisville/Jefferson County metro government (balance) , KY 627,210
30 Baltimore , MD 577,193
31 Milwaukee , WI 569,756
32 Albuquerque , NM 562,488
33 Fresno , CA 543,615
34 Tucson , AZ 543,348
35 Sacramento , CA 524,802
36 Kansas City , MO 508,233
37 Mesa , AZ 507,478
38 Atlanta , GA 499,287
39 Omaha , NE 488,197
40 Colorado Springs , CO 483,099
41 Raleigh , NC 470,763
42 Long Beach , CA 458,491
43 Virginia Beach , VA 457,066
44 Miami , FL 446,663
45 Oakland , CA 438,072
46 Minneapolis , MN 426,845
47 Tulsa , OK 412,322
48 Bakersfield , CA 408,366
49 Wichita , KS 396,488
50 Arlington , TX 394,769
51 Tampa , FL 393,389
52 Aurora , CO 390,201
53 New Orleans , LA 376,035
54 Cleveland , OH 367,523
55 Urban Honolulu , HI 346,323
56 Anaheim , CA 344,553
57 Henderson , NV 324,523
58 Lexington-Fayette urban county , KY 321,122
59 San Juan zona urbana , PR 320,691
60 Stockton , CA 320,470
61 Corpus Christi , TX 317,383
62 Riverside , CA 316,241
63 Orlando , FL 311,732
64 Santa Ana , CA 311,639
65 Cincinnati , OH 309,595
66 Irvine , CA 308,160
67 St. Paul , MN 307,762
68 Newark , NJ 307,188
69 Pittsburgh , PA 303,620
70 Greensboro , NC 298,564
71 St. Louis , MO 293,109
72 Lincoln , NE 291,932
73 Jersey City , NJ 289,691
74 Anchorage , AK 289,069
75 Durham , NC 288,465
76 Plano , TX 287,339
77 Chandler , AZ 278,123
78 Buffalo , NY 276,397
79 Madison , WI 275,568
80 Chula Vista , CA 275,030
81 Gilbert , AZ 271,118
82 North Las Vegas , NV 270,773
83 Reno , NV 268,959
84 Toledo , OH 268,461
85 Fort Wayne , IN 266,235
86 Lubbock , TX 261,078
87 St. Petersburg , FL 260,646
88 Laredo , TX 255,949
89 Irving , TX 255,036
90 Chesapeake , VA 251,153
91 Winston-Salem , NC 250,887
92 Glendale , AZ 250,193
93 Garland , TX 245,298
94 Scottsdale , AZ 242,169
95 Boise City , ID 235,701
96 Arlington , VA 235,463
97 Norfolk , VA 235,037
98 Enterprise , NV 232,043
99 Spokane , WA 229,228
100 Santa Clarita , CA 229,021

According to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (2023 vintage, released December 2024), the underlying dataset behind this ranking spans 28,702 U.S. incorporated places and census-designated places nationally; this page shows the top 100 by population. See our methodology for the full data-collection process.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates (2023). Verify directly with the source agency: U.S. Census Bureau, FBI UCR, NOAA, NCES.

What to do with the most populated cities list

Use this ranking to narrow the field, then dig into the specific places you're considering.

  • New York, NY leads this list at 8,516,202 -- see its full profile before drawing conclusions from the rank alone. New York profile
  • Put two specific cities side by side across every tracked metric, not just this one ranking. Compare cities
  • See every ranked city in New York together, not just how New York compares nationally. New York state page

This ranking reflects the single population metric only -- it is not a composite of everything that makes a city a good fit.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Primary sources: Census ACS, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES.

Related

Browse all city profiles → | Explore city rankings →
Data sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCities

Verify with U.S. Census Bureau →

Every figure on PlainCities is rendered directly from Census ACS source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on Census ACS source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.