Top 20 Cities

Highest Ranking Cities, 1790 to 2010

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This wordmap includes the names of cities that have ever been listed as one of the 20 most populous cities in the country, since 1790. The size of each city name reflects the number of times that place has been ranked in the top 20. Click on a city to see its rank in the top 20 from 1790 to 2010.

NOTES: City populations and limits reflect those at the time of each census. Some entities that figured in the top 20 rankings later consolidated or merged with other municipalities.

• Population Estimates
• Geography
• Cities
• QuickFacts

• Migration Between Calif. & Other States
• U.S. Territory and Statehood Status
• Spoken Languages Other than English
• Center of Population, 1790-2010
• Population Change by Decade
• Without A High School Education
• A Decade of State Population Change
• State-to-State Migration for States of 8 Million or More
• Population Under 5 Years Old by Congressional District
• Components of Metro Area Change
• Blooming States
• Coastline County Population
• Coastline County Population
• I-90 Population Density Profile, 2010
• Second Cities: Keeping Pace with a Booming New York
• By the Grid: Population Shift to the West and South
• I-10 Population Density Profile, 2010
• Booming Cities Decade-to-Decade, 1830-2010
• I-5 Population Density Profile, 2010
• Islands of High Income
• The Great Migration, 1910 to 1970
• Following the Frontier Line, 1790 to 1890
• Changing Ranks of States by Congressional Representation
• Cartograms of State Populations in 1890, 1950, and 2010
• Before and After 1940: Change in Population Density
• From Physical to Political Geography
• Differential City Growth Patterns
• I-95 Population Density Profile
• Increasing Urbanization
• Gaining and Losing Shares
• Top 20 Cities