# New Census Estimates for American Cities: Some Nice Surprises



## lokinyc (Sep 17, 2002)

Like New York City's continued growth.

TABLE: Top 75 U.S. cities ranked by population

The 75 most populous cities — based on July 1, 2007, estimates — and the change over seven years:
2007 pop. % chng. 2000-07	2007 rank	2000 rank
New York	8,274,527	3.3%	1	1
Los Angeles	3,834,340	3.8%	2	2
Chicago	2,836,658	-2.1%	3	3
Houston 2,208,180	11.8%	4	4
Phoenix	1,552,259	17.4%	5	6
Philadelphia	1,449,634	-4.5%	6	5
San Antonio	1,328,984	14.6%	7	9
San Diego	1,266,731	3.5%	8	7
Dallas	1,240,499	4.4%	9	8
San Jose	939,899	4.9%	10	11
Detroit	916,952	-3.6%	11	10
Jacksonville	805,605	9.5%	12	14
Indianapolis	795,458	1.7%	13	12
San Francisco	764,976	-1.5%	14	13
Columbus, Ohio	747,755	4.9%	15	15
Austin 743,074	12.6%	16	17
Fort Worth	681,818	25.9%	17	28
Memphis	674,028	-2.4%	18	16
Charlotte	671,588	18.5%	19	22
Baltimore	637,455	-2.1%	20	18
El Paso	606,913	7.6%	21	23
Milwaukee	602,191	0.9%	22	19
Boston	599,351	1.7%	23	20
Seattle	594,210	5.5%	24	24
Nashville- Davidson, Tenn.	590,807	8.3%	25	27
Denver	588,349	6.3%	26	25
Washington	588,292	2.8%	27	21
Las Vegas	558,880	16.4%	28	33
Louisville-Jefferson, Ky.	557,789	1.2%	29	26
Portland, Ore.	550,396	4.0%	30	29
Oklahoma City	547,274	8.1%	31	30
Tucson	525,529	7.8%	32	31
Atlanta	519,145	24.2%	33	40
Albuquerque	518,271	15.3%	34	36
Fresno	470,508	9.5%	35	38
Long Beach	466,520	1.1%	36	35
Sacramento	460,242	13.1%	37	41
Mesa, Ariz.	452,933	13.8%	38	43
Kansas City, Mo.	450,375	2.0%	39	37
Cleveland	438,042	-8.3%	40	34
Virginia Beach	434,743	2.2%	41	39
Omaha	424,482	8.5%	42	45
Miami	409,719	13.0%	43	48
Oakland	401,489	0.5%	44	42
Tulsa	384,037	-2.3%	45	44
Minneapolis	377,392	-1.4%	46	46
Colorado Springs	376,427	4.2%	47	49
Raleigh, N.C.	375,806	31.6%	48	61
Honolulu	375,571	1.1%	49	47
Arlington, Texas	371,038	11.4%	50	54
Wichita	361,420	2.7%	51	50
St. Louis	350,759	0.7%	52	51
Santa Ana, Calif.	339,555	0.5%	53	52
Tampa	336,823	11.0%	54	58
Anaheim, Calif.	333,249	1.4%	55	56
Cincinnati	332,458	0.4%	56	55
Bakersfield, Calif.	315,837 29.6%	57	70
Aurora, Colo.	311,794	12.8%	58	63
Pittsburgh	311,218	-7.0%	59	53
Toledo, Ohio	295,029	-6.0%	60	57
Riverside, Calif.	294,437	15.1%	61	67
Stockton, Calif.	287,245	18.1%	62	71
Corpus Christi, Texas	285,507	2.9%	63	62
Newark	280,135	2.8%	64	64
Anchorage	279,671	7.4%	65	66
Lexington-Fayette, Ky.	279,044	7.1%	66	65
St. Paul	277,251	-3.3%	67	60
Buffalo	272,632	-6.8%	68	59
Plano, Texas	260,796	17.3%	69	79
Glendale, Ariz.	253,152	15.2%	70	81
Fort Wayne, Ind.	251,247	-0.2%	71	68
Henderson, Nev.	249,386	42.3%	72	119
Lincoln, Neb.	248,744	9.9%	73	78
Greensboro, N.C.	247,183	8.2%	74	76
St. Petersburg, Fla.	246,407	-0.8%	75	69
Source: Analysis of Census Bureau data by Paul Overberg, USA TODAY


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## LMCA1990 (Jun 18, 2005)

What are the surprises? :? lol

Wow, Miami's still growing like crazy :cheers:


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## karim aboussir (Dec 4, 2006)

that is just city proper does not include the metro area 
in my opinion metro area is better way to tell who growing and who is looking population


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## Homer J. Simpson (Dec 2, 2003)

^That is true, in many cases the core city is slowly losing population but the suburban areas are growing like crazy. (that may change with the cost of petrol over time)


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## BrickellResidence (Feb 4, 2008)

miami had 400,000 in 2006 and now 410,00 it is growing fast but i want to know the metropolitan population.Phoenix is one of the fastest growing and chicago philly and detroit is decreasing.


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## Hia-leah JDM (May 7, 2007)

*Fastest growing Big cities are.....*

Never heard of Henderson, NV in my life but it sure is growing. Raleigh, Ft. Worth and Atlanta were kind of suspected. Texas, California and Arizona top the list as well. 
Just read New Orleans was actually the fastest growing but its population isn't large enough for the list. Nice to see Miami is the fastest growing (big) city in Florida too.

*Fastest growing big cities with double digit growth* -

*Henderson, NV - 42.3%
Raleigh, NC - 31.6%
Bakersfield, CA - 29.6%
Fort Worth, TX - 25.9%
Atlanta, GA - 24.2%*
Charlotte, NC - 18.5%
Stockton, CA - 18.1%
Pheonix, AZ - 17.4%
Plano, TX - 17.3%
Las Vegas, NV - 16.4%
Albuquerque, NM - 15.3%
Glendale, AZ - 15.2%
Riverside, CA - 15.1%
San Antonio, TX - 14.6%
Mesa, AZ - 13.8%
Sacramento, CA - 13.1%
Miami, FL - 13%
Aurora, CO - 12.8%
Austin, TX - 12.6%
Houston, TX - 11.8%
Arlington, TX - 11.4%
Tampa, FL - 11%


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## philadweller (Oct 30, 2003)

"chicago philly and detroit is decreasing"

Center City Philadelphia is growing. No need to worry.


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## pottebaum (Sep 11, 2004)

Chicago really surprises me.


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## chicagogeorge (Nov 30, 2004)

pottebaum said:


> Chicago really surprises me.


Not me, Chicago is down about 50,000 since the 2000 census.

There are a couple things to consider. First, the city's population may actually be up, or at least the same as it was in 2000. The census estimates kept Chicago declining throughout the 90's (at much larger rate than what they are currently estimating) and yet by the 2000 count, Chicago had actually grown by 120,000. 

On the other hand, it is possible that the Census is on target with it's estimates. One reason is that Chicago's African American population (middle class African Americans) are migrating to suburban Cook County.

Hispanics are still growing in Chicago, but nowadays, incoming Hispanics are also bypassing the city itself and settling in many suburban towns such as Waukegan, Elgin, Aurora, West Chicago, Joliet, East Chicago, Hammond..... So the actual Hispanic numerical gains in Chicago itself maybe less than what it was during the 90's. I'm not sure though.

Finally, Chicago's white population is still in decline, even though the city center, and many Northside communities are gentrifying. The difference is that middle class whites with families are moving out, and single or younger couples with no children are moving in. The Asian population in the city of Chicago remains stable, though it's booming in the suburbs.


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

^^ Chicago actually grew between 2006-07. It grew at the same rate as LA and NY: 0.3%. Chances are high that all three of these cities are massively undercounted. Hartford grew by a grand total of 155 people!

Anyway...something that I noticed when I went on the Census website.

Check out the fastest declining cities between 2006-07:



> Cleveland, Ohio	-1.1
> Hialeah, Florida	-1.2
> Flint, Michigan	-1.2
> Norfolk, Virginia	-1.3
> ...


Check out the link:
http://www.census.gov/popest/cities/SUB-EST2007.html

Only two of the top 10 fastest declining cities over 100k in the US are in the Rust Belt. If you look at biggest losers in the last year, a large portion of them are in California too. Hmmmm....


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## karim aboussir (Dec 4, 2006)

they say when you see official population of a city add 20 % that is the real population


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## foadi (Feb 15, 2006)

Hia-leah JDM said:


> Never heard of Henderson, NV in my life but it sure is growing.


crappy vegas suburb. lived there when i was in hs. it has no redeeming qualities.


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## foadi (Feb 15, 2006)

10ROT said:


> ^^ Chicago actually grew between 2006-07. It grew at the same rate as LA and NY: 0.3%. Chances are high that all three of these cities are massively undercounted.


ya, i wouldn't be suprised if LA is undercounted by like 20-30%.


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## Somnifor (Sep 6, 2005)

Mid-census estimates have a history of being wrong over the last decade and a half. They have Minneapolis declining since 2000 despite the fact that the city has added 20,000 units of new housing. So far this decade Minneapolis proper has been one of the fastest growing municipalities in the metro area in terms of housing starts. The Metropolitan Council thinks the city is closing in on 400,000 based on tax rolls, school enrollment and building permits, the Census Bureau has it at 377,000, we'll see.


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## Skyline_FFM (May 25, 2008)

Wow! NYC is back on track!!! :applause: Good to see this gorgeous city growing again. Cleveland is a city where the American dream became a nightmare. I read an article about the city. It was one of the cities that most suffered from the real-estate crisis. But I am optimistic it will recover. And as it seems, Detroit decrease has slown down also. In about 10 years it will grow again!


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## Skyline_FFM (May 25, 2008)

Somnifor said:


> Mid-census estimates have a history of being wrong over the last decade and a half. They have Minneapolis declining since 2000 despite the fact that the city has added 20,000 units of new housing. So far this decade Minneapolis proper has been one of the fastest growing municipalities in the metro area in terms of housing starts. The Metropolitan Council thinks the city is closing in on 400,000 based on tax rolls, school enrollment and building permits, the Census Bureau has it at 377,000, we'll see.


Well, during the real-estate boom in Berline, when you could see cranes in every corner of the city, there was massive loss of population (about 80k!), but now the building activity has cooled down and city started growing again. What I want to say: Building activity is not necessarily depending on the population growth, since many cities are restructuring themselves and thus have a very hot building market...


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Texas is still growing very fast. All major cities are up.


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

Skyline_FFM said:


> Wow! NYC is back on track!!! :applause: Good to see this gorgeous city growing again.


Well, to be honest, NYC has been gaining population for a while now. 

It grew over 9 percent in the 1990s (which doesn't sound like much, but that's over 600,000 people). It's at it's peak population...a rarity for a Northern US city. I still heavily believe that the population there is undercounted though, especially in neighborhoods with a lot of immigrants. I think the city will probably contest these estimates like they always do, and in a few months, the estimate will be higher.

As for Cleveland, a very sad story.


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

^^ In the Netherlands, we have a "municipal base administration", where every inhabitant is registered, so we don't need any censuses or estimates, we (those who have access and publish) can check out our exact population figure at anytime.


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## Skyline_FFM (May 25, 2008)

^^ We have it also. But there are too many illegal immigrants that no one really knows the exact population. And with the opening of the Eastern borders, many illegals came in - also to the Netherlands and the other wealthy countries in Western Europe...


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