In 1776, American cities weren't much to behold.
They were small, dirty and swept frequently by disease. They were huddled along the East Coast, linked mostly by coastal waterways. Most colonists lived and worked on farms.
But these early cities mattered. As centers of commerce, trade , finance and dissent, they bore the brunt of the British government's increasingly harsh laws on trade and self-governance. They helped kindle a Revolution and forge a nation.
1790
The first census counted about 3.9 million people in 1790 -- slightly more than now live in Los Angeles. Just 5% of them lived in one of the 20 largest cities, the smallest percentage found in any census.
New York City secured the top position and hasn't budged since. Philadelphia was a close second and would later absorb two other Pennsylvania cities near the top, Northern Liberties and Southwark.
New England was well-represented -- this was the only year Rhode Island held two of the top 10 spots. All the populations were based on the city borders at that time, before many later changed.
1800-50
The first decades of the 19th century saw the U.S. expand rapidly while the list of major cities reached well beyond the Appalachian Mountains.
Commerce flowing through the Erie Canal boosted cities across New York state. Steamboats turned major rivers into highways, and cities such as Cincinnati and New Orleans grew more prominent. St. Louis -- today the 80th-largest city -- would join the top 10 in 1850 and stay for more than a century.
Meanwhile, the industrial revolution took off in New England, drawing workers from farms to the factories, including women. By 1850, more than 8% of the population lived in a top-20 city, driven largely by the urbanizing Northeast.
1850-1900
Railroad growth turned rail hubs into commercial powerhouses. Trains distributed millions of European immigrants across the continent, whether to a relative's farm or to a tenement and a factory job.
Unbowed by a devastating 1871 fire, Chicago grew from fewer than 4,500 residents in 1840 to more than a million 50 years later. The Midwest became competitive with the Northeast as an industrial center.
Increasingly mechanized farm work sent more people to city factories. New York City ended the century as a consolidated, five-county urban center with a population of 3.4 million. Across the continent, gold fever helped San Francisco vault onto the top-10 list in 1870.
1900-50
Surging European immigration continued to swell cities. New York City added more than 1.33 million residents between 1900 and 1910 -- the most people for any decade, ever, aside from when the city's boroughs were knitted together in their current form. The bulk came from Eastern and Southern Europe.
Black Americans fleeing the Jim Crow South filled Northern factory jobs created in part by mobilization for World War I. In two waves from 1910 to 1970, about six million Black people were part of what became known as the Great Migration, according to the Census Bureau.
The Roaring '20s until just after World War II represented a high-water mark for many dense industrial cities. From 1920 to 1950, more than 18% of the U.S. population lived in a top-20 city, the most ever. Many of 1950s biggest cities have since slipped to lower rankings, reflecting population declines and tight borders compared with today's sprawling Sunbelt giants.
1950-2000
Interstate highways helped usher a suburban boom. Air conditioning made the Sunbelt more comfortable and competitive.
Another influx of Black migrants leaving the South changed the racial makeup of many Northern cities such as Detroit. That city, like many others, saw its overall population shrink because of factors such as deindustrialization, the movement of white residents to the suburbs and urban unrest.
Cities knocked down entire neighborhoods in the name of urban renewal and highway construction that often took on racial undertones. By 1980, cities that made up the 1950 top 10 were collectively 13% smaller -- over a span when the nation's population grew 50%.
Meanwhile, Southern cities experienced a boom. A 1965 law that ended four decades of restrictive immigration policy opened the door for a new surge of immigrants from Latin America and Asia. By 2000, the top-10 list included Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, San Diego and Phoenix.
2000 and beyond
The new millennium brought renewed growth for cities that once seemed past their primes, including Washington and Boston. New York City, which nearly hit seven million residents in 1930, finally topped eight million in 2000.
Continued suburban and exurban sprawl pushed the boundaries of metro areas that, over time, became a truer reflection of some cities' economic clout than the population of urban cores. A new wave of immigration boosted diversity in large Southern and Midwestern cities.
The Covid pandemic at least temporarily halted these revivals as people poured out of dense cities. More recently, tightened immigration restrictions are having an especially big impact on cities, because that is where immigrants often go first.
Today's fastest-growing cities include some unfamiliar names such as Celina, Texas, and Queen Creek, Ariz., places often located at the exurban fringe of a metropolitan area such as Dallas or Phoenix. Within the Phoenix metro area, 11 satellite cities have topped 100,000 people each.
Methodology
The Wall Street Journal used city populations reported by the Census Bureau for each census from 1790 to 2020 and the bureau's city population estimates for 2025. Totals reflect city boundaries as they existed at the time of each count. Regional groupings reflect current Census definitions. Countries of birth reflect national borders in effect at the time cited. In 1910, for example, "Russia" included parts of what today are Poland and several other countries. Data on the extent of railroads provided by Esri, historical state boundaries by IPUMS/NHGIS, University of Minnesota.
Write to Jon Kamp at Jon.Kamp@wsj.com, Paul Overberg at paul.overberg@wsj.com and Max Rust at max.rust@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 01, 2026 14:08 ET (18:08 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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