EU and US Cities by Population of Urban Area

Oct 4, 2021
Population of Urban Areas

The chart above shows the population of each urban area with a population over 1,000,000 while the chart below shows all urban areas with a population between 500,000 and 1,000,000.  The urban areas have been normalized so as to avoid any inconsistencies with how cities and their metropolitan areas are defined by their governments.  Each urban area has similar characteristics making this the definitive method with which to compare cities across various countries.  New York and Los Angeles are by far the two largest cities.

Findings

Population of Urban Areas
  • The difference between the urban area with the greatest population, New York, and the urban area with the least, Karlsruhe, is 20,370,000 people.
  • New York has 41.74 times the population that Karlsruhe does.
  • The median population of urban areas with a minimum population of 500,000 in the 28 EU states is 880,000 people and the mean 1,568,569.89 people.
  • The median population of urban areas with a minimum population of 500,000 in the 50 US states is 1,194,000 people and the mean 2,514,027.03 people.
  • The median population of urban areas with a minimum population of 500,000 in the 78 EU and US states is 963,000 people and the mean 1,987,514.97 people.

Caveats

  • Data is from 2020.
  • The methodology for how these urban areas have been defined can be found in the source link below.  As of this writing this is the most reliable way to compare urban areas throughout the world.
  • Some of these urban areas span several states, and the state that is being used here is the one where the core of the urban area is located.  For instance, New Jersey has parts of the New York City and Philadelphia urban area within it but both of those cores are located in the states of New York and Pennsylvania and are thus included in those states and not New Jersey.
  • All figures are rounded to the nearest whole.

Details

Only 56 of the 78 EU and US states and Washington DC have urban areas with at least 500,000 people.  Of these, only EU states have ten urban areas with a population over 500,000.  These include Germany with 16; the United Kingdom with 14; and France, Italy, and Spain with 11 each.  The US states with the most urban areas with over 500,000 people are California and Florida with seven each.

Of the 167 urban areas with a population over 500,000, 82 have a population of over 1 million.  Fifteen have a population of more than 5 million, and four have a population of more than 10 million.

Illinois has the largest mean population in its urban areas over 500,000 people with a mean of 9,014,000 people distributed among its one urban area.  In the EU, Hungary has the largest mean population in its urban areas over 500,000 people with a mean of 2,395,000 people distributed among its one urban area.

Cyprus, Estonia, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovakia, and Slovenia in the EU do not have any urban areas with a population over 500,000 inhabitants.  Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming in the US do not have any urban areas with a population over 500,000 inhabitants.

Sources

Demographia.  2021.  "Demographia World Urban Areas: 16th Annual Edition."  Accessed March 9, 2021.  http://demographia.com/db-worldua.pdf.