Proportion of Most Populous Cities in US States

Dec 13, 2017
Chart of largest cities in US states

The chart above shows the most populous city in each US state and the proportion of that state's population that resides there.  Unlike in the European Union were 14 states have over one-quarter of their population living in the most populous city, only three states do so in the US.  In the US, living in a state's largest city is not as prevalent.

Findings

  • Only eight states have less than one out of every twenty citizens packed into their most populous city.
  • Half the states have less than one in ten people in their most populous city.
  • Only New York and Alaska have more than one-third of their population living in their most populous city.

Caveats

  • The data is from 2010.

Details

Even small states like Delaware and Rhode Island manage not to cram a large portion of their population into one city.  In Europe, small states have a large proportion of their population living in their most populous city.

As far as the entire United States is concerned, only 2.65 percent of the population lives in the country's largest city, New York which is very similar to the EU ratio.

Sources

United States Census Bureau.  "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2016."  Accessed December 12, 2017.  http://factfinder2.census.gov.

Filed under: Charts and Graphs