10 Largest US Cities by Decade

1980

1. New York (NY) – population: 7,071,639
2. Chicago (IL) – population: 3,005,072
3. Los Angeles (CA) – population: 2,966,850
4. Philadelphia (PA) – population: 1,688,210
5. Houston (TX) – population: 1,595,138
6. Detroit (MI) – population: 1,203,339
7. Dallas (TX) – population: 904,078
8. San Diego (CA) – population: 875,538
9. Phoenix (AZ) – population: 789,704
10. Baltimore (MD) – population: 786,775

After this census, Baltimore will part from the list of 10 largest US cities by decade, never to return. Newcomers Phoenix and San Diego, on the other hand, will continue to grow. Note also that New York has lost almost a million people between the years 1970 and 1980. US economic stagnation has really hit country’s largest city hard and New York at the time was bailed out from bankruptcy by the federal government. The blackout of 1977 only serves as a reminder of how serious the situation was and how close things came to escalating into something even more serious.