10 Largest US Cities by Decade

2010

1. New York (NY) – population: 8,175,133
2. Los Angeles (CA) – population: 3,792,621
3. Chicago (IL) – population: 2,695,598
4. Houston (TX) – population: 2,099,451 300
5. Philadelphia (PA) – population: 1,526,006
6. Phoenix (AZ) – population: 1,445,632 1400
7. San Antonio (TX) – population: 1,327,407 350
8. San Diego (CA) – population: 1,307,402 400
9. Dallas (TX) – population: 1,197,816 250
10. San Jose (CA) – population: 945,942

All cities from the list apart from mentioned Detroit and Chicago have gained population between the years 2000 and 2010 (even Philadelphia). Houston has become the first city in Texas with more than 2 million citizens and San Jose has made its first appearance to the top 10.

Anton_Ivanov / Shutterstock.com

By looking at these 12 tables of 10 largest US cities by decade one can clearly see that population boom has shifted from the east coast to the west coast – especially to the Sun Belt cities of the south. In fact, all eastern cities with the exclusion of New York have suffered considerable losses in population ever since peaking after 1950 census. Cleveland, Detroit and St. Louis are leaders among them with losses of about 60 percent in the last 60 years. On the other hand, Dallas has expanded by around 250 percent, Houston has seen an increase of around 300 percent, San Antonia and San Diego have grown respectively by 350 and 400 percent and Phoenix has seen an increase of staggering 1,400 percent, growing from a city of 106,818 inhabitants to a metropolis of almost 1 and a half million inhabitants. These trends are likely to continue if something unforeseeable happens and we can expect Austin (TX) to make an appearance on the list after the 2020 census.