2011 US city population estimates

[golden eagle]

New annual city estimates have come in and are available on the US Census Bureau's website, as of July 2011. Here's the link for all municipalities of 50,000 or more:

http://www.census.gov/popest/data/cities/totals/2011/tables/SUB-EST2011-01.csv

Here's the link for each state's municipalities:

http://www.census.gov/popest/data/cities/totals/2011/SUB-EST2011-3.html

One surprise for me is that Jackson is showing an increase. Also, cities such as Austin and Charlotte have had big increases in just one year's time. I wonder if there were some readjustments (challenges, annexations, etc.) in showing robust population growth, or if these cities are really growing that fast.

[txstateends]

Related articles:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/47992439/ns/today-money/t/cities-grow-more-suburbs-first-time-years/#
http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2012/06/census_numbers_show_dallas_buc.php

After years and years of suburban growth, many cities have started a new trend of population gains bigger than the suburbs around them.

[Road Hog]

Everywhere except in Dallas, as the Observer article noted.

Plano is the 70th biggest city in the nation. That blows my mind.

[Brandon]

Related articles:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/47992439/ns/today-money/t/cities-grow-more-suburbs-first-time-years/#
http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2012/06/census_numbers_show_dallas_buc.php

After years and years of suburban growth, many cities have started a new trend of population gains bigger than the suburbs around them.

Probably because people either moved back in with relatives or they can't sell their houses to get out.  This trend won't last.

[txstateends]

Everywhere except in Dallas, as the Observer article noted.

Plano is the 70th biggest city in the nation. That blows my mind.

Your mind??  When my folks and I moved down from up north in the mid-1960s, it only had between 5 and 10,000 people.  Almost all the town was east of US 75.  That section of US 75 was only 6 years old when we moved.  Our place was considered outside the city limits, so no city water--we had to have our own well water.  It was *long distance* to call Dallas from Plano then.  Allen would have been a blink-and-miss town back then if it weren't on the edge of US 75 itself; now it's getting a multi-million-$$$$$ high school football stadium.  I often wonder what my dad, grandma and grandpa would think of what Plano has become.  They'd probably need sedatives

[mukade]

El Paso soon to pass up Detroit surprised me the most, but I wonder how these estimates were made. Did they make them based on the trends from 2000 to 2010? Look at building permits issued? Some of these really big jumps don't make sense.

[Chris]

Mesa is the 38th largest city, it's even larger than Atlanta or Miami.

[golden eagle]

El Paso soon to pass up Detroit surprised me the most, but I wonder how these estimates were made. Did they make them based on the trends from 2000 to 2010? Look at building permits issued? Some of these really big jumps don't make sense.

I know one measure used is utility connections and disconnections.

[bulkyorled]

#267, neat. Gained a little over 600. Not sure where though... maybe its all babies.

Im surprised that its larger than some of these other cities. Albany NY, Boulder CO, even Santa Monica. I guess they're talked about enough that it seems like they should be larger.
Not to mention only 9 cities with over a million.

[golden eagle]

Mesa is the 38th largest city, it's even larger than Atlanta or Miami.

It is rather mind-blowing knowing that the historically big cities are now being passed by places like Mesa. Just a couple of decades ago, who'd thought Austin, Charlotte and Jacksonville would become larger than Wasington, Baltimore and Detroit?

[golden eagle]

Not to mention only 9 cities with over a million.

In the 80s, there were only six cities over a million. It also baffles me that the US has such a small number of "millionaire" cities. I realize that we don't have a population like China and India, but they have way more cities of a million or more.

[Revive 755]

^ How does China handle suburban areas - under the main central city government, or under many separate local governments?

[BigMattFromTexas]

Could the age of our countryhood be involved in this? It may be a juvenile thought, but it seems to make sense to me.
Also, I never knew Detroit had such a rapidly decreasing population! Also, a median family income of $31,000. Sad stuff.
BigMatt

[mukade]

^ How does China handle suburban areas - under the main central city government, or under many separate local governments?

I am not sure about China, but Japan sometimes combines cities. Saitama (1,231,880), Higashi-Osaka (509,230), Nishi-Tokyo (197,366), and Kirishima (127,727) are some of the new cities created around 2001 when existing cities and towns merged. Personally, I think this would be a good thing for American cities to do.

American metro area populations compared to their anchor cities are all over the place: the city of Colorado Springs is 65% of the population of the metro area while the city of Atlanta is only 8% of its metro area.

The following are some cities that make up 45% or more of their respective metro areas:
- Colorado Springs (65.0)
- Albuquerque (61.5)
- Jacksonville (61.0)
- Fort Wayne (60.5)
- San Antonio (60.5)
- Louisville (56.7)
- Memphis (50.4)
- Indianapolis (47.2)
- Austin (46.0)
- Oklahoma City (45.3)

Not sure this is a predictor that cities are better or worse off than ones like Atlanta, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati.

[Brandon]

^ How does China handle suburban areas - under the main central city government, or under many separate local governments?

I am not sure about China, but Japan sometimes combines cities. Saitama (1,231,880), Higashi-Osaka (509,230), Nishi-Tokyo (197,366), and Kirishima (127,727) are some of the new cities created around 2001 when existing cities and towns merged. Personally, I think this would be a good thing for American cities to do.

Fat chance.  Some of us have never been a part of the larger city here, and want nothing to do with it.

[mukade]

I suppose it depends. The Chicago area is an example of a place with way too many municipalities. The city itself has some major problems - both crime and corruption-wise. Some Chicago suburbs do OK - others are deterioriating fairly quickly. Those that do well would never go for it so I don't see how it would work around Chicago.

Despite having its share of crime, Indianapolis is pretty healthy for a large midwest city. So using Indy and other Uni-gov cities as an example, assuming there is no corruption or financial mismanagement, this model is probably better than the excessive amount of suburbs around a central city which seems to result in the central city experiencing a lot of financial problems if not dying (in some cases). 

Louisville is a recent Uni-gov city. In Indiana, Evansville and Fort Wayne have been considering it. It can happen here in the US.

[3467]

I think China varies like US one internal city (Chungquing) I think includes all suburbs and rural area and claims 30 million. If Guangdong or Shanghi did that they would be something like 50 million.

[3467]

http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/4/4/044003/fulltext/

World urban areas from Satellite

[golden eagle]

The following are some cities that make up 45% or more of their respective metro areas:
- Colorado Springs (65.0)
- Albuquerque (61.5)
- Jacksonville (61.0)
- Fort Wayne (60.5)
- San Antonio (60.5)
- Louisville (56.7)
- Memphis (50.4)
- Indianapolis (47.2)
- Austin (46.0)
- Oklahoma City (45.3)

Expect Memphis' to share to fall below 50% sometime soon, as more people are trying to flee the city and as other areas around it (like Desoto County, MS) continue to boom.

Isn't most of Lexington, KY's metro residents living in the city?

[Road Hog]

A lot of those cities are newly-growing ones that never had the opportunity to develop expansion-choking suburbs close-in.

I figured Tennessee suburbs of Memphis would have an advantage because of no state income tax. I guess it depends where you work and not where you live.

[Roadgeek Adam]

Am I missing something or are the townships in NJ missing from those numbers?

[bulldog1979]

Am I missing something or are the townships in NJ missing from those numbers?

The link is to www.census.gov/popest/data/cities/totals/2011/SUB-EST2011-3.html so that's a pretty good clue why you're not seeing townships. 

[Road Hog]

Everywhere except in Dallas, as the Observer article noted.

Plano is the 70th biggest city in the nation. That blows my mind.

Your mind??  When my folks and I moved down from up north in the mid-1960s, it only had between 5 and 10,000 people.  Almost all the town was east of US 75.  That section of US 75 was only 6 years old when we moved.  Our place was considered outside the city limits, so no city water--we had to have our own well water.  It was *long distance* to call Dallas from Plano then.  Allen would have been a blink-and-miss town back then if it weren't on the edge of US 75 itself; now it's getting a multi-million-$$$$$ high school football stadium.  I often wonder what my dad, grandma and grandpa would think of what Plano has become.  They'd probably need sedatives

Plano is pretty much built-out now. All the northern growth is in Frisco, Allen and McKinney, and Prosper is starting to take off. It's insane.

[empirestate]

Am I missing something or are the townships in NJ missing from those numbers?

The link is to www.census.gov/popest/data/cities/totals/2011/SUB-EST2011-3.html so that's a pretty good clue why you're not seeing townships. 

NJ townships are classified as "minor civil divisions" by the census. All other NJ entities are "incorporated places" (each with a corresponding null MCD). Those would include cities, boroughs, towns and villages. No practical difference in the daily life of New Jerseyans, but hey.

[TXtoNJ]

^ How does China handle suburban areas - under the main central city government, or under many separate local governments?

I am not sure about China, but Japan sometimes combines cities. Saitama (1,231,880), Higashi-Osaka (509,230), Nishi-Tokyo (197,366), and Kirishima (127,727) are some of the new cities created around 2001 when existing cities and towns merged. Personally, I think this would be a good thing for American cities to do.

American metro area populations compared to their anchor cities are all over the place: the city of Colorado Springs is 65% of the population of the metro area while the city of Atlanta is only 8% of its metro area.

The following are some cities that make up 45% or more of their respective metro areas:
- Colorado Springs (65.0)
- Albuquerque (61.5)
- Jacksonville (61.0)
- Fort Wayne (60.5)
- San Antonio (60.5)
- Louisville (56.7)
- Memphis (50.4)
- Indianapolis (47.2)
- Austin (46.0)
- Oklahoma City (45.3)

Not sure this is a predictor that cities are better or worse off than ones like Atlanta, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati.

Government already looks primarily at a city's Metropolitan Statistical Area for their statistical purposes. They show, for the most part, how big the city actually is. So, instead of Mesa, AZ being portrayed as a random large city, it's instead considered part of the much wider Phoenix metro. Austin, instead of being the 13th largest city, makes more sense in 34th place.

http://www.census.gov/popest/data/metro/totals/2011/tables/CBSA-EST2011-01.csv

There are 51 MSAs with a population over 1 million.