2010
The United States has dozens of major cities. It also has eleven of the world's 55 global cities, with three American cities in the highest ranked category of "alpha" global city: New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
The figures below are for populations within the city limits, which are of various sizes for each city. Not included are the population of suburban areas. Notable is that several of the country's ten largest cities are located in the Sun Belt region of the south and west; but none of those cities have a density rate in the double-digits of the thousands, instead getting their population boost from obtaining large swaths of land. A different ranking is evident when considering U.S. metro area populations which count both city and suburban populations. The ten most populous cities, are based on the 2010 census data.
| Rank | City | State | Population | Notes |
| 1 | New York | New York | 8,175,133 | |
| 2 | Los Angeles | California | 3,792,621 | |
| 3 | Chicago | Illinois | 2,695,598 | Population loss after gain in 2000 census |
| 4 | Houston | Texas | 2,099,451 | First city in Texas to surpass the 2 million mark |
| 5 | Philadelphia | Pennsylvania | 1,526,006 | First population gain since 1950 |
| 6 | Phoenix | Arizona | 1,445,632 | |
| 7 | San Antonio | Texas | 1,327,407 | |
| 8 | San Diego | California | 1,307,402 | |
| 9 | Dallas | Texas | 1,197,816 | |
| 10 | San Jose | California | 945,942 | First appearance in top 10 |
For a more extensive list of present population estimates see List of United States cities by population.
Read more about this topic: Largest Cities In The United States By Population By Decade