Quote:
Originally Posted by Steely Dan
^ Does a top 20 exist for US metros in 1900?
Would be interesting to see. I'm guessing it would be dominated by the northeast & midwest with some far flung outposts like san fran & new orleans
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When I was 16 or so, I made a full list of them, using the US historic definitions for 1950:
https://www.census.gov/geographies/r...ion-files.html
1920 1910 1900
Akron 286065 108253 71715
Albany 408598 384177 334120
Albuquerque 29855 23606 28630
Allentown 346664 289686 231361
Altoona 128334 108858 85099
Amarillo 20385 15736 2783
Asheville 64148 49798 44288
Atlanta 307094 234011 163139
Atlantic City 83914 71894 46402
Augusta 109266 100735 92767
Austin 57616 55620 47386
Baltimore 852051 720387 639332
Baton Rouge 44513 34580 31153
Bay City 69548 68238 62378
Beaumont 73120 38182 14239
Binghamton 113610 78809 69149
Birmingham 310054 226476 140420
Boston-Bro-Law-Low 2472079 2169623 1799667
Bridgeport-Stamford 320936 245322 184203
Buffalo 753393 621021 508647
Canton 177218 122987 94747
Cedar Rapids 74004 60720 55392
Charleston 108450 88594 88006
Charleston 180027 133360 86683
Charlotte 80695 67031 55268
Chattanooga 139324 107959 77356
Chicago 3521789 2752820 2092883
Cincinnati 628999 590456 527293
Cleveland 972162 660352 460600
Columbia 78122 55143 45589
Columbus 76909 67750 62709
Columbus 283951 221567 164460
Corpus Christi 22807 21955 10439
Dallas 210551 135748 82726
Davenport 166249 130404 106807
Dayton 240753 193536 161759
Decatur 65175 54186 44003
Denver 299087 246767 162323
Des Moines 154029 110438 82624
Detroit 1305798 613773 426829
Duluth 256162 210696 119267
Durham 42219 35276 26233
El Paso 101877 52599 24886
Erie 153536 115517 98473
Evansville 92293 77438 71769
Flint 125668 64555 41804
Fort Wayne 114303 93386 77270
Fort Worth 152800 108572 52376
Fresno 128779 75657 37862
Gadsden 47275 39109 27361
Galveston 53150 44479 44116
Grand Rapids 183041 159145 129714
Green Bay 61889 54098 46359
Greensboro 79272 60497 39074
Greenville 88498 68377 53490
Hamilton 87025 70271 56870
Harrisburg 211694 190631 164787
Hartford-New Brit 336027 250182 195480
Honolulu 123496 81993 58504
Houston 186667 115693 63786
Huntington 160580 133698 111039
Indianapolis 348061 263661 197227
Jackson 72539 53426 48222
Jackson 57110 63726 52577
Jacksonville 113540 75163 39733
Johnstown 279951 233848 154298
Kalamazoo 71225 60427 44310
Kansas City 528833 422180 305427
Kenosha 51284 32929 21707
Knoxville 160024 132713 111142
Lancaster 173797 167029 159241
Lansing 81554 53310 39818
Laredo 29152 22503 21851
Lexington 54664 47715 42071
Lima 68223 56580 47976
Lincoln 85902 73793 64835
Little Rock 109464 86751 63179
Lorain 90612 76037 54857
Los Angeles 997830 538567 189994
Louisville 346411 323473 294102
Lubbock 11096 3624 293
Macon 93268 80255 73114
Madison 89432 77435 69435
Manchester 135512 126072 112640
Memphis 223216 191439 153557
Miami 42753 11933 4955
Milwaukee 539449 433187 330017
Minneapolis 704566 594819 431940
Mobile 100117 80854 62740
Montgomery 80853 82178 72047
Muncie 56377 51414 49624
Nashville 167815 149478 122815
New Haven-Waterbury 415214 337282 269163
New Orleans 413750 362599 307456
New York 8490694 7049047 5048550
Norfolk 241148 164912 126023
Ogden 43463 35179 25239
Oklahoma City 116307 85232 25915
Omaha 275444 233652 204006
Orlando 19890 19107 11374
Peoria 150250 134282 121829
Philadelphia 2714271 2268209 1892128
Phoenix 89576 34488 20457
Pittsburgh 1759989 1471600 1083846
Pittsfield 113033 105259 95667
Portland 124376 112014 100689
Portland 372777 303829 150711
Providence-FR-NB 834195 742926 580712
Pueblo 57638 52223 34448
Racine 78961 57424 45644
Raleigh 75155 63229 54626
Reading 200854 183222 159615
Richmond 211135 172364 133916
Roanoke 73237 54497 37332
Rochester 352034 283212 217854
Rockford 90929 63153 47845
Sacramento 91029 67806 45915
Saginaw 100286 89290 81222
St. Joseph 93684 93020 121838
St. Louis 1139877 1003858 801131
Salt Lake City 159282 131426 77725
San Angelo 15210 17882 6804
San Antonio 202096 119676 69422
San Bernardino 73401 56706 27929
San Diego 112248 61665 35090
San Francisco 1009467 773975 542964
San Jose 100676 83539 60216
Savannah 100032 79690 71239
Scranton 286311 259570 193831
Seattle 389273 284638 110053
Shreveport 83265 58200 44499
Sioux City 92171 67616 54610
Sioux Falls 42490 29631 23926
South Bend 103304 84312 58881
Spokane 141289 139404 57542
Springfield 100262 91024 71593
Springfield 68698 63831 52713
Springfield 80728 66435 58939
Springfield 369904 294696 234423
Stockton 79905 50731 35452
Syracuse 241465 200298 168735
Tacoma 144127 120812 55515
Tampa 116522 78374 36013
Terre Haute 100212 87930 62035
Toledo 275721 192728 153559
Topeka 69159 61874 53727
Trenton 159881 125657 95365
Tulsa 109023 34995 -
Utica 247795 210513 183849
Waco 82921 73250 59772
Washington 571882 445401 378605
Waterloo 56570 44865 32399
Wheeling 303848 253802 193212
Wichita 92234 73095 44037
Wichita Falls 72911 16094 5806
Wilkes-Barre 390991 343186 257121
Wilmington 184811 150187 135227
Winston-Salem 77269 47311 35261
Worcester 455135 399657 346958
York 144521 136405 116413
Youngstown 364018 246616 174112
Note the New England areas were city-based, not county-based, but i, for obvious reasons, used counties.
I'd repair some mistakes today, as Google Maps don't even exist back then. Plymouth County, for example, wouldn't be part of Boston metro area in 1950, let alone in 1900. So feel free to subtract it. Providence was a bit bigger though. For 1900, I'd used only the 3 northernmost and wouldn't invaded Massachusetts.
Pittsburgh is a bit weird as people always mention, more like a collect of dense villages. In 1950, they used a 4-county definition. For 1900, I'd guess it would be Allegheny and Westmoreland only.