Largest Cities in the United States & the World

These tables feature the largest metropolitan areas in the United States, the largest metropolitan areas in the World and the largest cities in the World. Other population and geographical statistics are available at mongabay.com/igapo.

World's Largest Urban Areas | All Cities With Population exceeding 100,000

Largest Metropolitan Areas in the United States

Rank

Metropolitan Area Name

State (s)

2000 Pop.

1

New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island

New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania

21,199,865

2

Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County

California

16,373,645

3

Chicago-Gary-Kenosha

Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin

9,157,540

4

Washington-Baltimore

District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia

7,608,070

5

San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose

California

7,039,362

6

Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City

Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland

6,188,463

7

Boston-Worcester-Lawrence

Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut

5,819,100

8

Detroit-Ann Arbor-Flint

Michigan

5,456,428

9

Dallas-Fort Worth

Texas

5,221,801

10

Houston-Galveston-Brazoria

Texas

4,669,571

11

Atlanta

Georgia

4,112,198

12

Miami-Fort Lauderdale

Florida

3,876,380

13

Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton

Washington

3,554,760

14

Phoenix-Mesa

Arizona

3,251,876

15

Minneapolis-St. Paul

Minnesota, Wisconsin

2,968,806

Source: US Census-2000

Largest Metropolitan Areas in the World

Rank

City

Population

1

Tokyo, Japan

28 million

2

New York City, United States

21.1 million

3

Mexico City, Mexico

18.1 million

4

Mumbai, India (Bombay)

18 million

5

Sao Paulo, Brazil

17.7 million

6

Los Angeles, United States

16.4 million

7

Shanghai, China

14.2 million

8

Lagos, Nigeria

13.5 million

9

Kolkata, India (Calcutta)

12.9 million

10

Buenos Aires, Argentina

12.5 million

Sources: World Almanac and Book of Facts, the U.S. Census Bureau, United Nations' sources

Largest Cities in the World (within city limits; without surrounding urban areas)

Rank

City

Population

Year

1

Mumbai (Bombay), India

11,914,398

2001c

2

S�o Paulo, Brazil

10,406,166

2000c

3

Seoul, South Korea

9,895,217

2000c

4

Delhi, India

9,817,439

2001c

5

Karachi, Pakistan

9,269,265

1998c

6

Shanghai, China

9,220,000

1995e

7

Istanbul, Turkey

8,831,805

2000c

8

Mexico City, Mexico

8,591,309

2000c

9

Jakarta, Indonesia

8,389,443

2000c

10

Moscow, Russia

8,305,000

2000e

11

Tokyo, Japan

8,130,000

2000e

12

New York City, USA

8,008,278

2000c

13

London, United Kingdom

7,172,036

2001c

14

Beijing, China

6,970,000

1995e

15

Cairo, Egypt

6,789,479

1996c

16

Teheran, Iran

6,758,845

1996c

17

Lima, Peru

6,723,130

2000e

18

Bogot�, Colombia

6,712,247

2001e

19

Bangkok, Thailand

6,320,174

2000c

20

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

5,850,544

2000c

"e" means estimated; "c" means census figures.
Sources: Assorted Web sources