USA Metropolitan Area 1940 Populations

[commuter guy]

Okay time to put on my nerd hat. The Buffalo NY thread and the discussion of Buffalo reaching its economic pinnacle long ago got me thinking about a spreadsheet that I put together a few years back. The chart shows 1940 Population figures for "Metropolitan Districts." These are not county based metro population figures but rather more akin to the currennt "urbanized area" population figures currently used by the Census Bureau.

Ever wonder which cities were the the largest just before the post WWII suburban development explosion? This provides insight into which cities might have the greatest amount pre WW II building stock. Of course it should be noted that great variations exist between cities in the amount of demolition and abandonment that has occurred in the last 60+ years. Often an older city will feel more larger and more urban than a sun belt city with a much larger current population as more of its building stock was constructed iunder a more compact urban development pattern more common prior to WWII.

The source is the U.S. Census Bureau as indicated in a old almanac I have: the 1950 World Almanac and Book of Facts published by the New York World Telegram

New York-NE New Jersey 11,690,520
Chicago 4,499,126
Los Angeles 2,904,596
Philadelphia 2,898,644
Boston 2,350,514
Detroit 2,295,867
Pittsburgh 1,994,060
San Francisco-Oakland 1,428,525
St. Louis 1,367,977
Cleveland 1,214,943
Baltimore 1,046,692
Minneapolis-St. Paul 911,077
Washington 907,816
Buffalo, Niagara 857,719
Milwaukee 790,336
Cincinnati 789,309
Providence 711,500
Kansas City, MO-Kansas City KS 634,093
Scranton-Wilkes-Barre 629,581
New Orleans 540,030
Houston 510,397
Hartford-New Britain 502,193
Indianapolis 455,357
Seattle 452,639
Atlanta 442,294
Louisville 434,408
Albany-Schenectady-Troy 431,575
Rochester 411,970
Birmingham 407,851
Portland OR 406,406
Springfield-Holyoke 394,623
Denver 384,372
Dallas 376,548
Youngstown 372,428
Columbus OH 365,796
Akron 349,705
Toledo 341,663
Lowell-Lawrence-Haverhill 334,969
Memphis 332,477
Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News 330,396
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton 325,142
San Antonio 319,010
New Haven 308,228
Worcester 306,194
Omaha-Council Bluffs 287,698
Fall River-New Bedford 272,648
Dayton 271,513
Syracuse 258,352
San Diego 256,268
Miami 250,537
Richmond 245,674
Nashville 241,769
Oklahoma City 221,229
Bridgeport 216,621
Grand Rapids 209,873
Tampa-St. Petersburg 209,693
Fort Worth 207,677
Salt Lake City 204,488
Canton 200,352
Trenton 200,128
Utica-Rome 197,128
Wheeling 196,340
Jacksonville 195,619
Des Moines 193,973
Chattanooga 193,215
Wilmington DE 188,974
Tulsa 188,562
Flint 188,554
Reading 175,355
Davenport-Rock Island-Moline 174,995
Harrisburg 173,367
Huntington-Ashland 170,979
Peoria 162,566
Sacramento 158,999
Duluth-Superior 157,098
Tacoma 156,018
Saginaw-Bay City 153,388
Knoxville 151,829
Johnstown 151,781
South Bend 147,022
Binghamton 145,156
Mobile 144,906
Waterbury 144,822
Evansville 141,614
Spokane 141,370
Beaumont-Port Arthur 138,608
Charleston WV 136,332
Racine-Kenosha 135,075
Fort Wayne 134,385
Erie 134,019
Lancaster 132,027
San Jose 129,367
Wichita 127,308
Little Rock 126,724
Phoenix 121,828
Savannah 117,970
El Paso 115,801
Altoona 114,094
Charlotte 112,986
Hamilton-Middletown 112,686
Shreveport 112,225
Roanoke 110,593
Lansing 110,356
Winston-Salem 109,833
Portland ME 106,566
Austin 106,193
Rockford 105,259
Atlantic City 100,096
Charleston SC 98,711
Fresno 97,504
Montgomery 93,697
York 92,627
Columbus GA 92,478
Columbia 89,555
Springfield IL 89,484
Lincoln 88,191
Jackson 88,003
Augusta GA 87,809
Sioux City 87,791
St. Joseph 86,991
Terre Haute 83,370
Manchester 81,932
Stockton 79,337
Madison 78,349
Topeka 77,749
Springfield OH 77,406
Kalamazoo 77,213
Asheville 76,324
Macon 74,830
Cedar Rapids 73,219
Greensboro 73,055
Galveston 71,677
Waco 71,114
Corpus Christi 70,677
Springfield MO 70,514
Durham 69,683
Waterloo 67,050
Decatur 65,764
Pueblo 62,039
Amarillo 53,463

 

[Redmoon]

This is a very interesting list. I have been to many of the bigger cities and you can really physically see their rank on this list based on their older built environment.