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100 U.S. Cities that Have Lost the Most People

Can you name the 100 cities in the U.S which have lost at least 20,000 since they reached their peak population?
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Excludes census-designated places
Quiz by Dekkie
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Last updated: December 16, 2024
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First submittedDecember 3, 2024
Times taken7,968
Average score43.0%
Rating4.52
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Loss
%
Peak
State
City
-1,216,350
65.7%
1950
MI
Detroit
-956,510
26.4%
1950
IL
Chicago
-575,042
67.1%
1950
MO
St. Louis
-552,152
60.3%
1950
OH
Cleveland
-546,155
6.2%
2020
NY
New York City
-521,063
25.1%
1950
PA
Philadelphia
-384,469
40.4%
1950
MD
Baltimore
-373,551
55.1%
1950
PA
Pittsburgh
-305,454
52.6%
1950
NY
Buffalo
-263,389
41.9%
1960
LA
New Orleans
-192,901
38.2%
1950
OH
Cincinnati
-179,939
24.2%
1960
WI
Milwaukee
-147,611
18.4%
1950
MA
Boston
-144,243
42.3%
1960
AL
Birmingham
-137,377
31.0%
1930
NJ
Newark
-126,820
48.3%
1960
OH
Dayton
-125,214
37.6%
1950
NY
Rochester
-123,206
15.3%
1950
--
Washington
-118,514
30.8%
1970
OH
Toledo
-117,279
59.5%
1960
MI
Flint
-110,894
65.2%
1930
OH
Youngstown
-110,668
62.0%
1960
IN
Gary
-101,650
35.0%
1960
OH
Akron
-96,603
18.5%
1950
MN
Minneapolis
-77,833
1.9%
2020
CA
Los Angeles
-77,021
25.0%
1970
VA
Norfolk
-75,023
34.0%
1950
NY
Syracuse
-67,628
47.1%
1930
PA
Scranton
-64,977
7.4%
2020
CA
San Francisco
-64,724
78.5%
1950
IL
East St. Louis
-62,712
24.7%
1940
RI
Providence
-59,186
29.1%
1980
MS
Jackson
-57,728
32.5%
1950
CT
Hartford
-55,080
56.0%
1960
MI
Saginaw
-54,795
53.5%
1960
NY
Niagara Falls
-53,455
42.9%
1950
NJ
Camden
-49,377
73.3%
1920
PA
Johnstown
-47,715
40.8%
1950
OH
Canton
-45,483
32.8%
1960
PA
Erie
-44,516
84.0%
1930
MI
Highland Park
-43,585
4.3%
2020
CA
San Jose
-42,605
23.7%
1970
MI
Warren
-42,372
48.9%
1930
PA
Wilkes-Barre
-41,028
47.5%
1950
WV
Huntington
-40,829
36.2%
1940
DE
Wilmington
-39,532
44.1%
1950
PA
Harrisburg
-39,266
47.8%
1930
PA
Altoona
-38,958
45.4%
1960
WV
Charleston
-38,389
29.9%
1950
NJ
Trenton
-38,347
11.3%
2000
CA
Santa Ana
Loss
%
Peak
State
City
-38,223
69.0%
1940
PA
McKeesport
-38,133
37.4%
1930
NY
Utica
-35,505
31.7%
1960
IN
Hammond
-35,451
57.4%
1930
WV
Wheeling
-33,947
42.0%
1950
NY
Binghamton
-33,767
25.0%
1950
NY
Albany
-32,444
49.1%
1950
PA
Chester
-32,345
31.4%
1900
MO
St. Joseph
-31,839
55.2%
1960
IN
East Chicago
-31,461
4.8%
2000
TN
Memphis
-30,545
34.6%
1970
MI
St. Clair Shores
-29,879
8.0%
2000
HI
Honolulu
-29,124
17.7%
1950
CT
New Haven
-29,050
21.9%
1960
IN
South Bend
-29,030
14.0%
1980
LA
Shreveport
-28,929
51.4%
1930
MI
Hamtramck
-28,786
33.3%
1970
MI
Royal Oak
-28,555
60.2%
1960
AL
Prichard
-27,734
41.8%
1930
NJ
Atlantic City
-27,421
56.3%
1950
PA
New Castle
-27,148
28.3%
1930
NY
Schenectady
-26,695
66.6%
1950
OH
East Cleveland
-26,645
22.1%
1920
MA
Fall River
-26,211
18.5%
1960
IN
Evansville
-26,206
34.1%
1910
NY
Troy
-25,411
27.0%
1980
IL
Decatur
-25,058
7.9%
1930
NJ
Jersey City
-25,005
58.7%
1930
OH
Portsmouth
-24,859
42.7%
1960
AL
Gadsden
-24,743
38.9%
1970
OH
Warren
-24,641
29.7%
1960
OH
Springfield
-24,333
44.0%
1930
MI
Jackson
-24,280
37.2%
1930
KY
Covington
-23,590
27.6%
1970
MI
Pontiac
-23,540
47.3%
1950
NY
Elmira
-23,501
22.6%
1930
MA
Somerville
-23,340
32.6%
1970
OH
Euclid
-22,575
37.4%
1920
MA
Holyoke
-22,332
47.4%
1960
RI
Newport
-22,005
3.3%
2020
OR
Portland
-21,528
83.5%
1910
PA
Shenandoah
-21,522
40.1%
1960
MI
Bay City
-21,265
21.2%
1970
OH
Parma
-21,200
19.7%
1990
CA
Citrus Heights
-21,172
30.0%
1930
OH
Lakewood
-20,791
11.9%
1960
MA
Springfield
-20,522
16.9%
1920
MA
New Bedford
-20,374
8.1%
1970
VA
Richmond
-20,336
10.2%
2010
IL
Aurora
-20,184
9.9%
1960
AL
Mobile
20 Comments
+6
Level 55
Dec 3, 2024
Some things to note:

- This was all calculated manually and it might be possible that a city or two are missing, but this is otherwise a very complete list.

- St. Joseph's 1900 peak is disputed.

+5
Level 29
Dec 4, 2024
Detroit has been dying but their NFL team is still going strong
+11
Level 70
Dec 11, 2024
Our population actually grew in 2023 for the first time since the 1950s (albeit by only about 2,000 residents). There's been a lot of new development and business growth over the last decade and, in 2023, we had the lowest number of homicides in the last 30-40 years. Still a long way to go (and we're never getting back to peak population) but the trend is up!

Also, the Lions are amazing and Dan Campbell is a demigod.

+4
Level 62
Dec 11, 2024
Many of these are rebounding

I wonder if Altoona is higher in the stats cuz of what occured

+3
Level 84
Dec 25, 2024
Very possible. Most PA cities are known for exporting depression and lost glory, and now for rats.
+2
Level 71
Dec 25, 2024
that's definitely how I got it lol
+2
Level 66
Dec 15, 2024
Minnesota should be abbreviated as MN, not ME.
+3
Level 55
Dec 16, 2024
This has been fixed.
+1
Level 73
Dec 23, 2024
Congrats on the feature! What I learned from this Quiz is that Portland is not on the sea, a fact I've probably learned before and forgotten.
+2
Level 55
Dec 23, 2024
Thanks!
+2
Level 92
Dec 23, 2024
I figured Shenandoah, Pennsylvania was a coal boomtown, but I had to look it up because I wasn't familiar with it. It just barely hit the threshold for this quiz.
+3
Level 95
Dec 28, 2024
Citrus Heights, California was only incorporated in 1997, so the peak population may be an artifact of some change in borders with incorporation.
+2
Level 84
Jan 6, 2025
I was wondering about this, too, and I think you're right. Here's a map showing the boundaries of the Citrus Heights CDP from 1990: https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/trt1990/st06_California/06067_Sacramento/90T06067_001.pdf

If you compare that to the current city map, you can see that there are meaningful portions in the southeast and southwest that are now part of Orangevale, Fair Oaks, or Carmichael: http://www.citrusheights.net/DocumentCenter/View/1656/City-of-Citrus-Heights-Map-PDF

But even setting aside the boundary change, it seems to me that Citrus Heights shouldn't be in a quiz about cities and towns for a time period before it was incorporated as a city. Otherwise, great quiz.

+2
Level 55
Jan 7, 2025
Thanks! Fair point, Citrus Heights will be removed in the next update, which will be around the time the 2024 estimates release later this year.
+1
Level 44
Jan 28, 2025
Isn’t Pottsville, Pennsylvania also qualified for this list?
+1
Level 55
Jan 28, 2025
Pretty far from it, actually. -11,175 since peak in 1940.
+1
Level 45
Jan 30, 2025
Chicago has high property taxes and a rising cost of living. Many residents move to states with lower taxes and more affordable housing, like Texas, Florida, or Tennessee.

And of course, the city has struggled with violent crime, particularly in certain neighborhoods.

+1
Level 73
Jan 30, 2025
I feel that you shouldn't give out East Chicago, East St. Louis, and East Cleveland for free. East Chicago is not even in the same state as Chicago, and ditto with East St. Louis.
+1
Level 55
Feb 4, 2025
Didn’t Deadwood City South Dakota used to have like 25-40k people back in the 1800’s and now it has like 2k people or something like that? I don’t know the specific demographics/numbers but that one might be worth looking into.
+1
Level 55
Feb 4, 2025
While perhaps it did, it does become problematic when there's no official figure reported for it until the 1880 census (which recorded 3,777 inhabitants), shortly after its alleged 25,000 peak in 1876. The issue is that these numbers aren't very dependable when they're just rough estimates.

Another one city that has this same issue is Butte, Montana where a population of 100,000 was alleged around the 1920s, compared to the 2023 estimate of 35,701.