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

Can you name the 100 cities in the U.S which have lost the most people since they reached their peak population?

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Based on 2024 estimates

Excludes census-designated places

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Last updated: June 3, 2025

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First submitted	December 3, 2024
Times taken	12,703
Average score	46.0%
Rating	4.58

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Loss	%	Peak	State	City
-1,203,863	65.1%	1950	MI	Detroit
-899,654	24.8%	1950	IL	Chicago
-577,101	67.4%	1950	MO	St. Louis
-549,429	60.1%	1950	OH	Cleveland
-497,689	24.0%	1950	PA	Philadelphia
-381,437	40.2%	1950	MD	Baltimore
-369,138	54.5%	1950	PA	Pittsburgh
-326,118	3.7%	2020	NY	New York City
-303,515	52.3%	1950	NY	Buffalo
-264,824	42.2%	1960	LA	New Orleans
-189,083	37.5%	1950	OH	Cincinnati
-177,793	24.0%	1960	WI	Milwaukee
-144,530	42.4%	1960	AL	Birmingham
-127,986	16.0%	1950	MA	Boston
-125,986	48.0%	1960	OH	Dayton
-125,206	37.7%	1950	NY	Rochester
-125,034	28.3%	1930	NJ	Newark
-118,180	30.8%	1970	OH	Toledo
-117,205	59.5%	1960	MI	Flint
-110,879	65.2%	1930	OH	Youngstown
-110,765	62.1%	1960	IN	Gary
-100,687	34.7%	1960	OH	Akron
-99,928	12.5%	1950	--	Washington
-93,139	17.9%	1950	MN	Minneapolis
-76,846	25.0%	1970	VA	Norfolk
-74,486	33.8%	1950	NY	Syracuse
-67,528	47.1%	1930	PA	Scranton
-64,558	78.4%	1950	IL	East St. Louis
-61,446	30.3%	1980	MS	Jackson
-58,798	23.2%	1940	RI	Providence
-55,268	31.2%	1950	CT	Hartford
-55,264	56.2%	1960	MI	Saginaw
-54,882	53.6%	1960	NY	Niagara Falls
-52,806	42.4%	1950	NJ	Camden
-49,474	73.5%	1920	PA	Johnstown
-47,701	40.8%	1950	OH	Canton
-46,439	5.3%	2020	CA	San Francisco
-45,500	32.9%	1960	PA	Erie
-44,569	84.2%	1930	MI	Highland Park
-41,965	48.4%	1930	PA	Wilkes-Barre
-41,411	48.0%	1950	WV	Huntington
-39,335	47.9%	1930	PA	Altoona
-39,328	35.0%	1940	DE	Wilmington
-39,314	45.8%	1960	WV	Charleston
-39,181	6.0%	2000	TN	Memphis
-38,895	43.4%	1950	PA	Harrisburg
-38,236	69.1%	1940	PA	McKeesport
-38,080	37.4%	1930	NY	Utica
-36,816	28.8%	1950	NJ	Trenton
-35,668	31.9%	1960	IN	Hammond
-35,599	57.7%	1930	WV	Wheeling

Loss	%	Peak	State	City
-33,901	42.0%	1950	NY	Binghamton
-33,678	24.9%	1950	NY	Albany
-31,987	48.4%	1950	PA	Chester
-31,901	55.3%	1960	IN	East Chicago
-31,881	31.0%	1900	MO	St. Joseph
-30,411	14.7%	1980	LA	Shreveport
-30,016	34.1%	1970	MI	St. Clair Shores
-28,844	51.3%	1930	MI	Hamtramck
-28,732	21.7%	1960	IN	South Bend
-28,593	60.4%	1960	AL	Prichard
-27,987	32.5%	1970	MI	Royal Oak
-27,502	56.3%	1950	PA	New Castle
-27,239	41.1%	1930	NJ	Atlantic City
-26,881	16.3%	1950	CT	New Haven
-26,690	7.2%	2000	HI	Honolulu
-26,645	66.5%	1950	OH	East Cleveland
-26,197	27.4%	1930	NY	Schenectady
-26,148	18.5%	1960	IN	Evansville
-25,796	21.4%	1920	MA	Fall River
-25,748	33.5%	1910	NY	Troy
-25,318	26.9%	1980	IL	Decatur
-25,071	58.9%	1930	OH	Portsmouth
-25,002	43.0%	1960	AL	Gadsden
-24,811	39.1%	1970	OH	Warren
-24,585	29.7%	1960	OH	Springfield
-24,267	44.0%	1930	MI	Jackson
-23,653	94.6%	1876	SD	Deadwood
-23,641	36.2%	1930	KY	Covington
-23,461	47.2%	1950	NY	Elmira
-23,131	32.3%	1970	OH	Euclid
-22,751	26.7%	1970	MI	Pontiac
-22,567	48.0%	1960	RI	Newport
-22,365	37.1%	1920	MA	Holyoke
-21,793	6.4%	2000	CA	Santa Ana
-21,759	20.9%	1930	MA	Somerville
-21,618	83.9%	1910	PA	Shenandoah
-21,518	40.1%	1960	MI	Bay City
-20,992	29.8%	1930	OH	Lakewood
-20,866	20.8%	1970	OH	Parma
-20,840	52.8%	1940	MD	Cumberland
-20,043	0.5%	2020	CA	Los Angeles
-19,899	16.4%	1920	MA	New Bedford
-19,656	38.1%	1960	NY	Rome
-19,622	52.1%	1940	OH	Steubenville
-19,575	11.2%	1960	MA	Springfield
-19,326	18.0%	1960	MN	Duluth
-19,305	44.4%	1960	MI	Wyandotte
-19,210	92.0%	1920	PA	Braddock
-19,044	35.4%	1970	OH	Lima
-18,604	32.4%	1970	AR	Pine Bluff

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30 Comments

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.

Level 34

Dec 4, 2024

Detroit has been dying but their NFL team is still going strong

+13

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.

Level 63

Dec 11, 2024

Many of these are rebounding

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

Level 86

Dec 25, 2024

Very possible. Most PA cities are known for exporting depression and lost glory, and now for rats.

Level 72

Dec 25, 2024

that's definitely how I got it lol

Level 66

Dec 15, 2024

Minnesota should be abbreviated as MN, not ME.

Level 55

Dec 16, 2024

This has been fixed.

Level 78

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.

Level 55

Dec 23, 2024

Thanks!

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.

Level 96

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.

Level 85

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.

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.

Level 45

Jan 28, 2025

Isn’t Pottsville, Pennsylvania also qualified for this list?

Level 55

Jan 28, 2025

Pretty far from it, actually. -11,175 since peak in 1940.

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.

Level 87

Jun 3, 2025

A crazy stat that was true a few years ago (it may be better or worse now) was that 30% of the tax revenue the State of Illinois took in went to pension and health care for retired state workers (many of whom are now in Florida or Arizona). It's hard to fix the budget with that albatross around your neck.

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.

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.

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.

Level 93

Jun 3, 2025

I guess this is the reason for the neutral colored dot on the map near Deadwood.

Level 78

Mar 23, 2025

While I don't doubt that New York is shrinking, or at least will eventually, I know before the 2020 Census the prediction for New York's population is that the city's population was declining and could even be lower than the 2010 Census... but it wasn't lower than 2010 and was pretty significantly higher than the estimates. I don't know if the estimates were wrong or thought it started shrinking before it actually did but for a long time New York's immigration and birth rate has outpaced people leaving the city

Level 78

Jun 3, 2025

Really cool quiz! Consider accepting just 'DC'?

Level 55

Jun 3, 2025

Thanks! Probably forgot to add this back, lol.

Level 87

Jun 3, 2025

Thanks to Paul Simon for teaching me about Saginaw.

Level ∞

Jun 3, 2025

Too many people hitchhiking FROM Saginaw, not enough people hitchhiking TO Saginaw.

Level 50

Jun 10, 2025

The area I'm from rarely shows up in quizes, and when it does it's in ones like this. Really quite sad how so much of rural America has declined in the past century.

Level 65

Jul 2, 2025

I assume Cairo IL and Anniston AL both barely missed the cut to be on this list

Level ∞

Jul 2, 2025

Cairo, Illinois peaked at 15,203 people in 1920.

So even if they lost 100% of their people, it wouldn't be enough to make the news.

And they've "only" lost 90% of their people.

I think it might be interesting to visit some day. Modern-day ghost town vibes.

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