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100 Biggest US Cities in 1900

Name the 100 most populous "urban places" according to the US Bureau of the Census in the year 1900.
Cities will appear on the map when guessed
Honolulu is not included as Hawaii was not yet a state
Quiz by kalbahamut
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Last updated: September 15, 2019
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First submittedMay 27, 2014
Times taken59,286
Average score39.0%
Rating4.44
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Population
City
3,437,202
New York City
1,698,575
Chicago
1,293,697
Philadelphia
575,238
St. Louis
560,892
Boston
508,957
Baltimore
381,768
Cleveland
352,387
Buffalo
342,782
San Francisco
325,902
Cincinnati
321,616
Pittsburgh
287,104
New Orleans
285,704
Detroit
285,315
Milwaukee
278,718
Washington, DC
246,070
Newark
206,433
Jersey City
204,731
Louisville
202,718
Minneapolis
175,597
Providence
169,164
Indianapolis
163,752
Kansas City, MO
163,065
St. Paul
162,608
Rochester
133,859
Denver
131,822
Toledo
129,896
Allegheny
125,560
Columbus
118,421
Worcester
108,374
Syracuse
108,027
New Haven
105,171
Paterson
104,863
Fall River
102,979
St. Joseph
Population
City
102,555
Omaha
102,479
Los Angeles
102,320
Memphis
102,026
Scranton
94,969
Lowell
94,151
Albany
91,886
Cambridge
90,426
Portland, OR
89,872
Atlanta
87,565
Grand Rapids
85,333
Dayton
85,050
Richmond
80,865
Nashville
80,671
Seattle
79,850
Hartford
78,961
Reading
76,508
Wilmington
75,935
Camden
73,307
Trenton
70,996
Bridgeport
68,513
Lynn
66,960
Oakland
62,559
Lawrence
62,442
New Bedford
62,139
Des Moines
62,059
Springfield, MA
61,643
Somerville
60,651
Troy
59,364
Hoboken
59,007
Evansville
56,987
Manchester
56,383
Utica
56,100
Peoria
Population
City
55,807
Charleston
54,244
Savannah
53,531
Salt Lake City
53,321
San Antonio
52,969
Duluth
52,733
Erie
52,130
Elizabeth
51,721
Wilkes-Barre
51,418
Kansas City, KS
50,167
Harrisburg
50,145
Portland, ME
47,931
Yonkers
46,624
Norfolk
45,859
Waterbury
45,712
Holyoke
45,115
Fort Wayne
44,885
Youngstown
44,633
Houston
42,938
Covington
42,728
Akron
42,638
Dallas
42,345
Saginaw
41,459
Lancaster
40,169
Lincoln
40,063
Brockton
39,647
Binghamton
39,441
Augusta
39,231
Pawtucket
38,973
Altoona
38,878
Wheeling
38,469
Mobile
38,415
Birmingham
38,307
Little Rock
100 Recent Comments
+11
Level 91
May 27, 2014
Great quiz. Really shows how much the US population has shifted.
+5
Level 81
Jun 8, 2014
It does! :) Many of these cities of course have increased dramatically in population. Dallas has 100x more people now. But the ones that are most often missed have often gotten smaller in the last 100 years. Holyoke, for one example, has 5,000 fewer inhabitants today than it did in 1900.
+1
Level 81
Jun 8, 2014
and, actually, it has been absorbed into the Springfield, MA metro area so wouldn't even be counted today.
+2
Level 91
Jun 22, 2014
St Louis has lost over 250,000 people since 1900. Also Pittsburgh, which shortly after 1900 annexed Allegheny, has lost 150,000. Buffalo and Cincinnati are also much smaller now.
+1
Level 59
Feb 26, 2024
Pittsburgh had around 500,000 after it annexed Allegheny in 1906, which had around 130,000.

nowadays, Pittsburgh has just over 300,000 and the neighbourhoods that made up former Allegheny total just 43,000

really makes you think :-)

+1
Level 48
Jul 25, 2014
This quiz was very interesting to me. In 1900 this is after the westward expansion boom and the east coast cities we gaining back the population they lost in the mid 1800s. It goes to show how much things like city populations can change in just a short amount of time. If anyone would look at the populations of the same cities a decade later, the amount of people in the cities and the size of the cities will be hugely different in just a short 10 years.
+3
Level 74
Oct 27, 2019
The city of St. Louis has set boundaries. As people moved to adjoining St. Louis County and surrounding suburbs, the city could not annex them. Today, the region shows mostly slow to moderate growth, depending on which areas are included in the studies, but the city itself continues to lose population.
+2
Level 90
Dec 30, 2019
St. Louis boomed to 850,000 by 1950. It's lost almost 2/3 of its population since. Detroit 1,850,000 down to 670,000. Youngstown 170,000 down to 60,000. Many more have dived hard with U.S. industry.
+2
Level 56
May 29, 2014
Great quiz. Could have used more time.
+4
Level 87
Jul 25, 2014
Was NC a desert at that time?
+6
Level 81
Jul 25, 2014
In the 19th century even the antebellum South when it was thriving could never match the northern states for their cities. The south was much more rural and less industrialized and therefore fewer people lived in cities there. In addition, by 1900, 35 years after the end of the Civil War, Reconstruction had repaired some of the damage done to the urban centers of these states but they were also starting basically from scratch in many places.
+2
Level 37
Jul 29, 2014
Among Southern states, NC never had a good port city. There was Norfolk/Portsmouth, Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, New Orleans by comparison. And they never had factories either to compare with Richmond, Birmingham, Columbus. NC, like Mississippi, remained stagnant after Reconstruction and through the Jim Crow era. They didn't start to industrialize the Tobacco Road cities until the 10s and 20s.
+5
Level 58
Sep 27, 2016
seriously? you couldnt be more wrong lmao.

lets take a look at Wilmington, one of the best deep water ports along the east coast through much of the united states history. massive shipbuilding hub during ww2, over 240 ships built there. still a huge international shipping destination today.

+1
Level 25
Mar 19, 2023
key word pal: he said "HAD" . he is correct that NC didn't have a major city Wilmington had less than 20k people in 1900. next time think before you type little buddy
+2
Level 70
Jul 25, 2014
"Pittsburg" should be accepted as that was the official spelling of the city in 1900.
+3
Level 91
Jul 29, 2014
Had to look that one up, you do have a point.
+3
Level 81
Jul 29, 2014
I fixed it already. Thanks.
+4
Level 66
Mar 6, 2016
Only for 20 years by the federal government. Most people refused to alter the spelling and they had to reverse the decision.
+1
Level 71
Aug 2, 2014
great quiz! Keep it as it is. it's more challenging. - my 2 cents : )
+1
Level 45
Nov 9, 2014
One of the best quizzes I have taken!!!
+1
Level 81
Nov 9, 2014
Thanks. glad you liked it.
+2
Level 74
Feb 9, 2015
How about a "Countries of the World in 1900" quiz?
+1
Level 81
Feb 9, 2015
There are Most populous countries in 1900 and 1950 quizzes already. I made the latter. Since many modern countries were part of European empires in 1900, that quiz covers most of the world with just a top 20 list.
+2
Level 81
Feb 9, 2015
Oh wait. here you go

Killitquick already did it.

+3
Level 65
Jul 13, 2015
Killit quick? This quiz, kalbahamut, is for you!
+2
Level 81
Sep 4, 2016
I always just assumed that killit was typing his name when a spider crawled across his keyboard and he didn't get it quite right on account of panic-induced typos.
+1
Level 60
Oct 5, 2020
Maybe when the spider crawled across the keyboard they wanted to shout "kill it quick" but accidentally typed it into their JetPunk username and the spider messed up the letters as they typed it in
+2
Level 61
Feb 2, 2015
It's weird having moved from California to the Northeast. The city I'm currently living in has 20k fewer people now than it did in 1900. That just doesn't happen back home.
+1
Level 90
Dec 30, 2019
You rarely find the crowded and compact streets out West in cities that you find in virtually every small Northeastern town either. It's like a late model Europe.
+1
Level 65
Oct 11, 2015
Hey, this has been made. You know, "Biggest US Cities in 1900". The only difference is that this is 100, and the other is 50. More points for me! :)
+1
Level 81
Oct 11, 2015
I think I made the same discovery in the comments above.
+1
Level 46
Oct 12, 2015
So Florida was not representing in 1900
+3
Level 68
Jul 5, 2021
Air conditioning was invented in 1902. I'm thinking that Florida would have far less appeal without it.
+1
Level 71
Dec 9, 2015
Excited to see that it's Troy, NY, which is what I had in mind when I tried it
+2
Level 66
Mar 6, 2016
It definitely helps that I'm from Pennsylvania. I wouldn't mind a reduction because I frankly don't expect anybody from outside the state to know a place like Altoona even exists.
+3
Level 47
Jan 17, 2017
I'm also from Pennsylvania, and I barely know where Altoona is!
+1
Level 28
Mar 27, 2018
I got Altoona but not Allegheny...
+2
Level 68
Mar 24, 2016
52/100 and 4/5 points. I'm happy with that, I'll never get 100 anyway and all for one extra point! Got some 3%ers but then missed off some like Portland, Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis. Not bad for an Englishman anyway.
+1
Level 81
Mar 29, 2016
Not bad at all. My high score is 63 and I made the quiz.
+1
Level 35
Jun 5, 2016
Biggest one I missed is Rochester at 162,608, which in 2016 is only modestly larger than that at 210k.
+1
Level 76
Jul 3, 2016
Took it twice 2 years ago with 34-35/100. Now got 52. Practising with the modern 200 biggest cities one certainly paid off. Still forgot Atlanta and Salt Lake City.
+4
Level 82
Jul 8, 2016
Being from Massachusetts helps. I got most of the low percentage New England and NY cities. All those old mill towns and industrial centers.
+1
Level 37
Aug 11, 2016
This is one of the most interesting quizzes on the site, so many northern cities I didn't expect to be here!
+1
Level 66
Nov 12, 2016
I would never have guessed Pawtucket, even though I once lived there. Mill town, so I should have, perhaps.
+3
Level 73
Nov 28, 2016
A lot of Massachusetts area ones here
+1
Level 81
Nov 28, 2016
Not so surprising. Boston was one of the top 5 urban centers in the country at the time and among the 3 oldest giving the surrounding areas ample time to grow in to population centers in their own right.
+1
Level 56
Jan 1, 2017
I can't believe Lancaster was on here. The city isn't that big when I visited there. Rochester and Duluth were that big too?
+1
Level 81
Feb 28, 2017
If New York is "the city that never sleeps," I think Rochester should be "the city that goes to bed early." I was there once, twenty years ago, for a convention. I remember thinking it was odd mostly because it seemed like a fairly large city, and yet everything closed by around 6 p.m. After that it was difficult even finding a place to deliver pizza to our hotel.
+1
Level 47
Feb 28, 2017
I wouldn't have thought that Salt Lake City was in the top 100, let alone as far up as it is, in 1900. Considering it was only settled 53 years prior.
+5
Level 81
Feb 28, 2017
Mormons multiply quickly
+2
Level 58
Feb 28, 2017
Covington? Wow!
+1
Level 80
Feb 2, 2024
Covington? Wow!
+1
Level 45
Feb 28, 2017
i cheated a little
+3
Level 71
Feb 28, 2017
It would be really helpful to have the states that these cities are in listed in the answers. The major ones I know, but not the more obscure ones.
+1
Level 68
Mar 1, 2017
Got 32, should have got a few more. The only US place I've been is Los Angeles on a stopover for 2 days when I was 8. Will travel there one day. Interesting quiz, thanks.
+2
Level 65
Mar 2, 2017
I was surprised when certain east coast cities were on there, like Scranton, Erie, and Jersey City, while I was surprised that certain west coast cities weren't, like San Diego and Phoenix. I guess this says a lot about migration patterns in the last century.
+1
Level 44
Mar 10, 2017
I was confused by "urban places"... for instance I didn't list Hoboken, because I considered that part of the NYC metro area. Very interesting!
+2
Level 72
Mar 30, 2017
New England all over this superb quiz.
+2
Level 68
Oct 3, 2017
I you know the Mill towns in New England, you can do well on this quiz.
+1
Level 55
Jun 30, 2018
48/100. Not bad for a Brit.
+1
Level 74
Sep 12, 2018
70/100 but i forgot Washington
+1
Level 90
Apr 27, 2019
The source may say "urban places", which is a common reference for population on JetPunk, but this is most definitely city limits populations.
+1
Level 81
Apr 29, 2019
How do you know?
+2
Level 71
Oct 27, 2019
Clear from the population of New York and other top cities, and the fact that many of these lie in urban areas of others.
+1
Level 90
Oct 28, 2019
Simple U.S. Census Bureau statistics. They are for city limits.

Also, as Wishy Washy said it includes suburbs 3 feet from the downtown of other cities, so it's obviously not the total urban area.

+1
Level 66
Oct 27, 2019
Quite surprised the average is that low at 37%.
+1
Level 71
Oct 27, 2019
Scored 67 out of 100 but could have gotten another 15-20 with more time. Would be great to have a few more minutes on this quiz to really let people scrape as much knowledge as they can.
+1
Level 67
Oct 27, 2019
Growing up in New York and going to school in New England helped immensely.
+2
Level 71
Oct 27, 2019
Just a bit over 100 years ago, Scranton was the same size as LA, and was larger than Dallas and Houston combined. Just let that sink in for a second.
+1
Level 90
Dec 30, 2019
Back when paper meant something.
+2
Level 28
Oct 28, 2019
"Honolulu is not included as Hawaii was not yet a state." Why does that matter? Did the census not go to the territories?
+4
Level 81
Oct 28, 2019
It wasn't a US city at the time. I'm not sure if they collected census data there or not... I don't remember if it was in the data and I chose to exclude it or if it wasn't in the data but I think the latter.
+1
Level 52
Oct 28, 2019
Great quiz. I am originally from New England, so just started naming every town I could think of in those states and New York. That helped!
+1
Level 80
Oct 29, 2019
Was curious if Manila or Havana would make it
+1
Level 81
Dec 30, 2019
Manila definitely would have. In 1900 they had a population around 200-300k. Not sure about Havana, but probably. Havana was booming by the early 1900s.
+1
Level 32
Oct 28, 2020
I was right to approach this as a "what were the largest cities in NY, MA, PA & OH?" quiz ;)
+2
Level 66
Dec 18, 2020
I feel like I wouldn't have done half as well on this quiz if I didn't live in New England.
+1
Level 57
May 25, 2022
Once I got Holyoke Mass I realized I should just be guessing random small cities in New England
+1
Level 81
May 25, 2022
after getting the bigger cities that is in fact a good strategy.
+1
Level 45
Jan 9, 2021
Kalbahamut, does the population include slaves?
+6
Level 81
Jan 9, 2021
In 1900? There were no slaves in the United States in 1900. The Civil War ended and 13th Amendment was ratified in 1865.
+1
Level 45
Jan 9, 2021
Also, what about cities like Brooklyn and Queens
+5
Level 76
Mar 13, 2021
Brooklyn and Queens became part of New York in 1898 and are thus included in it's figure
+1
Level 28
Jul 2, 2021
https://www.biggestuscities.com/1900

he pretty much got his entire list from this website.

+4
Level 81
Jul 2, 2021
Awesome detective work!

I actually didn't.. but.. it's probable that this list and the quiz both got their information from the same source. Which, while mysteriously escaping your master sleuthing skills, is listed at the top of the page.

+1
Level 60
May 12, 2024
in fact, according to the biggestuscities.com website, the data comes from the same exact source that kalbahamut linked in the caveats, lol
+1
Level 66
Jul 2, 2021
Makes me laugh to see that, back in the day, Saginaw was basically the same size as Dallas.
+3
Level 62
Jul 2, 2021
Got that one - only thanks to Simon & Garfunkel!
+1
Level 60
Nov 10, 2021
I missed Atlanta. I feel so stupid.
+1
Level 65
Mar 18, 2022
How did I miss Chicago...
+2
Level 91
Jul 20, 2022
I think I need two or three more minutes on this one.
+1
Level 90
Sep 29, 2023
Yeah, it's just another speed typing test. Better to just click "Untimed" and actually test your knowledge, not how frantic you want to be.
+1
Level 81
Feb 11, 2024
so click "untimed," then.
+1
Level 81
Apr 12, 2023
Great quiz. leave it like it is top 100. Although I can only manage a high score of 84/100
+1
Level 92
Feb 2, 2024
Not enough time.
+1
Level 58
Feb 2, 2024
Quite fun.

Odd that by having a half-decent knowledge of NCAA football and old ice hockey teams, and by guessing a whole load of English names from close to the real Boston that might also have been borrowed that you can beat 60% of participants,a lot of whom have probably been to the US.

Thank you Wilkes-Barre Scranton and Akron Zips - although I'm a bit p'd off at typing Suffolk (which didn't count) and not Norfolk or Cambridge (which did).

+1
Level 53
Feb 7, 2024
Absolutely insane that Fort Wayne isn't accepted for "Ft wayne"...
+3
Level ∞
Feb 7, 2024
Fort Wayne is accepted.
+1
Level 59
Feb 8, 2024
it is :)