Phoenix has become America’s fifth most populous city. As of July 1, 2006, the population of Arizona’s state capital stands at 1.5 million. Phoenix is also America’s most populous state capital.

New York continued to be America’s most populous city with 8.2 million residents. This was more than twice the population of Los Angeles, which ranked second at 3.8 million, according to U.S. Census Bureau population estimates.

Phoenix moved into fifth place ahead of Philadelphia. This is in line with a long-term, southward shift of America’s population centers. In 1910, all 10 of America’s most populous cities lay within 500 miles of the Canadian border. The 2006 estimates show that seven of the top 10 — and three of the top five — are now in states bordering Mexico.

Only three of the top 10 from 1910 remain on the list now: New York, Chicago and Philadelphia. Conversely, three of the current top 10 cities (Phoenix; San Jose, California. and San Diego) were not even among the 100 most populous in 1910, while three more (Dallas, Houston and San Antonio) had populations of less than 100,000.

High Growth Cities

Many of the nation’s fastest-growing cities are suburbs. North Las Vegas, Nevada, had the nation’s fastest growth rate among large cities (100,000 or more population) between July 1, 2005, and July 1, 2006. North Las Vegas’ population increased 11.9 percent to 197,567. It was joined on the list of the 10 fastest-growing cities by three in the Dallas metro area: McKinney (ranking second), Grand Prairie (sixth) and Denton (ninth). In the same vicinity, Fort Worth just missed the list, ranking 11th.

Florida and Arizona each had two cities among the 10 fastest growing: Port St. Lucie (third) and Cape Coral (fourth) in Florida; and Gilbert (fifth) and Peoria (seventh) in Arizona, both near Phoenix. North Carolina (Cary, near Raleigh) and California (Lancaster, near Los Angeles) each contributed one city to the list. California had seven cities among the 25 fastest growing, leading all states.

Phoenix had the largest population increase of any city, adding more than 43,000 residents to reach 1.5 million. However, Texas dominated the list of the 10 highest gainers, with San Antonio, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and Dallas each making the top 10. North Las Vegas; Miami; Charlotte, N.C.; and San Jose, California. rounded out the list of the 10 biggest gainers. Overall, eight Texas cities were among the 25 biggest gainers.

New Orleans had by far the largest population loss among all cities with populations of at least 100,000 people. The city lost slightly more than half of its pre-Hurricane Katrina population. It fell from 452,170 on July 1, 2005, to 223,388 one year later — a loss of 50.6 percent.

America’s 25 Largest Cities