List of United States cities by population density

Incorporated places with a density of over 10,000 people per square mile

The following data about the most densely populated incorporated places in the United States is from the U.S. Census Bureau and is from the 2020 U.S. census, except for the tables on Puerto Rico, which show data from the 2000 US Census. The following ranking is made up of incorporated places of any population, but also of interest may be lists compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau of all places with at least 50,000 population, arranged alphabetically by state, and ranked by total population; the population density for each place is also given in the lists.

The population density is calculated by dividing the population by the land area so that it represents the number of people living in one square mile of land area. The population densities listed in the table below do not work out to be exactly the result of dividing the listed population by the listed land area because the land areas have been rounded off to two decimal places, but the population densities were calculated before rounding the land area figures. The land area figures are calculated using the U.S. Census Bureau's TIGER system. The U.S. Census Bureau has released the exact land area figures for all places in the U.S. in square meters and square miles; the exact land areas are the figures used for calculating the population densities seen in the table below.

Cities

Those cities that are not a part of a larger city's metropolitan area are in bold.

Census-designated places

The following is a list of unincorporated census-designated places with population densities of over 10,000 people per square mile as of the 2010 U.S. Census. The rank column indicates the rank the place would have if census-designated places were included in the above table of incorporated places.

New York City boroughs

The following lists the population densities of the five boroughs of New York City as of the 2020 U.S. Census. The rank column indicates the rank they would have if included in the above table of incorporated places. Staten Island has a population density below 10,000, but it is included for comparative purposes.

Puerto Rico

The following lists the census-designated places in Puerto Rico that have a population density of over 10,000 people per square mile as of the 2000 U.S. Census. The census-designated places in Puerto Rico include zonas urbanas (urban areas) and comunidades (communities). The municipality, or municipio, the place is located in is also included in the table below. The municipalities are what is thought of as "incorporated places" in Puerto Rico because there are no subordinate governments within them, only eight electoral districts which hold no administrative functions (the electoral districts are what generally constitute the census-designated places in this list below). No municipalities have a density over 10,000 as of the 2000 U.S. Census; the San Juan Municipio is the densest at 9,084.4 people per square mile. The Jayuya municipality is not part of any metropolitan area as it is only part of the Jayuya micropolitan area (see Puerto Rico census statistical areas). The rank column indicates the rank the place would have if included in the above table of incorporated places.

Northern Mariana Islands

In the Northern Mariana Islands, there is one place that has more than 10,000 people per square mile: China Town, Northern Mariana Islands (in the 2010 U.S. Census). The other non-Puerto Rico U.S. territories (American Samoa, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands) do not have any places with more than 10,000 people per square mile (as of the 2010 U.S. Census). China Town, Northern Mariana Islands is a census-designated place; it is also a village within the larger municipality of Saipan. China Town would rank 105th if it were in the first table above.

Distributions

The following distributions only include the 125 incorporated places with population densities over 10,000 people per square mile. They do not include the 36 census-designated places, the boroughs of New York City, or the 11 places in Puerto Rico with densities over 10,000.

Metropolitan areas

The following ranks United States metropolitan areas by the number of incorporated places with densities over 10,000 within them. If two or more metropolitan areas have the same number of incorporated places, as is the case of the eight metros with one place, the metro areas are ranked by the densest incorporated place within the metro area.

States and territories

The following ranks the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the 5 inhabited U.S. territories by the number of incorporated places with densities over 10,000 people within them. The "10,000+ places" column only includes incorporated places, it does not include census-designated places (CDPs). If two or more states have the same number of places, as is the case of the 36 states that contain no incorporated places with a density over 10,000, the states are ranked by the densest incorporated place within the state. The density figures for the densest incorporated place within each state and territory are from the 2010 United States census, and all the data for this ranking is from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The first rank column ranks each state by the number of 10,000+ places in that state (New Jersey ranks first, California ranks second, etc.) The second rank column ranks the most densely populated place in each state or territory (Guttenberg, NJ ranks first, Kaser, NY ranks second, etc.)

Hawaii officially does not contain any incorporated places, as the city of Honolulu is coextensive with Honolulu County, which makes up the whole island of Oahu. When the U.S. Census Bureau ranks incorporated places by population, it usually includes the Honolulu census-designated place, which is the urban center of Honolulu, in its ranking of incorporated places. Therefore, for this list of the densest incorporated places by state, the Honolulu CDP is considered the densest incorporated place in Hawaii. The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. territories are also included in this list. Puerto Rico also officially does not contain any incorporated places, as the lowest form of local government in Puerto Rico are the municipios, which are equivalent to counties. For this ranking, the municipios are counted as the incorporated places in Puerto Rico, and the San Juan Municipio is the densest.

In American Samoa, each village is governed by a pulenu'u (the equivalent of a mayor) — as such, each village in American Samoa can be considered to be incorporated for the purposes of the table below. In the Northern Mariana Islands, each municipality (such as Saipan) is governed by a mayor, and so those municipalities can be considered incorporated — the villages in the Northern Mariana Islands are considered Census-Designated Places. In Guam, each village is governed by a mayor, and so those villages can be considered incorporated. For the purposes of the table below, the major towns of the U.S. Virgin Islands (Charlotte Amalie, Frederiksted and Christiansted) are considered to be incorporated.

Note: this table contains data from the 2010 U.S. Census — because of this, data is more than 15 years old, and the current population density of each jurisdiction may have changed since then.

Populations

New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia are the only incorporated places in the United States that have a population over 1,000,000 and a population density over 10,000 people per square mile.

Land areas

Population densities

Notes

References

References

1. "United States by Places and (in selected states) County Subdivisions with 50,000 or More Population; and for Puerto Rico (geographies ranked alphabetically by state)". [[United States Census Bureau]].
2. "United States by Places and (in selected states) County Subdivisions with 50,000 or More Population; and for Puerto Rico (geographies ranked by total population)". [[United States Census Bureau]].
3. (2002-01-10). "Census 2000 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau, Geography Division.
4. "New York by Place and County Subdivision". United States Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 1.
5. "Puerto Rico by Place". United States Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 1.
6. "Puerto Rico by Municipio". United States Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 1.
7. https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=DEC_10_MPSF_P36&prodType=table American FactFinder. Population Density — 2010 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Summary File. Retrieved June 2019.
8. (2001-04-02). "Incorporated Places of 100,000 or More, Ranked by Population: 2000". United States Census Bureau, Census 2000 Redistricting Data (P.L. 94-171) Summary File and 1990 Census.
9. [https://www.nps.gov/mpsa/learn/historyculture/people.htm nps.gov]{{dead link. (June 2025)
10. https://www.saipantribune.com/index.php/cnmi-mayors-municipal-council-members-join-amim/ Saipan Tribune. CNMI mayors, municipal council members join AMIM. Retrieved June 2019.
11. https://www.mcog.guam.gov/directory Mayor’s Council of Guam. Guam’s Mayors and Vice Mayors. Mcog.guam.gov. Retrieved June 2019.
12. https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=DEC_10_ASSF_P36&prodType=table Population Density. 2010 [territory] Summary File. Retrieved June 2019.
13. [[Township (United States). Townships]] are a special case because in many states townships do not act as incorporated places, but [[Township (New Jersey). townships in New Jersey]] and [[Township (Pennsylvania). townships in Pennsylvania]] are [[civil township]]s and do act as self-governing [[Municipality. municipalities]], and for most purposes are equivalent to other "incorporated" places as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. Because these municipalities have local governments and are essentially incorporated in the state, townships in these two states are included in the list. [[Home rule municipality (Pennsylvania). Home rule municipalities in Pennsylvania]], some of which retain the name "Township", are not civil townships under Pennsylvania law, but are not recognized as a separate category of places by the U.S. Census Bureau. Sometimes the U.S. Census Bureau regards these places as [[minor civil division]]s and not "incorporated", as it also sometimes does to [[New England town]]s. However, all places in [[New England]] on this list are classified as cities and so do not have this problem, as cities in New England are regarded as "incorporated" by the U.S. Census Bureau.
14. This [[Local government in New Jersey. New Jersey municipality]] is officially a [[Township (New Jersey). township]] and is sometimes not regarded as "incorporated" by the U.S. Census Bureau. See the explanation above in the first note for why it is included in this list of incorporated places.
15. This [[:Category:Local government in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania municipality]], although officially bearing the name "[[Township (Pennsylvania). Township]]", is actually a [[Home rule municipality (Pennsylvania). home rule municipality]] which is not subject to the Pennsylvania Township Code. However, the U.S. Census Bureau does not recognize home rule municipalities as a separate category of incorporated place; therefore, it is sometimes not regarded as "incorporated" by the U.S. Census Bureau. See the explanation above in the first note for why it is included in this list of incorporated places.