thumb|right|250px|, is the most densely populated incorporated place in the [[United States. Seen in this image are the
Galaxy Towers, which are just across the
Hudson River from
Manhattan. The Galaxy Towers contain 1,075 apartments.]]
thumb|right|250px|Map of Union City highlighted, the second densest incorporated place.
Guttenberg is the small, skinny town above and to the right of Union City. 10 of the 12
municipalities in Hudson County have densities over 10,000. Union City is sometimes regarded as "the most densely populated city in the U.S.", which is partially true because Guttenberg is officially a
town./" class="wiki">Hudson County, New Jersey, with
Union City highlighted, the second densest incorporated place.
Guttenberg is the small, skinny town above and to the right of Union City. 10 of the 12
municipalities in Hudson County have densities over 10,000. Union City is sometimes regarded as "the most densely populated city in the U.S.", which is partially true because Guttenberg is officially a
town.
The following is a
list of incorporated places in the United States with a population density of over 10,000 people per square mile. As defined by the
United States Census Bureau, an incorporated
place is defined as a place that has a self-governing
local government and as such has been "
incorporated" into the state it is in. Each state has different laws defining how a place can be incorporated and so an "incorporated place" as recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau can designate a variety of places, such as a
city,
town,
village,
borough, and
township.
The other type of place defined by the U.S. Census Bureau for statistical purposes are
census-designated places. Census-designated places are distinct from incorporated places because they do not have a local government and thus depend on higher government bodies, such as a
county, for governance. Census-designated places are defined as being in an
unincorporated area. Census-designated places that have a
population density of over 10,000 people per square mile are listed in a separate table below. The five
boroughs of New York City, and the census-designated places of
Puerto Rico that have densities over 10,000, are also listed in separate tables below.
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
2000 U.S. 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.
The list below only includes
incorporated places of the
fifty states. Unincorporated
census-designated places, places in
Puerto Rico, and the five
boroughs of New York City are all listed in separate tables below. The District of Columbia would be included in the list, but
Washington, D.C. misses the 10,000 mark as it has a population density of 9,316.4 as of the 2000 U.S. Census.
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 2000 U.S. Census.
The rank column indicates the rank the place would have if it was 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 2000 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.
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
The following ranks
U.S. states by the number of incorporated places with densities over 10,000 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 are from the
2000 U.S. Census, and all the data for this ranking is from the
U.S. Census Bureau.
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 and Puerto Rico are also included in this list, but are unranked so that the ranking includes only the 50 states. 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.
Populations
thumb|right|250px|View of [[New York City from an airplane.
Lower Manhattan is in the center of the image,
Brooklyn is across the
East River below Manhattan, and above Manhattan across the
Hudson River is
Hudson County, New Jersey.]]
thumb|right|250px|View of downtown [[Chicago, seen from the
Sears Tower. The tall, black building in the center of the image is the
John Hancock Center, and
Lake Michigan is in the background.]]
thumb|right|250px|View of the skyscrapers of [[Center City, Philadelphia|Center City,
Philadelphia, the downtown part of the city. The image was taken from the steps of the
Philadelphia Museum of Art.]]
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
See also
- Demographics of the United States – includes a list of the population densities of selected U.S. places, this list mostly includes the most densely populated incorporated places, but also includes some census-designated places, communities/neighborhoods within incorporated cities, counties, and cities with lower densities for comparison. The list is incomplete, but gives a comparative overview.
