The most populated city in the United States is New York City, New York.

Quick Scoop: Short Answer

  • New York City has a population of roughly 8.3–8.5 million people , making it the largest city in the U.S. by resident population.
  • It has held this top spot continuously since the first U.S. census in 1790 and still ranks above Los Angeles and Chicago, the second- and third-largest cities.

In everyday news and forum discussions, when people ask “what is the most populated city in the United States?” they are almost always referring to New York City by city proper population, not metro area size.

TL;DR: New York City is the most populated city in the United States, far ahead of other major cities like Los Angeles and Chicago.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.