How to Read the Growth Rate Column in BiggestUSCities.com's City Ranking

Updated

The growth rate column shows each city's estimated annual population change: a positive number means the population grew over the year, a negative number means it shrank. Read it as a direction and rough pace of change, not a precise count. For example, New York is listed at 8,258,035 with a -2.0% rate, while Austin shows 979,882 at 0.6% — New York is far larger but trending down, Austin is smaller but still adding people.

What the number represents

On BiggestUSCities.com's "Top 100 Biggest US Cities By Population" table, each row pairs a rank, city, 2024 population estimate, and an annual growth rate. The rate is a percentage of the city's population, expressed per year. So:

  • Positive rate — the city added residents on net during the period measured. Fort Worth at 2.0% and Henderson at 1.9% are among the fastest-growing entries in the top 100.
  • Negative rate — the city lost residents on net. San Francisco at -2.4% and New York at -2.0% sit at the steep end.
  • Near zero — the population was roughly flat. Dallas at -0.0% and Denver at -0.0% illustrate this; the sign is essentially noise at that scale.

The site labels the population figures as estimates, so treat the rate the same way: it is a modeled annual change, not a census headcount difference you can verify household by household.

Combining rate with rank

Rank and growth rate answer different questions. Rank tells you how big a city is now; the rate tells you which direction it is moving. Reading them together is where the column earns its place:

City 2024 Population (Est.) Annual Growth Rate What the pair suggests
New York, NY 8,258,035 -2.0% Largest city, but contracting
Los Angeles, CA 3,820,914 -0.6% Very large, mildly declining
Houston, TX 2,314,157 0.2% Large and roughly stable
Phoenix, AZ 1,650,070 0.8% Large and still growing
Austin, TX 979,882 0.6% Near the top 10, growing
Fort Worth, TX 978,468 2.0% Just outside top 10, fastest pace in that band

A city can hold a high rank while shrinking for years, and a mid-table city can be climbing quickly. If your question is "which cities are gaining people," sort mentally by rate; if it is "which are the biggest," use rank.

Practical cautions

  • Small bases amplify percentages. A 2.0% rate on a city near a million people is a much larger absolute gain than 2.0% on a city of 300,000. The column does not show absolute change, so do not compare rates across very different city sizes as if they were equivalent.
  • One year is a snapshot. A single annual rate can reflect a one-off event. Look for consistency across neighboring cities or repeated years before calling something a trend.
  • City limits, not metro areas. These figures cover the incorporated city. A city can decline while its surrounding metro grows, or the reverse, so the rate should not be read as regional population health.
  • Estimates carry error. Differences of a few tenths of a percent, especially around zero, are within the uncertainty of estimation. Treat -0.0% and 0.1% as "flat," not as meaningful movement.

A quick reading routine

  1. Find the city's row and note its rank and population.
  2. Read the growth rate sign first — growing, shrinking, or flat.
  3. Compare the rate with cities of similar size, not with the largest or smallest entries.
  4. Check whether the direction matches what you know about the region before relying on it.
  5. Use the pair (size + direction) to describe the city, e.g., "large and slowly declining" or "mid-sized and growing fast."

Used this way, the growth rate column turns a static ranking into a rough picture of where population is heading — useful for context and comparison, not for precise projections.