Chicago ranked third by population among U.S. cities in the 2020 census. Its official census count was 2,746,388 residents, placing it behind New York City and Los Angeles.
Chicago has held a distinctive place in the national city hierarchy for generations. Located on Lake Michigan, it grew rapidly as a transportation, manufacturing and commercial centre, linking the Great Lakes with rail and inland trade networks. It remains the largest city in Illinois and the Midwest.
The ranking applies to city proper, meaning the legally incorporated municipality. It does not rank metropolitan areas. The Chicago metropolitan area is far larger and includes many separate municipalities in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.
The next cities in the 2020 city-population ranking were Houston, Phoenix and Philadelphia. That ordering explains a common mistake: Houston was fourth, while Philadelphia was sixth, despite both being among the nation’s largest cities.