Annual growth rate of population share in cities with at least 300,000 inhabitants in United States of America

United States of America: Annual growth rate of population share in cities with at least 300,000 inhabitants was 1.2% in 2020. ◆ Volatile

Latest (2020)
1.2%
World rank
39th
of 144 countries
All-time high
1.2%
in 2020
All-time low
-0.8%
in 1980
Years of data
14
1955–2020

Annual growth rate of population share in cities with at least 300,000 inhabitants in United States of America, 1955–2020

-1-0.500.511955198720201955: 0.571 %1960: 0.708 %1965: 0.002 %1970: 0.017 %1975: -0.169 %1980: -0.755 %1985: 0.247 %1990: 0.58 %1995: 0.567 %2000: 0.89 %2005: -0.006 %2010: 0.591 %2015: 1.2 %2020: 1.2 %

Source: European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.

Analysis

The most recent figure for annual growth rate of population share in cities with at least 300,000 inhabitants in United States of America is 1.2%, measured in 2020. That is the highest value across all 14 years on record.

Compared with earlier readings it is up 105.6% over ten years.

Over the whole period, annual growth rate of population share in cities with at least 300,000 inhabitants in United States of America peaked at 1.2% in 2020 and was at its lowest, -0.8%, in 1980.

United States of America ranks 39th of 144 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.

The series is highly variable year to year, so single readings are best treated with caution.

Annual growth rate of population share in cities with at least 300,000 inhabitants in United States of America, year by year

Annual values for Annual growth rate of population share in cities with at least 300,000 inhabitants in United States of America, 1955 to 2020.
Year % Change
1955 0.6%
1960 0.7% +24.2%
1965 0.0% -99.7%
1970 0.0% +729.8%
1975 -0.2% -1083.7%
1980 -0.8% +348.2%
1985 0.2% -132.7%
1990 0.6% +135.2%
1995 0.6% -2.3%
2000 0.9% +56.9%
2005 -0.0% -100.6%
2010 0.6% -10523.3%
2015 1.2% +103.5%
2020 1.2% +1.0%

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1950s 0.6% 0.6% 0.6% 1
1960s 0.4% 0.0% 0.7% 2
1970s -0.1% -0.2% 0.0% 2
1980s -0.3% -0.8% 0.2% 2
1990s 0.6% 0.6% 0.6% 2
2000s 0.4% -0.0% 0.9% 2
2010s 0.9% 0.6% 1.2% 2
2020s 1.2% 1.2% 1.2% 1

Countries ranked near United States of America

  1. 36 Viet Nam 1.3% compare
  2. 37 Kenya 1.3% compare
  3. 38 Malaysia 1.3% compare
  4. 40 Lithuania 1.2% compare
  5. 41 Egypt 1.2% compare
  6. 42 Belarus 1.2% compare

See the full ranking of 144 places →

More population data for United States of America

All data for United States of America →

Frequently asked questions

What is annual growth rate of population share in cities with at least 300,000 inhabitants in United States of America?
Annual growth rate of population share in cities with at least 300,000 inhabitants in United States of America was 1.2% in 2020, according to European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
What is the highest annual growth rate of population share in cities with at least 300,000 inhabitants recorded in United States of America?
The highest recorded value was 1.2% in 2020.
What is the lowest annual growth rate of population share in cities with at least 300,000 inhabitants recorded in United States of America?
The lowest recorded value was -0.8% in 1980.
How does United States of America rank for annual growth rate of population share in cities with at least 300,000 inhabitants?
United States of America ranks 39th out of 144 countries with data for 2020.
Is annual growth rate of population share in cities with at least 300,000 inhabitants rising or falling in United States of America?
Over the last ten years it is up 105.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is volatile.
Where does this United States of America data come from?
The figures come from European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Annual growth rate of population share in cities with at least 300,000 inhabitants. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 14 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Annual growth rate of population share in cities with at least 300,000 inhabitants in United States of America. Statizoid, drawing on European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Retrieved 03 September 2026, from https://population.statizoid.com/stat/annual-rate-of-change-in-urban-populations/united-states/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://population.statizoid.com/stat/annual-rate-of-change-in-urban-populations/united-states/">Annual growth rate of population share in cities with at least 300,000 inhabitants in United States of America</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Annual growth rate of population share in cities with at least 300,000 inhabitants
Unit
%
Source
European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
144 places, 1,685 data points, 1955–2020
Last refreshed

Average annual growth in the share of population living in cities with at least 300,000 people, calculated over five-year periods. For example, 2020 reflects average growth between 2015–2020. City boundaries are defined using a consistent global approach based on satellite imagery and population data.