By the numbers
Wisconsin’s largest metropolis, Milwaukee, has been one of the nation’s largest urban areas for decades, but its comparative position has changed.
One way of understanding that is to look at greater Milwaukee’s five nearest peers in population in the 1950 census’ tabulation of “urbanized areas” and to follow the growth trajectory of each in the decennial censuses that followed.

Another way to look at Milwaukee’s relative rate of growth is by tracking the growth over that same time of the five urban areas that are greater Milwaukee’s closest peers now — that is, in the 2020 census. Greater Milwaukee, now middling among them, was larger than any of them by at least a third in 1950 and was more than four times the size of Charlotte, the urban area of which now is slightly more populous than greater Milwaukee.

The measure we’re using is the Census Bureau’s “urban area” or, formerly, “urbanized area,” which includes, roughly, contiguous census tracts that meet population density thresholds. It differs from “metropolitan areas,” which follow county lines and can include rural areas. More on the definitions here.
The underlying numbers
Populations (in thousands) | ||||||||
Urban Area | 1950 | 1960 | 1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2010 | 2020 |
Buffalo | 895 | 1,054 | 1,087 | 1,002 | 954 | 977 | 936 | 949 |
Charlotte | 141 | 210 | 279 | 351 | 456 | 759 | 1,249 | 1,380 |
Cincinnati | 813 | 994 | 1,111 | 1,123 | 1,212 | 1,503 | 1,625 | 1,687 |
Dallas-Fort Worth | 855 | 1,435 | 2,016 | 2,451 | 3,198 | 4,146 | 5,122 | 5,732 |
Houston | 701 | 1,140 | 1,678 | 2,412 | 2,902 | 3,823 | 4,944 | 5,854 |
Jacksonville | 242 | 373 | 530 | 598 | 738 | 882 | 1,065 | 1,247 |
Milwaukee | 829 | 1,150 | 1,252 | 1,207 | 1,226 | 1,309 | 1,376 | 1,307 |
Minneapolis-St. Paul | 987 | 1,377 | 1,701 | 1,788 | 2,080 | 2,389 | 2,651 | 2,915 |
Providence | 583 | 660 | 795 | 796 | 846 | 1,175 | 1,191 | 1,286 |
Salt Lake City | 227 | 349 | 479 | 674 | 789 | 888 | 1,021 | 1,179 |
Virginia Beach-Norfolk | 385 | 508 | 668 | 770 | 1,323 | 1,394 | 1,440 | 1,452 |
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