The chart above shows the population of each urban area with a population over 500,000. The urban areas have been normalized so as to avoid any inconsistencies with how cities and their metropolitan areas are defined by their governments. Each urban area has similar characteristics making this the definitive method with which to compare cities across various countries. The most populated cities in North America are Mexico City and New York City.
Findings
- The difference between the urban area with the greatest population, Mexico City, and the urban area with the least, Kitchener, is 20,496,000 people.
- Mexico City has 41.99 times the population that Kitchener does.
- The median population of urban areas with a minimum population of 500,000 in North America is 1,147,500 people and the mean 2,262,277.78 people.
Caveats
- Data is from 2020.
- The methodology for how these urban areas have been defined can be found in the source link below. As of this writing this is the most reliable way to compare urban areas throughout the world.
- Some of these urban areas span several states, and the state that is being used here is the one where the core of the urban area is located. For instance, Milan's urban area spans both Italy and Switzerland, but since the core of the urban area is in Italy it would be listed as an Italian urban area and not a Swiss one.
- All figures are rounded to the nearest whole.
Details
Only 14 of the 42 North American states have urban areas with at least 500,000 people. Of these, the United States has 74; Mexico has 30; Canada has nine; the Dominican Republic and Honduras each have two and Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago each have one.
Of the 126 urban areas with a population over 500,000, 69 have a population of over 1 million. Fifteen have a population of more than 5 million, and three have a population of more than 10 million.
Haiti has the largest mean population in its urban areas over 500,000 people with a mean of 2,941,000 people distributed among its one urban area. Guatemala has the second largest mean population in its urban areas over 500,000 people with a mean of 2,927,000 people distributed among its one urban area.
Haiti has the largest median population in its urban areas over 500,000 people with a median of 2,941,000 people distributed among its one urban area. Guatemala has the second largest median population in its urban areas over 500,000 people with a median of 2,927,000 people distributed among its one urban area.
Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Curacao, Dominica, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Maarten, Turks and Caicos Islands, the US Minor Outlying Islands, and the US Virgin Islands do not have any urban areas with a population over 500,000 inhabitants.
Sources
Demographia. 2021. "Demographia World Urban Areas: 16th Annual Edition." Accessed March 9, 2021. http://demographia.com/db-worldua.pdf.