Can you name the US cities that are or were in the census top 24 since 1790?

created by Onno

Enter a city in the box below
Correctly named cities will show up below
Answers do not have to be guessed in order
Source: US Census Bureau
Includes towns as well. (A) = Annexed now. Why top 24? Because in 1790 only 24 urban places were mentioned.

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Show Missed Answers

Peak rank	City	Current rank
1		1
2		2
2		3
2		5
2		21
3		22
3		52
3		(A)
4		4
4		18
4		58
4		215
5		45
6		6
6		8
6		61
6		(A)
7		7
7		9
7		963
7		(A)
8		13
8		59
8		70
8		1736

Peak rank	City	Current rank
9		24
9		134
9		297
9		(A)
10		10
10		78
10		2173
11		11
11		12
11		28
11		68
12		27
12		106
12		1463
12		2495
12		(A)
14		14
14		20
14		2072
14		4029
15		15
15		48
15		523
16		16
16		1866

Peak rank	City	Current rank
17		17
17		180
17		193
17		525
18		99
18		186
18		253
19		19
19		23
19		37
19		773
19		(A)
20		1527
21		42
21		1279
23		26
23		67
23		205
23		(A)
23		(A)
24		29
24		40
24		312
24		5516
25	5516

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There are 41 comments for this game.
(Warning: comments may contain spoilers)

US Cities by Peak Rank Quiz

by Onno

Created Aug 18, 2011 in Geography
Featured Nov 9, 2011
Game Plays 41,473

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Archived comments: show them

	pfrijiritr:	Nov 9th, 2011 at 04:29 GMT		21 points
	All of the peak #2's are currently at Fibonacci number ranks.

	uestnf:	Nov 9th, 2011 at 05:07 GMT		6 points
	Not saying I doubt it, but it's pretty shocking to me that America has only ever had one largest city.

	elcropsziuq:	Nov 9th, 2011 at 05:08 GMT		2 points
	@jml- there is a Nantucket in the quiz

	Bobman1:	Nov 9th, 2011 at 06:34 GMT		2 points
	I thought I hit a homer when I guessed an old whaling port, then when I saw all the answers I hit my head because I missed a few more that were equally obvious once I was on that track. Darn me! Very cool quiz. No love for Paterson NJ, the Silk City?

	gowhere:	Nov 9th, 2011 at 12:05 GMT		7 points
	Always depressing when you don't guess where you live, and it shows up in the answer column.

	WyattsTorch:	Nov 9th, 2011 at 12:07 GMT		3 points
	It's funny how many of the oldest communities have "new" in their names. I suppose Oldport, Old Haven etc. didn't have as nice of a ring...

	Blimpyboy:	Nov 9th, 2011 at 12:23 GMT		8 points
	For anyone wondering what the asterisk next to Alexandria, VA means, it was mentioned in the archived comments - Alexandria was part of the District of Columbia at the time of its peak rank.

	Pogues:	Nov 9th, 2011 at 13:21 GMT		2 points
	Just when I thought I shook that horrible spoclitis disease...and I go and get Allegheny but miss Fort Worth.

	steel03:	Nov 9th, 2011 at 13:56 GMT		3 points
	New York's population in 1790 was just 33,131. 0________0

	brownstown511:	Nov 9th, 2011 at 14:43 GMT		9 points
	I guess literally there once WAS a man from Nantucket.

	cmkeller:	Nov 9th, 2011 at 14:48 GMT		5 points
	You need to accept "Saint" as well as "St"

	Cecispanda:	Nov 9th, 2011 at 15:00 GMT		4 points
	Yeah definitely accept Saint Paul, which I didn't get credit for (Somehow I managed to type St. Louis lol)

	Josh:	Nov 9th, 2011 at 16:27 GMT		5 points
	The annexed Philadelphia neighborhoods are definitely the toughest part.

	sharpdale:	Nov 9th, 2011 at 18:49 GMT		3 points
	I really enjoyed this one. I agree with @josh, the annexed Philly 'hoods were a big surprise, and at one time I was a die-hard Philadelphia history buff (granted it was back around '76 when I was in 4th grade in a suburb of Philly and there was all the hype surrounding the Bicentennial--amazing what one can forget in only four decades). Thanks for such an informative and challenging (in a fun way) quiz!

	Ulkomaalainen:	Nov 9th, 2011 at 19:01 GMT		4 points
	Charlotte eludes me - again. I will really have to visit it in order to remember and do better on Sporcle. On the other side I got Northern Liberties which I always remembered since I first met it around here.

	Beatlezfann:	Nov 10th, 2011 at 01:53 GMT		3 points
	Yeah the population of Salem never really recovered after the townspeople decided that the only thing to burn witches with is MORE WITCHES!!!

	Tavix:	Nov 10th, 2011 at 03:41 GMT		7 points
	Schenectady, while being a fun city to pronounce, also has the best zip code: 12345

	btroup1:	Nov 10th, 2011 at 16:03 GMT		4 points
	To myself: "Try all those towns that are satellites of Boston." Reply to self at 000: "Hey self, why didn't you actually type Boston ya dummy?"

	segacs:	Nov 10th, 2011 at 20:19 GMT		2 points
	@Tavix, marketers are accustomed to ignoring anyone from Schenectady in their efforts, just because so many people lie when asked for their personal information and give the fake zipcode of 12345. I know that whenever I have to create a fake US address (because of some website that's never heard of Canadian postal codes), that's usually the fake one I use.

	suncountrynwa:	Nov 14th, 2011 at 20:38 GMT		3 points
	This quiz is like hotel floors...no #13

	taitecklund:	Nov 15th, 2011 at 15:34 GMT		2 points
	Man, if you didn't grow up in the northeast, a lot of these answers are impossible.

	i1d0e8a6:	Jan 9th, 2012 at 17:21 GMT		1 point
	This would have been much easier if I had realized that cities that weren't technically part of the US in 1790 counted...

	NatAlex92:	Apr 20th, 2012 at 08:30 GMT		2 points
	Tips for this sort of quiz should another like it pop up in the future: 1) Learn your Philly neighborhoods. This will help with any census dated 1850 or earlier since Philadelphia was consolidated in 1854. 2) If a city/town had a high peak rank and is now below 2000, start guessing names of towns and cities in New York and New England. 3) Cities with significant loses (more than 20 places below peak)will generally tend to be either in the Northeast or the Rustbelt. Your exceptions to that are the few cities in the South that were once thriving but for some reason never recovered to their former glory.

	ukchris82:	Jul 9th, 2012 at 20:46 GMT		1 point
	Accept Saint Paul