Least Densely Populated Large US Cities: Cities With 100,000+ People
Large cities are not always crowded. Among places with at least 100,000 people in our data, Anchorage, AK is the least dense, with about 168 people per square mile, followed by Macon, GA and Leesburg, FL.
What is the ranking?
| # | City | County | Per sq mi | Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anchorage, AK | Anchorage Borough | 168 | 288,000 |
| 2 | Macon, GA | Bibb County | 614 | 153,159 |
| 3 | Leesburg, FL | Lake County | 645 | 154,574 |
| 4 | Augusta, GA | Richmond County | 653 | 390,809 |
| 5 | Norman, OK | Cleveland County | 697 | 124,880 |
| 6 | Port Arthur, TX | Jefferson County | 704 | 154,468 |
| 7 | North Port, FL | Sarasota County | 710 | 209,070 |
| 8 | Chesapeake, VA | City of Chesapeake | 723 | 244,835 |
| 9 | Barnstable, MA | Barnstable County | 741 | 242,847 |
| 10 | Texas City, TX | Galveston County | 777 | 118,169 |
| 11 | Yuma, AZ | Yuma County | 811 | 142,847 |
| 12 | Columbus, GA | Muscogee County | 904 | 261,445 |
| 13 | Huntsville, AL | Madison County | 935 | 319,249 |
| 14 | Palm Coast, FL | Flagler County | 943 | 417,007 |
| 15 | Columbia, SC | Richland County | 966 | 560,041 |
| 16 | Panama City, FL | Bay County | 989 | 136,133 |
| 17 | Peoria, AZ | Maricopa County | 1,000 | 175,961 |
| 18 | Kingsport, TN | Sullivan County | 1,028 | 119,666 |
| 19 | Oklahoma City, OK | Oklahoma County | 1,080 | 972,943 |
| 20 | Athens, GA | Clarke County | 1,090 | 141,532 |
| 21 | Waterloo, IA | Black Hawk County | 1,096 | 111,631 |
| 22 | Temple, TX | Bell County | 1,111 | 107,258 |
| 23 | Lexington, KY | Fayette County | 1,137 | 323,152 |
| 24 | Prescott Valley, AZ | Yavapai County | 1,137 | 101,539 |
| 25 | Abilene, TX | Taylor County | 1,155 | 123,420 |
| 26 | St. George, UT | Washington County | 1,163 | 120,899 |
| 27 | Palm Bay, FL | Brevard County | 1,181 | 507,002 |
| 28 | Duluth, MN | St. Louis County | 1,194 | 119,476 |
| 29 | Jacksonville, FL | Duval County | 1,217 | 1,181,496 |
| 30 | Kansas City, KS | Wyandotte County | 1,225 | 152,960 |
| 31 | Montgomery, AL | Montgomery County | 1,241 | 254,634 |
| 32 | Charleston, SC | Charleston County | 1,243 | 628,377 |
| 33 | Chattanooga, TN | Hamilton County | 1,277 | 415,501 |
| 34 | Ocala, FL | Marion County | 1,285 | 169,383 |
| 35 | Gulfport, MS | Harrison County | 1,287 | 220,987 |
| 36 | Gainesville, GA | Hall County | 1,311 | 167,371 |
| 37 | Surprise, AZ | Maricopa County | 1,311 | 141,664 |
| 38 | Lehigh Acres, FL | Lee County | 1,331 | 123,378 |
| 39 | Las Cruces, NM | Doña Ana County | 1,344 | 136,254 |
| 40 | Mobile, AL | Mobile County | 1,352 | 315,502 |
| 41 | Norwich, CT | New London County | 1,380 | 200,289 |
| 42 | Brownsville, TX | Cameron County | 1,380 | 227,239 |
| 43 | Fort Smith, AR | Sebastian County | 1,388 | 125,354 |
| 44 | Savannah, GA | Chatham County | 1,388 | 276,295 |
| 45 | Hickory, NC | Catawba County | 1,388 | 218,323 |
| 46 | Winter Haven, FL | Polk County | 1,393 | 267,069 |
| 47 | Scottsdale, AZ | Maricopa County | 1,401 | 258,069 |
| 48 | Nashville, TN | Davidson County | 1,409 | 1,081,903 |
| 49 | Sioux City, IA | Woodbury County | 1,412 | 106,455 |
| 50 | Beaumont, TX | Jefferson County | 1,417 | 146,091 |
What stands out?
These cities usually cover a very large land area, include farmland or open space inside their limits, or are county-wide governments. The 50th place has about 1,417 people per square mile, far below the urban-core threshold of 5,000. The list shows why density depends heavily on where the boundary is drawn.
Geographically, the 50 places on this list are spread over 21 states and territories. The most represented are Florida 9; Georgia 6; Texas 6; Arizona 5; Alabama 3; Tennessee 3. By time zone, the split is Eastern 23, Central 19, Mountain 7, Alaska 1. The county that appears most often is Maricopa County, AZ, with 3 entries. Patterns like these show which regions produce the extreme values in the ranking, and they change if you tighten or loosen the population cutoff.
Use the table to jump to any city page for ZIP codes, nearby places and distances, or compare with the state-level lists that rank the same measure inside each state.
Frequently asked questions
Which city is first on this list? Anchorage, AK, in Alaska.
Which state appears most often? Florida, with 9 entries.
Are small towns included? Only places with at least 5,000 residents in our data have a page and a ranking, so very small communities are not shown. They still appear on county pages.
Is this an official ranking? No. It is calculated from one dataset using estimates, and official rankings from the Census Bureau can differ because of different boundaries and years.
How is this list made?
The data comes from the SimpleMaps US Cities Database. Population is an estimate, and density is converted from people per square kilometer to people per square mile. Estimates for large cities can reflect the wider urban area rather than the legal city limits, so use the lists to compare places inside one dataset rather than as official counts. See why population figures differ, and check the Census Bureau for official figures. The rankings are rebuilt whenever the site is regenerated from a newer copy of the data, so the date shown on the guides and legal pages tells you roughly how fresh they are. If you spot a result that looks wrong, please send us a correction with the page address.