It turns out, Phoenix is no longer the fifth largest city in the nation. In fact, we may have never been.
Yes, it looks like Philadelphia has officially reclaimed its crown as America’s fifth-largest city, behind New York, LA, Chicago and Houston, respectively. This contradicts the earlier estimates that Phoenix had blown past the City of Brotherly Love back in 2007. Now the US Census Bureau has revised those earlier estimates, saying that despite a healthy 9.4 percent overall population growth over the last decade, Phoenix still ended the decade at 1.446M vs Philly’s 1.526M.
The new numbers prove Phoenix’s rocketship-like growth slowed much faster than expected over the past few years. Most likely a combination of the housing/economic crash, as well as fallout from the anit-immigration controversy (although that last part is still being debated).
Meanwhile, Philly actually ended the decade up a whopping .6 percent, which doesn’t sounds so good until you realize it’s the first time the city did anything other than shrink in 50 or 60 years.
So congratulations cheesesteak lovers. Just don’t celebrate by using vomit as a weapon.
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