Miscellaneous

Nearly a century ago, the ten most populous cities were all located within about 500 miles of the Canadian border. The 2006 estimates show that seven of the top ten cities are in states that border Mexico.

The estimates also disclose that many of the nation's fastest-growing cities are actually suburbs. Joliet, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, ranks 13th, one of only two cities outside the South and West that are among the top 25 fastest-growing cities with populations over 100,000.

Cities in the so-called rust belt show some of the fastest rates of population decline, including Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Flint, Michigan. New Orleans, though, had the largest population loss among all cities, declining 50.6% to 223,288. In contrast, Hialeah, Florida, which had the next largest rate of loss during the previous year, showed a decline of 1.6%.