Update: Population -- US Cities And Metropolitan Statistical Areas -- 2020 Census

Wiki entry, metropolitan statistical areas.

US cities by population, wiki entry.

It makes little sense, for the things I am interested in, to track the population of cities. I learned that when I lived in San Antonio, TX, and worked in Wakefield, New Jersey.

What is important is population of metropolitan statistical areas. 

Having said that, looking at "cities," not MSAs:

• among the states, cities:
• Texas has the fourth largest city, Houston, behind Chicago, Los Angeles and some city on the east coast whose name escape me now;
• of the top ten cities by population, two are in Texas; three are in California
• but go to top eleven cities and both Texas and California each have three cities
• going to top thirteen cities, Texas beats California, 4 - 3
• we have to go all the way to the top seventeen cities before California and Texas are again equal;
• although the eight cities may move around a bit, it's unlikely the 4 - 4 tie will ever change in my lifetime
• For MSAs:
• the top five change slightly;
• now, two of the five MSAs are in Texas; only one in California
• interestingly enough, among the top ten MSAs in the US, only one is in California
• but move to the top twenty, and a number of California MSAs make the list
• interestingly enough, as a city, Houston beats Dallas but as MSAs, Dallas-FtWorth-Arlington beats Houston-Woodlands-Sugar Land
• San Antonio-New Braunfels comes in at #24 but, wow, California has a lot of MSAs in the top 25