The 2021 estimate of the United States’ population was 331,893,745. Like other large countries, a considerable portion of residents live in just a handful of metro areas around the big cities. Generally speaking, people tend to settle near the borders, while the interior is relatively sparse. About half of all Americans are located in the areas below marked in red… not me. I used a county map overlay on this image from Google Earth, so it is pretty accurate.

The largest concentration of humans in the United States is in Southern California. This is probably not a surprise, as the weather there is quite pleasant. If you combine the Los Angeles metro area (including Long Beach and Anaheim) with Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario and the greater San Diego area, the population is over 21 million. The 12th largest metro in the country is San Francisco (with Oakland and Berkely) at 4.7 million, bringing California’s metro count to nearly 26 million alone. That’s the entire population of Australia.

The number two area is the metro corridor from Boston to Baltimore. Even though the winters can be harsh and the coast is battered by storms, over 20 million people live there. The ‘red zone’ includes portions of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington DC.

Texas is huge, but the population centers around three areas: Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. 60% of all Texans live in the metro area of one of these cities. The Lone Star State has more residents than all of North Korea.

Americans like sunny weather, so Florida is a pretty popular place to live. The metro areas of Miami, Tampa, and Orlando have a population of nearly 12 million. That’s over half of the total population of the state. If you include Jacksonville, that percentage goes up quite a bit.

Chicago may not be known for beaches, but it is technically a coastal city because of Lake Michigan. It is the third-largest metro in the U.S., with a population of nearly 10 million. The Chicago area isn’t the only popular place in The Prairie State. The St. Louis metro area has more territory in Illinois than it does in Missouri and a total of 2.8 million residents.

The South Atlantic states have two major metro areas, though they are no where near the coast. The Carolinas are home to Charlotte and surrounding communities with 2.7 million residents. Atlanta and nearby counties completely within Georgia have even more people than Phoenix, with a population of 6.1 million.

Since I mentioned Phoenix… the city in Arizona can claim to be the fifth-largest in the country, but its metro area comes in at 11th. Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler has grown to nearly 5 million from just a few hundred thousand in the 1970’s. Americans flock to Arizona for retirement, like Florida or California, but without the hassle of hurricanes or earthquakes.

The Northwest population booms are represented by Seattle and Portland. Their metro populations are over 4 million and 2 and a half million, respectively. That part of the world is pretty popular, as Canada’s third-largest metro is just across the border in the Vancouver area.

Many people would probably not think of Detroit as an appealing place, but nearly 4.5 million people live around there. That population total includes places like Ann Arbor and Dearborn, and is ranked #14 of U.S. metro areas.

The final two regions on this list are no where near the coasts and sport four professional teams each.

The Minneapolis – St. Paul area of Minnesota also includes part of Wisconsin and is home to 3.7 million people. Colorado’s capital metro area around Denver has nearly 3 million residents. Combined, they have a larger population than all of Scotland.

For a different perspective, I highlighted the top nine states by population below. Combined they are home to more people than the other 41. It’s no surprise that 15 of the top 25 metro areas are located here as well.