San Diego, the city that I have called home for the past 5 months is considered one of the top 10 largest cities in America. I became pretty interested in the statistics that make a city large according to the census bureau, what I found was that population within the city limits is the only thing that it goes by.
San Diego's city limits cover 325 square miles, which if you aren't a geography geek like me is extremely large. New York City is only 302 square miles, and almost every inch of that is covered with residential, or commerical property. The area that is included in the 325 square miles of San Diego includes mountains, dessert, forrest, a small downtown area, and some residential neighborhoods surrounding it. After having looked at this information I think maybe it is time we redefined what is considered a city.
I looked the population density of the 10 biggest cities according to population in the country and what i found was that almost none of them rank near the top in terms of density. The one except is New York City, it is the biggest city no matter which way you look at it. Without further ado here are the 10 most densely populated cities or towns in America.

1.) New York City - 26,403 people per sq. mile

2.) Paterson, NJ - 17,764 people per sq. mile

3.) San Francisco, CA - 16,632 per sq. mile

4.) Jersey City, NJ - 16,111 per sq. mile

5.) Cambridge, MA - 15,836 per sq. mile

6.) Daly City, CA- 13,634 Per sq. Mile

7.) Chicago, IL - 12,752 per sq. mile

8.) Santa Ana, CA - 12,471 per sq. mile

9.) Inglewood, CA - 12,371 per sq. mile

10.) El Monte, CA - 12,079 per sq. mile

  ¶ 3:24 PM