List of most populous cities in Florida by decade

This list tracks and ranks the population of the ten most populous cities and other settlements in the State of Florida by decade, as reported by each decennial United States census, starting with the 1830 census.

The Census Bureau's definition of an "urban place" has included a variety of designations, including city, town, township, village, borough, and municipality. The top places from 1830 through 1850 consisted of various places designated as cities, towns and other settlements. The top 10 urban areas in 2020 are all separate incorporated places.

This list generally refers only to the population of individual urban places within their defined limits at the time of the indicated census.In the earlier censuses, the rankings were not definite due to the fact that not all cities were enumerated separately. Some of these places have since been annexed or merged into other cities. Other places may have expanded their borders due to such annexation or consolidation.

1830

The first United States Census taken as the Territory of Florida. RankCityCountyPopulationNotes 1 St. Augustine St. Johns 1,708 The only city enumerated separately.

1840

RankCityCountyPopulationNotes 1 St. Augustine St. Johns 2,450 2 Tallahassee Leon 1,616 3 Key West Monroe 688

1850

The 1850 census is the first census taken since statehood in 1845.

RankCityCountyPopulationNotes 1 Pensacola Escambia 2,164 2 Key West Monroe 1,943 Original return incomplete as slave population was unavailable. 3 St. Augustine St. Johns 1,934 4 Jacksonville Duval 1,045 5 Hillsborough 974 Population include soldiers stationed at Fort Brooke. 6 Marianna Jackson 377 7 Monticello Jefferson 329 8 Ocala Marion 243 9 Newport Wakulla 232 10 St. Marks Wakulla 189

1860

1860 was the eve of the American Civil War. This was the eighth United States census. The majority of the population lived in cities and towns in Northern Florida. In summary, nine out of ten cities would exceed 1,000 residents.

RankCityCountyPopulationNotes 1 Pensacola Escambia 2,876 2 Key West Monroe 2,832 3 Jacksonville Duval 2,118 4 Tallahassee Leon 1,932 5 St. Augustine St. Johns 1,914 6 Franklin 1,904 First appearance in the top 10. 7 Milton Santa Rosa 1,815 First appearance in the top 10. 8 Fernandina Nassau 1,390 First appearance in the top 10. 9 Monticello Jefferson 1,083 10 Lake City Columbia 659 First appearance in the top 10.

1870

This was the ninth United States census.

RankCityCountyPopulationNotes 1 Jacksonville Duval 6,912 Becomes Florida's largest city for this census only. Would regain this status in 1900. 2 Key West Monroe 5,016 Includes population outside of city limits. The municipality was not returned separately. 3 Pensacola Escambia 3,347 4 Tallahassee Leon 2,023 5 Fernandina Nassau 1,722 6 St. Augustine St. Johns 1,717 7 Apalachicola Franklin 1,129 8 Monticello Jefferson 1,052 Last appearance in the top 10. 9 Milton Santa Rosa 1,014 10 Lake City Columbia 964

1880

Rank City County PopulationNotes 1 Key West Monroe 9,890 Becomes Florida's largest city for this census & in 1890. Jacksonville would regain this status in 1900. 2 Jacksonville Duval 7,650 3 Pensacola Escambia 6,845 4 Fernandina Nassau 2,502 5 Tallahassee Leon 2,494 6 St. Augustine St. Johns 2,293 7 Palatka Putnam 1,616 First appearance in the top 10. 8 Lake City Columbia 1,379 9 Apalachicola Franklin 1,336 10 Milton Santa Rosa 1,058 Last appearance in the top 10.

1890

The 1890 census was the eleventh. Rank City County PopulationNotes 1 Key West Monroe 18,080 First city in the Florida to surpass 10,000 residents. 2 Jacksonville Duval 17,201 3 Pensacola Escambia 11,750 4 Hillsborough 5,532 5 St. Augustine St. Johns 4,742 6 Palatka Putnam 3,039 7 Tallahassee Leon 2,934 8 Ocala Marion 2,904 9 Orlando Orange 2,856 First appearance in the top 10. 10 Fernandina Nassau 2,803

1895 The 1895 census was the second conducted by the State of Florida. Rank City County PopulationNotes 1 Jacksonville Duval 25,130 Becomes Florida's largest city for the second time. Would hold title until 1950. 2 Key West Monroe 16,502 3 Tampa Hillsborough 15,643 4 Pensacola Escambia 14,084 5 Ocala Marion 4,597 6 St. Augustine St. Johns 4,151 7 Tallahassee Leon 3,931 8 Gainesville Alachua 3,152 First appearance in the top 10. 9 Apalachicola Franklin 3,061 Last appearance in the top 10. 10 Orlando Orange 2,993

1900

The 1900 census was the twelfth.

Rank City County PopulationNotes 1 Jacksonville Duval 28,045 2 Pensacola Escambia 17,747 3 Key West Monroe 17,114 4 Hillsborough 15,839 5 St. Augustine St. Johns 4,272 6 Lake City Columbia 4,013 7 Gainesville Alachua 3,633 8 Ocala Marion 3,380 9 Palatka Putnam 3,301 Last appearance in the top 10. 10 Fernandina Nassau 3,245

1905 The 1905 census was the third conducted by the State of Florida. Rank City County PopulationNotes 1 Jacksonville Duval 35,301 2 Tampa Hillsborough 22,823 3 Pensacola Escambia 21,505 4 Key West Monroe 20,498 5 Live Oak Suwannee 7,200 Only appearance in the top 10. The city's population has not since surpassed its 1905 peak. 6 Lake City Columbia 6,509 7 Gainesville Alachua 5,413 8 St. Augustine St. Johns 5,121 9 Fernandina Nassau 4,959 Last appearance in the top 10. 10 Miami Dade 4,733 First appearance in top 10.

1910

The 1910 census was the thirteenth.

Rank City CountyPopulationNotes 1 Jacksonville Duval 57,699 2 Tampa Hillsborough 37,782 Became Florida's second-largest city. 3 Pensacola Escambia 22,982 4 Key West Monroe 19,945 5 West Tampa Hillsborough 8,258 First suburban city to reach the top 10. 6 Gainesville Alachua 6,183 7 St. Augustine St. Johns 5,494 8 Miami Dade 5,471 9 Lake City Columbia 5,032 Last appearance in the top 10. 10 Tallahassee Leon 5,018

1915 The 1915 census was the fourth conducted by the State of Florida. Rank City County PopulationNotes 1 Jacksonville Duval 66,850 2 Tampa Hillsborough 48,160 3 Pensacola Escambia 23,219 4 Key West Monroe 18,495 5 Miami Dade 15,592 First appearance in top 5 and becomes South Florida's largest city. 6 West Tampa Hillsborough 7,837 7 Lakeland Polk 7,287 First appearance in the top 10. 8 St. Petersburg Pinellas 7,186 First appearance in the top 10. 9 Gainesville Alachua 6,736 10 Orlando Orange 6,448

1920

The 1920 census was the fourteenth.

Rank City County PopulationNotes 1 Jacksonville Duval 91,588 First city to reach the top-100 nationally. 2 Tampa Hillsborough 51,608 3 Pensacola Escambia 31,035 Last appearance in the top 3. 4 Miami Dade 29,571 5 Key West Monroe 18,749 Last appearance in the top 5. 6 St. Petersburg Pinellas 14,237 7 Orlando Orange 9,282 8 West Palm Beach Palm Beach 8,859 9 West Tampa Hillsborough 8,468 Would later be annexed by Tampa in 1925. 10 St. Augustine St. Johns 8,192 Last appearance in top 10.

1930

The 1930 census was the fifteenth. The center of population would shift southward. Three cities would reach 100,000.

Rank City CountyPopulationNotes 1 Jacksonville Duval 129,549 2 Miami Dade 110,637 3 Tampa Hillsborough 101,161 4 St. Petersburg Pinellas 40,425 5 Pensacola Escambia 31,579 6 Orlando Orange 27,330 7 West Palm Beach Palm Beach 26,610 8 Lakeland Polk 18,554 9 Daytona Beach Volusia 16,598 10 Key West Monroe 12,831 Last appearance in the top 10 since the city's first census in 1840.

1940

The 1940 census was the sixteenth. The top three cities would remain over the 100,000 level. Rank for the seven largest cities remained unchanged since 1930.

Rank City CountyPopulationNotes 1 Jacksonville Duval 173,065 Final appearance as the largest city before consolidation in 1968. 2 Miami Dade 172,172 3 Tampa Hillsborough 108,391 4 St. Petersburg Pinellas 60,812 5 Pensacola Escambia 37,449 6 Orlando Orange 36,736 7 West Palm Beach Palm Beach 33,693 8 Miami Beach Dade 28,012 First appearance in the top 10. 9 Lakeland Polk 22,584 10 Daytona Beach Volusia 22,068 Final appearance in the top 10.

1950

1950 was a watershed year for many cities in Florida. For the first time, Central and South Florida begin to dominate the list with eight out of the top ten cities located in these areas.

Rank City CountyPopulationNotes 1 Miami Dade 249,276 First of two appearances as Florida's largest city. 2 Jacksonville Duval 204,517 Peak population before consolidation in 1968. 3 Tampa Hillsborough 124,681 4 St. Petersburg Pinellas 96,738 5 Orlando Orange 52,367 6 Miami Beach Dade 46,282 7 Pensacola Escambia 43,479 8 West Palm Beach Palm Beach 43,162 9 Ft. Lauderdale Broward 36,328 First appearance in the Top 10. 10 Lakeland Polk 30,851 Final appearance in the top 10.

1960

The 1960 census was the eighteenth. This is the last census in which any city west of the Apalachicola river has been in the top 10.

Rank City CountyPopulationNotes 1 Miami Dade 291,688 2 Tampa Hillsborough 274,970 3 Jacksonville Duval 201,030 First ever decline for the city and the lowest rank since 1860. 4 St. Petersburg Pinellas 181,298 5 Orlando Orange 88,035 6 Fort Lauderdale Broward 83,643 7 Hialeah Dade 66,972 First appearance in the top 10. 8 Miami Beach 63,145 9 Pensacola Escambia 56,752 Last appearance in the top 10. 10 West Palm Beach Palm Beach 56,308 Last appearance in the top 10.

1970

The 1970 census was the nineteenth.

Rank City CountyPopulationNotes 1 Jacksonville Duval 504,265 Figures shown are for Duval County excluding the cities of Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach and Baldwin.The governments of Jacksonville and Duval County consolidated in 1968. 2 Miami Dade 334,859 3 Tampa Hillsborough 277,767 4 St. Petersburg Pinellas 216,232 5 Fort Lauderdale Broward 139,590 6 Hollywood 106,873 7 Hialeah Dade 102,297 8 Orlando Orange 99,006 9 Miami Beach Dade 87.072 10 Tallahassee Leon 71,897

1980

Rank City CountyPopulationNotes 1 Jacksonville Duval 540,920 Figures shown are for Duval County excluding the cities of Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach and Baldwin. 2 Miami Dade 346,865 3 Tampa Hillsborough 271,523 First decline in a century, when the population fell from 796 in 1870 to 720 in 1880. 4 St. Petersburg Pinellas 238,647 5 Fort Lauderdale Broward 153,279 6 Hialeah Dade 145,254 7 Orlando Orange 128,291 8 Hollywood Broward 121,323 9 Miami Beach Dade 96,298 10 Clearwater Pinellas 85,170

1990

The 1990 census was the twenty-first.

Rank City CountyPopulationNotes 1 Jacksonville Duval 635,230 Figures shown are for Duval County excluding the cities of Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach and Baldwin. 2 Miami Dade 358,548 3 Tampa Hillsborough 280,015 4 St. Petersburg Pinellas 238,629 First decline in the history of the city. 5 Hialeah Dade 188,004 6 Orlando Orange 164,693 7 Fort Lauderdale Broward 149,377 First decline in the history of the city. 8 Tallahassee Leon 124,773 9 Hollywood Broward 121,697 10 Clearwater Pinellas 98,784 Last appearance in the top 10.

2000

The 2000 census was the 22nd in U.S. history. This is the first census when all ten cities passed the 100,000 mark. Rank City CountyPopulationNotes 1 Jacksonville Duval 735,503 Figures shown are for Duval County excluding the cities of Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach and Baldwin. 2 Miami Miami-Dade 362,470 3 Tampa Hillsborough 303,447 4 St. Petersburg Pinellas 248,232 5 Hialeah Miami-Dade 226,419 6 Orlando Orange 185,951 7 Fort Lauderdale Broward 152,397 8 Tallahassee Leon 150,624 9 Hollywood Broward 139,357 10 Pembroke Pines Broward 137,427

2010

Rank City CountyPopulationNotes 1 Jacksonville Duval 821,784 Figures shown are for Duval County excluding the cities of Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach and Baldwin. 2 Miami Miami-Dade 399,457 3 Tampa Hillsborough 335,709 First double-digit growth rate since the 1950s. 4 St. Petersburg Pinellas 244,769 5 Orlando Orange 238,300 6 Hialeah Miami-Dade 224,669 First decline in city's history. 7 Tallahassee Leon 181,376 8 Fort Lauderdale Broward 165,521 9 Port St. Lucie St. Lucie 164,603 First appearance in the top 10. 10 Pembroke Pines Broward 154,750

2020