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Midwest Cities Historic Population and Density

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Midwest cities historic population and density

I’ve compared Columbus to peer cities nationally in terms of density and population, but I’ve never made a Midwest cities historic population and density comparison overall. For the following, I used the top 15 largest Midwest cities as of 2014.

Red indicates a fallen ranking while blue indicates a rise. Black is no change.

Historic Population Rankings
1840
1. Cincinnati: 46,338
2. St. Louis: 16,469
3. Detroit: 9,102
4. Cleveland: 6,071
5. Columbus: 6,048
6. Chicago: 4,470
7. Indianapolis: 2,695
8. Milwaukee: 1,700
9. Toledo: 1,222
10. Kansas City: Not incorporated.
11. Lincoln: Not incorporated.
12. Minneapolis: Not incorporated.
13. Omaha: Not incorporated.
14. St. Paul: Not incorporated.
15. Wichita: Not incorporated.

1850
1. Cincinnati: 115,435
2. St. Louis: 77,860
3. Chicago: 29,963
4. Detroit: 21,019
5. Milwaukee: 20,061
6. Columbus: 17,882
7. Cleveland: 17,034
8. Indianapolis: 8,091
9. Toledo: 3,829
10. St. Paul: 1,112
11. Kansas City: Not incorporated.
12. Lincoln: Not incorporated.
13. Minneapolis: Not incorporated.
14. Omaha: Not incorporated.
15. Wichita: Not incorporated.

1860
1. Cincinnati: 161,044
2. St. Louis: 160,773
3. Chicago: 112,172
4. Detroit: 45,619
5. Milwaukee: 45,246
6. Cleveland: 43,417
7. Indianapolis: 18,611
8. Columbus: 18,554
9. Toledo: 13,768
10. St. Paul: 10,401
11. Minneapolis: 5,809
12. Kansas City: 4,418
13. Omaha: 1,883
14. Lincoln: Not incorporated.
15. Wichita: Not incorporated.

1870
1. St. Louis: 310,864
2. Chicago: 298,977
3. Cincinnati: 216,239
4. Cleveland: 92,829
5. Detroit: 79,577
6. Milwaukee: 71,440
7. Indianapolis: 48,244
8. Kansas City: 32,260
9. Toledo: 31,584
10. Columbus: 31,274
11. St. Paul: 20,030
12. Omaha: 16,083
13. Minneapolis: 13,066
14. Lincoln: 2,441
15. Wichita: 689

1880
1. Chicago: 503,185
2. St. Louis: 350,518
3. Cincinnati: 255,139
4. Cleveland: 160,146
5. Detroit: 116,340
6. Milwaukee: 115,587
7. Indianapolis: 75,056
8. Kansas City: 55,785
9. Columbus: 51,647
10. Toledo: 50,137
11. Minneapolis: 46,887
12. St. Paul: 41,473
13. Omaha: 30,518
14. Lincoln: 13,003
15. Wichita: 4,911

1890
1. Chicago: 1,099,850
2. St. Louis: 451,770
3. Cincinnati: 296,908
4. Cleveland: 261,353
5. Detroit: 205,877
6. Milwaukee: 204,468
7. Minneapolis: 164,738
8. Omaha: 140,452
9. St. Paul: 133,156
10. Kansas City: 132,716
11. Indianapolis: 105,436
12. Columbus: 88,150
13. Toledo: 81,434
14. Lincoln: 55,164
15. Wichita: 23,853

1900
1. Chicago: 1,698,575
2. St. Louis: 575,238
3. Cleveland: 381,768
4. Cincinnati: 325,902
5. Detroit: 285,704
6. Milwaukee: 285,315
7. Minneapolis: 202,718
8. Indianapolis: 169,164
9. Kansas City: 163,752
10. St. Paul: 163,065
11. Toledo: 131,822
12. Columbus: 125,560
13. Omaha: 102,555
14. Lincoln: 40,169
15. Wichita: 24,671

1910
1. Chicago: 2,185,283
2. St. Louis: 687,029
3. Cleveland: 560,663
4. Detroit: 465,766
5. Milwaukee: 373,857
6. Cincinnati: 363,591
7. Minneapolis: 301,408
8. Kansas City: 248,381
9. Indianapolis: 233,650
10. St. Paul: 214,744
11. Columbus: 181,511
12. Toledo: 168,497
13. Omaha: 124,096
14. Wichita: 52,450
15. Lincoln: 43,973

1920
1. Chicago: 2,701,705
2. Detroit: 993,678
3. Cleveland: 796,841
4. St. Louis: 772,897
5. Milwaukee: 457,147
6. Cincinnati: 401,247
7. Minneapolis: 380,582
8. Kansas City: 324,410
9. Indianapolis: 314,194
10. Toledo: 243,164
11. Columbus: 237,031
12. St. Paul: 234,698
13. Omaha: 191,061
14. Wichita: 72,217
15. Lincoln: 54,948

1930
1. Chicago: 3,376,438
2. Detroit: 1,568,662
3. Cleveland: 900,429
4. St. Louis: 821,960
5. Milwaukee: 578,249
6. Minneapolis: 464,356
7. Cincinnati: 451,160
8. Kansas City: 399,746
9. Indianapolis: 364,161
10. Toledo: 290,718
11. Columbus: 290,564
12. St. Paul: 271,606
13. Omaha: 214,006
14. Wichita: 111,110
15. Lincoln: 75,933

1940
1. Chicago: 3,396,808
2. Detroit: 1,623,452
3. Cleveland: 878,336
4. St. Louis: 816,048
5. Milwaukee: 587,472
6. Minneapolis: 492,370
7. Cincinnati: 455,610
8. Kansas City: 400,178
9. Indianapolis: 386,972
10. Columbus: 306,087
11. St. Paul: 287,736
12. Toledo: 282,349
13. Omaha: 223,844
14. Wichita: 114,966
15. Lincoln: 81,984

1950
1. Chicago: 3,620,962
2. Detroit: 1,849,568
3. Cleveland: 914,808
4. St. Louis: 856,796
5. Milwaukee: 637,392
6. Minneapolis: 521,718
7. Cincinnati: 503,998
8. Kansas City: 456,622
9. Indianapolis: 427,173
10. Columbus: 375,901
11. St. Paul: 311,349
12. Toledo: 303,616
13. Omaha: 251,117
14. Wichita: 168,279
15. Lincoln: 98,884

1960
1. Chicago: 3,550,404
2. Detroit: 1,670,144
3. Cleveland: 876,050
4. St. Louis: 750,026
5. Milwaukee: 741,324
6. Cincinnati: 502,550
7. Minneapolis: 482,872
8. Indianapolis: 476,258
9. Kansas City: 475,539
10. Columbus: 471,316
11. Toledo: 318,003
12. St. Paul: 313,411
13. Omaha: 301,598
14. Wichita: 254,698
15. Lincoln: 128,521

1970
1. Chicago: 3,366,957
2. Detroit: 1,514,063
3. Cleveland: 750,903
4. Indianapolis: 744,624
5. Milwaukee: 717,099
6. St. Louis: 622,236
7. Columbus: 539,677
8. Kansas City: 507,087
9. Cincinnati: 452,525
10. Minneapolis: 434,400
11. Toledo: 383,818
12. Omaha: 346,929
13. St. Paul: 309,980
14. Wichita: 276,554
15. Lincoln: 149,518

1980
1. Chicago: 3,005,072
2. Detroit: 1,203,368
3. Indianapolis: 700,807
4. Milwaukee: 636,212
5. Cleveland: 573,822
6. Columbus: 564,871
7. St. Louis: 452,801
8. Kansas City: 448,159
9. Cincinnati: 385,460
10. Minneapolis: 370,951
11. Toledo: 354,635
12. Omaha: 313,939
13. Wichita: 279,272
14. St. Paul: 270,230
15. Lincoln: 171,932

1990
1. Chicago: 2,783,726
2. Detroit: 1,027,974
3. Indianapolis: 731,327
4. Columbus: 632,910
5. Milwaukee: 628,088
6. Cleveland: 505,616
7. Kansas City: 435,146
8. St. Louis: 396,685
9. Minneapolis: 368,383
10. Cincinnati: 364,040
11. Omaha: 335,795
12. Toledo: 332,943
13. Wichita: 304,011
14. St. Paul: 272,235
15. Lincoln: 191,972

2000
1. Chicago: 2,896,016
2. Detroit: 951,270
3. Indianapolis: 781,926
4. Columbus: 711,470
5. Milwaukee: 596,974
6. Cleveland: 478,403
7. Kansas City: 441,545
8. Omaha: 390,007
9. Minneapolis: 382,618
10. St. Louis: 348,189
11. Wichita: 344,284
12. Cincinnati: 331,285
13. Toledo: 313,619
14. St. Paul: 287,151
15. Lincoln: 225,581

2010
1. Chicago: 2,695,598
2. Indianapolis: 829,445
3. Columbus: 787,033
4. Detroit: 713,777
5. Milwaukee: 594,833
6. Kansas City: 459,787
7. Omaha: 408,958
8. Cleveland: 396,815
9. Minneapolis: 382,578
10. Wichita: 382,368
11. St. Louis: 319,294
12. Cincinnati: 296,945
13. Toledo: 287,208
14. St. Paul: 285,068
15. Lincoln: 258,379

2014
1. Chicago: 2,722,389
2. Indianapolis: 848,788
3. Columbus: 835,957
4. Detroit: 680,250
5. Milwaukee: 599,642
6. Kansas City: 470,800
7. Omaha: 446,559
8. Minneapolis: 407,207
9. Cleveland: 389,521
10. Wichita: 388,413
11. St. Louis: 317,419
12. Cincinnati: 298,165
13. St. Paul: 297,640
14. Toledo: 281,031
15. Lincoln: 272,996

2020 Projection based on recent estimates.
1. Chicago: 2,736,032
2. Columbus: 905,875
3. Indianapolis: 873,774
4. Detroit: 646,682
5. Milwaukee: 606,730
6. Kansas City: 494,731
7. Omaha: 460,487
8. Minneapolis: 445,321
9. Wichita: 395,751
10. Cleveland: 380,149
11. St. Louis: 308,348
12. St. Paul: 306,448
13. Cincinnati: 302,288
14. Lincoln: 297,136
15. Toledo: 270,837

Columbus seems poised to take the #2 spot from Indianapolis around or just after 2020. Also, 11 of 15 would’ve seen growth 2010-2020. Cleveland, Toledo, St. Louis and Detroit would be the only cities that still lost.

2014 Density
1. Chicago: 11,634.1
2. Minneapolis: 6,972.7
3. Milwaukee: 6,188.3
4. St. Paul: 5,296.1
5. St. Louis: 4,809.4
6. Detroit: 4,760.3
7. Cleveland: 4,721.5
8. Omaha: 3,755.8
9. Columbus: 3,747.0
10. Cincinnati: 3,745.8
11. Lincoln: 3,620.6
12. Toledo: 3,246.1
13. Wichita: 2,374.2
14. Indianapolis: 2,306.5
15. Kansas City: 1,475.9

2020 Projected density using recent estimates.
1. Chicago: 11,692.4
2. Minneapolis: 7,625.4
3. Milwaukee: 6,261.4
4. St. Paul: 5,452.8
5. St. Louis: 4,671.9
6. Cleveland: 4,607.9
7. Detroit: 4,525.4
8. Columbus: 4,060.4
9. Lincoln: 3,940.8
10. Omaha: 3,872.9
11. Cincinnati: 3,797.6
12. Toledo: 3,220.4
13. Wichita: 2,419.0
14. Indianapolis: 2,374.4
15. Kansas City: 1,550.9

The Census is a great source if you are interested in seeing other cities that are not listed above.



How Big is the Columbus Police Force?

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Columbus police force

Police departments nationally have been in the news quite a bit lately, but usually not for positive reasons. Excessive force, racism and even murder charges have been levied against police. While it is difficult to measure such incidents within individual departments, we can at least look at how big police departments are relative to a city’s population, and that’s what this post is about.

I looked at Columbus and its peers and Midwest counterparts to see where the Columbus police force ranked in terms of police presence within the city limits. Here is what I found.

Total Law Enforcement Officers, 2012
Chicago, IL: 12,766
Las Vegas, NV: 4,814
Jacksonville, FL: 2,972
Detroit, MI: 2,883
San Antonio, TX: 2,883
Milwaukee, WI: 2,577
Austin, TX: 2,252
Charlotte, NC: 2,196
Columbus: 2,138
Kansas City, MO: 1,869
St. Louis, MO: 1,866
Indianapolis, IN: 1,813
Cleveland: 1,709
Nashville, TN: 1,637
San Jose, CA: 1,435
Portland, OR: 1,195
Cincinnati: 1,113
Minneapolis, MN: 983
Virginia Beach, VA: 955
Pittsburgh, PA: 947
Omaha, NE: 943
Orlando, FL: 931
Sacramento, CA: 861
Wichita, KS: 821
Toledo: 674
Madison, WI: 555
Providence, RI: 517
Akron: 461
Dayton: 415
Youngstown: 196
Canton: 163

Law Enforcement per 10,000 Residents, 2012
1. St. Louis: 58.6
2. Chicago: 47.1
3. Cleveland: 43.4
4. Milwaukee: 43.0
5. Detroit: 40.8
6. Kansas City: 40.3
7. Orlando: 37.8
8. Cincinnati: 37.6
9. Jacksonville: 35.4
10. Las Vegas: 32.5
11. Pittsburgh: 30.3
12. Youngstown: 29.4
13. Dayton: 29.2
14. Providence: 29.1
15. Charlotte: 27.2
16. Austin: 27.0
17. Columbus: 26.8
18. Nashville: 26.4
19. Minneapolis: 25.2
20. Toledo: 23.6
21. Madison: 23.4
22. Akron: 23.2
23. Omaha: 22.6
24. Canton: 22.4
25. Indianapolis: 21.6
26. Virginia Beach: 21.3
27. Wichita: 21.2
28. San Antonio: 20.9
29. Portland: 20.0
30. Sacramento: 18.1
31. San Jose: 14.7

So now that we know the size of the police force in these places, does the size have a correlation to crime rates?

Here is the violent crime rate for the same year as these stats, 2012. The rank for police force per 10K people is listed beside the violent crime ranking.

Violent Crime Rate per 100K People and Law Enforcement Rank per 10K People
1. Detroit: 2,122.9 #5
2. St. Louis: 1,776.5 #1
3. Cleveland: 1,383.8 #3
4. Milwaukee: 1,294.5 #4
5. Kansas City: 1,263.2 #6
6. Nashville: 1,216 #18
7. Indianapolis: 1,185.5 #25
8. Toledo: 1,171.9 #20
9. Orlando: 1,017.4 #7
10. Minneapolis: 992.2 #19
11. Cincinnati: 974.7 #8
12. Dayton: 973.7 #13
13. Akron: 886.6 #22
14. Youngstown: 809.2 #12
15. Las Vegas: 784 #10
16. Pittsburgh: 752 #11
17. Wichita: 742.5 #27
18. Sacramento: 738.6 #30
19. Charlotte: 647.9 #15
20. Providence: 636.9 #14
21. Columbus: 630 #17
22. Jacksonville: 617.3 #9
23. Omaha: 594.5 #23
24. Portland: 517.2 #29
25. San Antonio: 503.1 #28
26. Austin: 408.8 #16
27. Madison: 377.7 #21
28. San Jose: 363.3 #31
29. Virginia Beach: 169.4 #26
30. Canton: 28.6 #24
Chicago: N/A

Based on the ranking above, which cities are getting the best bang for their police force? That would be cities with a larger police force ranking (by at least 2 spots) than violent crime ranking. These would include: Orlando, Cincinnati, Youngstown, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Charlotte, Providence, Columbus, Jacksonville, Austin, Madison, Virginia Beach and Canton.

On the opposite end, the cities with failing police levels vs. violent crime include those places with a higher violent crime ranking than police ranking (by at least 2 spots). Those are: Detroit, Nashville, Indianapolis, Toledo, Minneapolis, Akron, Wichita, Sacramento, Portland, San Antonio and San Jose.

Finally, the cities with violent crime ranked about where their police size is include St. Louis, Cleveland, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Kansas City, Dayton and Omaha.

So Columbus is in the best category. Its violent crime ranking is 4 spots lower than its law enforcement ranking size, meaning that police in Columbus are performing better than average. Let’s just hope they’re doing the right, legal thing when policing.

For more information and other cities, large and small, check out http://www.governing.com/topics/public-justice-safety/gov-cities-with-the-greatest-police-presence-most-officers-per-capita.html