Topics
Memphis, 
United States
356,215 people lived in Memphis in 2025. It is the 1597th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 54th largest in the United States.
This is the UN's built-up area, drawn from satellite pictures and census maps rather than from the city limits, and the two can be a long way apart. The rule behind it.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Memphis grew
Where Memphis had 10 people in 1995, it had 38.5 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 360,051 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2010 and 2015. The UN first counts it as a city in 1995, when it passed 50,000 people.
projected (after 2025) · how sure the UN is: high moderate low
How to read this: one column every five years, 1975 to 2050; its height is the number of people. Hatched columns are the UN's projection. The thin strip beneath says how sure the UN is of each figure: the stronger the colour, the surer. A blank means the place was not on the UN's list of cities that year.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
Memphis through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Memphis in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
United States · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: the United States and its 348 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is New York City). Memphis is ringed, in colour; the other cities are grey. Neighbouring countries are outlines.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Memphis covered 200 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 39 km² of it. That is 111 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 11 by 11 metres. Since 1995, its built-up land has grown to 4.7 times its size, and its people are 3.9 times as many.
How to read this: pale is the whole of the city's land; the stronger square inside it is what is actually built on. The three are drawn to the same scale, so a larger square really is more land, and hatching means the year is the UN's projection rather than a count.
Of every 100 people in the United States
Its share of the United States
Of every 1,000 people in the United States in 2025, 1 lived in Memphis, which is 356,215 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares, one for every 1,000th person in the United States; the coloured squares live in Memphis. The grey rest live in other cities, in towns or in the countryside.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1593 Chiniot Pakistan357,181
- 1594 Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas Ecuador356,829
- 1595 Aizawl India356,620
- 1596 Vladikavkaz Russia356,422
- 1597 Memphis356,215
- 1598 Tula Russia356,025
- 1599 Qazvin Iran355,865
- 1600 Korba India355,784
- 1601 Montes Claros Brazil355,651
In the United States, 2025
- 1475 Pittsburgh385,498
- 1553 Plano367,716
- 1557 Riverside367,336
- 1569 Mission Viejo365,221
- 1597 Memphis356,215
- 1606 McAllen355,331
- 1618 Oak Ridge353,212
- 1663 Kansas City344,125
- 1779 Buffalo322,892
How to read this: the number before each name is its place among all 12,138 cities in the world in 2025; bars are people, on one scale per list. Only cities that reach 300,000 people have a page here, so a gap in the numbers is a smaller city.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Memphis are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1995 to 2025, then projection to 2050. Projected years are drawn hatched, and the UN publishes no range of uncertainty for a city. What a city means here, how the UN measures one, and why that number can differ from the one Memphis publishes about itself: how the figures here are put together.
Sources: UN WUP 2025 · Natural Earth · flag-icons. Every source, its licence and how to cite it →
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries