Largest and Smallest NBA Cities in History

The NBA has played in cities of dramatically different sizes throughout its history. From the enormous population of New York City to the much smaller communities that hosted teams during the league's early years, the geographic makeup of professional basketball has changed considerably since the 1940s.

The following table identifies the largest, second-largest, second-smallest and smallest NBA cities for each census decade from 1940 through 2020. Rankings are based on city population rather than metropolitan-area population, television-market size or the total population of a franchise's surrounding region.

Because the NBA began play in 1946, the 1940 column provides population context for the league's earliest cities. The rankings are historical snapshots rather than a continuous accounting of every franchise relocation.

New York City has been the largest city represented in the NBA throughout the league's history. The New York Knicks were among the founding members of the Basketball Association of America in 1946, and the franchise has remained in New York ever since.

New York's enormous population has consistently placed it ahead of every other NBA city. The Brooklyn Nets, who moved to Brooklyn in 2012, also play within New York City. Although Brooklyn has a distinct identity and its own borough population, it is part of New York City rather than a separate municipality.

Los Angeles and Chicago have also been among the league's largest cities for decades. Los Angeles eventually surpassed Chicago in municipal population, becoming the NBA's second-largest city in the more recent census comparisons.

Franchise relocations and league expansion have repeatedly changed which cities ranked among the NBA's largest and smallest. The historical timelines below identify the periods associated with those changes.

Although Salt Lake City ranks among the smallest NBA cities by municipal population, the Utah Jazz draw fans from a much larger geographic region. The Salt Lake City metropolitan area and the surrounding Wasatch Front contain substantially more residents than the city itself.

The same distinction applies to Boston, Miami, Atlanta, Orlando and many other NBA locations. Municipal boundaries do not necessarily reflect the number of people who live within a team's regional market. Some cities occupy relatively small areas while others encompass extensive suburban development within their city limits.

For this reason, a city's population ranking should not be confused with the financial strength, television audience or potential fan base of its NBA franchise. Metropolitan population, combined statistical areas and television-market measurements offer different ways to compare NBA markets.

For additional comparisons, visit the NBA City Population History and NBA Markets by Population pages.

The league's earliest decades included franchises in communities that would be considered exceptionally small by modern NBA standards. Syracuse, Rochester, Fort Wayne, Anderson, Sheboygan, Waterloo and the Tri-Cities region all played important roles in the development of professional basketball.

As the NBA expanded and franchises relocated, the league increasingly concentrated its teams in larger metropolitan areas. The moves of the Lakers from Minneapolis to Los Angeles, the Warriors from Philadelphia to San Francisco, the Royals from Rochester to Cincinnati and eventually Sacramento, and the Nationals from Syracuse to Philadelphia illustrate the transformation of the league's geographic footprint.

However, city size has never been the sole measure of a successful NBA franchise. Smaller markets such as San Antonio, Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City and Memphis have maintained teams despite having smaller municipal populations than many cities without NBA franchises.

City population: These rankings refer to residents within municipal boundaries, not the surrounding metropolitan area.

Historical rankings: The decade table uses population comparisons for specific periods, while the historical timelines describe changes associated with franchise locations and population growth.

Franchise locations: Some early teams represented multiple neighboring communities, and some franchises used a regional name rather than the name of their arena's municipality.

Historical rankings should be evaluated alongside franchise relocation dates, census boundaries and the distinction between NBA, BAA and NBL membership.

If you know of an important historical population ranking, a missing city or an error in one of the entries, please send the information along with a reliable source when available.

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