Both those numbers seem to be accurate for the city limits. Wikipedia says the population of NYC was 8.5 million in 2014. City limits are, of course, a somewhat arbitrary concept and NYC&#x27;s environs are more crowded than Houston&#x27;s. I&#x27;m not sure what your point is however. There are a variety of historical and other reasons why the South doesn&#x27;t have cities as large as the North and the West Coast.