Traffic in Denver might seem like a nightmare, but spend some time on Madison Avenue in New York City and you'll be begging for Colorado Boulevard at 5 p.m. on a Friday. The same argument could be applied to rent prices: Spending $1,360 a month on a one-bedroom — the average in Denver in January — might seem outrageous, but a one-bedroom in San Francisco averages $3,500. (And none of that malarkey about getting what you pay for: San Francisco's a great city, but swimming in the frigid Pacific Ocean in Northern California sucks even in the summer, whereas our mountains are usable year-round.)
In other words, most of what we gripe about is subjective. Some context is in order.
Sparefoot.com has analyzed Denver's population density — which can cause all kinds of problems for a metropolitan area, from traffic congestion to pollution — and compared it to other cities. Denver's most recent population count of 682,545 people living within 153 square miles means that the city has a density of 4,461 people per square mile. (Brad Buchanan, executive director of Denver Community Planning and Development, has noted that this city's population was more dense in the ’50s, when it had less land.) With the help of sparefoot.com, we've corralled the ten most interesting comparisons to the Mile High below.
10. Jacksonville, Florida
Population: 868,031
Area: 747 square miles
Density: 1,162 people per square mile
9. Portland, Oregon
Population: 632,309
Area: 133.4 square miles
Density: 4,740 people per square mile
8. Los Angeles
Population: 3,971,883
Area: 468.7 square miles
Density: 8,474 people per square mile
7. Amsterdam
Population: 844,667
Area: 84.6 square miles
Density: 9,975 people per square mile
6. Chicago
Population: 2,720,546
Area: 227.6 square miles
Density: 11,953 people per square mile
Keep reading for more dense cities.
5. Boston
Population: 667,137
Area: 48.3 square miles
Density: 13,812 people per square mile
4. San Francisco
Population: 864,816
Area: 46.9 square miles
Density: 18,440 people per square mile
3. New York
Population: 8,550,405
Area: 302.6 square miles
Density: 28,256 people per square mile
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2. Paris
Population: 2,229,621
Area: 40.7 square miles
Density: 55,000 people per square mile
1. Manila, Philippines
Population: 1,780,148
Area: 16.5 square miles
Density: 107,497 people per square mile
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