At the same time, the New York metropolitan growth rate more than doubled, from 3.5 percent in the 1980s to 8.4 percent in the 1990s. At the 1980s growth rate, metropolitan Los Angeles would have exceeded metropolitan New York in population by 2005. If the 1990s growth rate were to continue, Los Angeles would become larger in 2068.

An even greater acceleration occurred in Chicago, where the growth rate of 11.1 percent was more than seven times the 1.5 percent rate of the 1980s.