[Stu Cohen]

Do you have a population threshold of say 10,000 people ... or are you just looking for any incorporated city regardless of the population. Note that the "city" of Vernon, Calfornia has a population of 74.

The World Almanac and Book of Facts contains statistics on the former. I am not sure where to find the definitive number on the latter. "Cities" are created, modified, annexed, etc. somewhere almost weekly. It may be difficult to pin down.

[Maceman]

I'm guessing that your best bet would be to call the governor's offices of each state and ask about the number of cities in each state.

I don't think this would be a particularly daunting task, though it might take you a few days. I do research for a living, and if I could not find a single federal government source or on-line source, and if I really needed an accurate answer, this would be my approach.

You might also find the answer for each state by going to the individual state web sites.

[sauropod]

Go to the Statistical Abstracts of the US. They are on-line at a Census department website.

[RightWhale]

Try APA, American Planning Assoc. There was a list a couple years ago of the top 1000 metro centers. Anything above 50,000 would probably make the list.

[isom35]

cant you just say "there's a whole bunch" or just make a up a number. whoever reads isnt going to know the right number either, right?

[Bobber58]

http://www.world-gazetteer.com/st/statd.htm

[KarlInOhio]

You might run into some definition problems. For example, in Ohio an incorporated area is a city if its population is greater than 5000 but it is a village if it is less than 5000. Would you include the villages in Ohio, or just the cities?

[non-anonymous]

Minnesota data (PDF), with historical table listing "freestanding incorporated places" by population range. FYI, MN had 728 as of 2000.

[non-anonymous]

Minnesota data (PDF), with historical table listing "freestanding incorporated places" by population range. FYI, MN had 728 as of 2000.

[AntiGuv]

19,355 incorporated cities as of Census 2000.

[Kenton]

OK, try this. A city is defined as "An incorporated municipality in the United States with definite boundaries and legal powers set forth in a charter granted by the state"

This is a little misleading, since an incorporated municipality can be either a city or a town, depending on population, and different states have different population requirements for incorporated municipalities, and different requirements for cities vs. towns. For example, an incorporated municipality in Arizona must have at least 2000 people to be considered a city, in Alaska it's 1500.

Check this site out, it will give you the info you need to get started. Once you know the requirements by state, you can do a Google scan for [for example] "incorporated municipalties over 2000, Alaska" for example. It's a little time consuming, having to do it state by state, but after all, I figured this all out in a few minutes of "Googling", so it's do-able!

Good luck with your project!

[Revolting cat!]

16, give or take one or two.

[Grando Calrissian]

http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GCTGeoSearchByListServlet?ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&_lang=en&_ts=82039462500

[HEY4QDEMS]

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/muscities.html

[decimon]

... I need to know the number of cities that exist and that the United States Government recognizes as a city.

Thankfully, that's not a federal function.

[x]

There must be tens of thousands of cities in America. In addition, some places set up with "city" in their name when they were first settled never really made the mark as true cities.

The government relies on MSA's -- Metropolitan Statistical Areas. That a city in the built up counties surrounding it. There are 268 of them. Some overlap, like New York and Newark. Each contains many separate cities.

In some ways the MSA is a good measure, because "Chicago" or "San Francisco" doesn't just mean what's inside the city limits. When you live in an area it makes sense what side of city limits you live on, but for those from other parts of the country it hardly matters.

[Verginius Rufus]

Any place that has "city" in its name obviously has to be included, such as Surf City, NC (pop. 970), Center City, MN (pop. 451), or Southwest City, MO (pop. 600).