L.A. is nation's most densely populated urban area

We're talking 7,000 people per square mile, according to the Census Bureau. The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim area is followed by San Francisco-Oakland (6,266) and San Jose (5,820). Seven of the 10 most densely populated areas are in California, which is quite something given how empty the place was 100 or so years ago (see shot of Glendale below). As for raw numbers, the NY metro area leads the way, with 18.3 million people. L.A. is the second most populous (12.1 million), followed by Chicago (8.6 million). From the press release:

Of the 50 states, California was the most urban, with nearly 95 percent of its population residing within urban areas. New Jersey followed closely with 94.7 percent of its population residing in urban areas. New Jersey is the most heavily urbanized state, with 92.2 percent of its population residing within urbanized areas of 50,000 or more population. The states with the largest urban populations were California (35,373,606), Texas (21,298,039) and Florida (17,139,844). Maine and Vermont were the most rural states, with 61.3 and 61.1 percent of their populations, respectively, residing in rural areas. States with the largest rural populations were Texas (3,847,522), North Carolina (3,233,727) and Pennsylvania (2,711,092).