It all depends on what exactly you mean by the word "city". A lot of the US population is in rural areas or small towns. Their idea of a city is definitely going to be very different from the idea of someone who grew up in NYC, Chicago or San Francisco. Even within those metropolitan areas, ideas may differ between those from the suburbs and those from the city proper.
Personally, I think that a metro/subway system is a good marker of whether or not a place is dense enough to be considered a city. By that metric, the US only has a handful of cities: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland (?!), DC, Los Angeles, Miami, NYC, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and San Juan Puerto Rico (?!).
If you look at a pure density metric of 10k people per square mile at the center of a metro area you end up with a subset: Boston, Chicago, DC, Los Angeles, Miami, NYC, Philadelphia, San Francisco. The City of LA itself has a density of only 8k per square mile but 27 of the surrounding municipalities have a density above the threshold so I included it in the list. Providence, RI happens to also be particularly dense although just below my arbitrary cut-off. There are a few incorporated places throughout the US which are small enough to meet the density threshold but are part of a larger metropolitan area which do not.
Arguments could be made for Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland, or San Juan based on the first criterion. Places like Houston, Austin, Seattle, Dallas, Lousiville, Salt Lake City, etc. might be considered by some to be cities. Based on my time there, I would say that Seattle is on the cusp of becoming a city and that this may apply to a lot of other places throughout the US. If the US was a lot less car-centric it might have a lot more cities (based on both criteria).
Personally, I think that a metro/subway system is a good marker of whether or not a place is dense enough to be considered a city. By that metric, the US only has a handful of cities: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland (?!), DC, Los Angeles, Miami, NYC, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and San Juan Puerto Rico (?!).
If you look at a pure density metric of 10k people per square mile at the center of a metro area you end up with a subset: Boston, Chicago, DC, Los Angeles, Miami, NYC, Philadelphia, San Francisco. The City of LA itself has a density of only 8k per square mile but 27 of the surrounding municipalities have a density above the threshold so I included it in the list. Providence, RI happens to also be particularly dense although just below my arbitrary cut-off. There are a few incorporated places throughout the US which are small enough to meet the density threshold but are part of a larger metropolitan area which do not.
Arguments could be made for Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland, or San Juan based on the first criterion. Places like Houston, Austin, Seattle, Dallas, Lousiville, Salt Lake City, etc. might be considered by some to be cities. Based on my time there, I would say that Seattle is on the cusp of becoming a city and that this may apply to a lot of other places throughout the US. If the US was a lot less car-centric it might have a lot more cities (based on both criteria).