I found one-mile-radius resident populations for US downtowns via CoStar property data. I guessed about locations where each downtown would have the highest number -- avoiding water/industry, including the dense fringes, but staying within the CBD.
Please suggest better addresses, and I'll update the list with any higher numbers. But stay in the CBDs.
See Canadian extrapolations at the bottom.
It says these are 2022 populations...I've emailed a CoStar rep about methodology. They might not really be 2022, or maybe they're estimates. CoStar is the top source for building data for commercial real estate people, so it could be 2020 Census plus recent completions and current occupancy rates. And (like any radius tool) how do they determine the edges, or are big chunks like block groups simply in or out?
Residents in one-mile radius, 2022:
--New York, 1008 Ave of the Americas: 205,284 (50 Central Park S was 203,678)
--San Francisco, 350 Ellis: 141,826 (605 Ellis was 150,401)
--Chicago, 222 W Erie: 134,653 (348 Lake was 112,275)
--Seattle, 906 Pine: 108,515
--Los Angeles, 601 Figueroa: 101,773
--Philadelphia, 1300 Locust: 98,852 (similar a few blocks south)
--Miami, 33 SW 2nd: 89,926 (dense area is relatively narrow)
--Boston, 165 Tremont: 84,280 (gets hit with unpopulated zones and water)
--DC, 1030 15th St NW: 80,858
--Honolulu, 550 S Beretania: 61,784
--Portland, 1331 SW Washington: 54,059
--Denver, 1570 Tremont: 53,422
--San Diego, 1130 7th: 51,218
--Minneapolis, 910 Lasalle: 46,539
--Baltimore, 250 N Calvert: 39,370
--Dallas, 1801 N Pearl: 35,348
--Austin, 920 Colorado: 33,242
--Atlanta, 384 Peachtree: 32,678 (42,176 at 675 Peachtree...if Midtown is part of CBD)
--Milwaukee, 929 N Water: 31,831
--Sacramento, 1325 15th: 30,807
--Houston, 601 Jefferson: 29,101
--Charlotte, 400 E Stonewall: 27,454
--Phoenix, 702 N Central: 25,014
--Buffalo, 707 Washington: 24,579
--Cincinnati, 44 E Court: 23,583
--New Orleans, 600 Loyola Ct.: 22,615
--Tampa, 921 N Morgan: 21,880
--Columbus, 456 E Cherry: 20,722
--Pittsburgh, 717 Grant: 19,523
--Las Vegas, 501 E 8th: 19,496
--San Antonio, 300 Convent: 17,633
--St. Louis, 1531 Pine: 17,404
--Cleveland, 1802 Chester: 17,297
--Kansas City, 601 E 12th: 15,880
--Jacksonville, 330 State: 15,052
--Detroit, 2301 Woodward: 14,325
--Memphis: 336 Monroe: 14,090
--Oklahoma City, 701 Couch: 11,181
They have Canada but only in kilometers. A two-kilo radius would be 12.56 square kilos if I'm doing it right, or 1.54x the one-mile radius.
--Toronto, 336 Yonge: 246,014 (159,749 for the average square mile)
--Vancouver, 1088 Homer: 158,022 (102,611 for the average square mile; lots of water)
--Montreal, 475 Av du President-Kennedy: 124,713 (80,982 average; dense area is fairly narrow)