There are 666 cities in China; how many are there in the United States?

Hello.

One of the issues here is how you define the term "city." What one
person or region might call a "town," another might call a "city." 
The U.S. Census Bureau thus speaks about "incorporated places" (i.e.,
a geographic entity with its own city charter, etc.).

According to a press release dated July 10, 2003, the U.S. Census
Bureau indicates there are 19,451 "incorporated places" in the U.S.
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/001118.html

Also see:
The Straight Dope: How many cities are there in the U.S.?
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/muscities.html

Also see:
USA 101: Cities, How many cities in the USA
http://www.usa101.com/en/forums/index.php?showtopic=103

--------
search strategy:
"How many cities are there"
2003 "incorporated places", site:census.gov

I hope this answers your question. If not, please let me know via the
"request clarification" feature. Thanks.

I liked the fact that other sources were linked to; that helps a lot.
I also appreciate the the comment by someone else.

I think that figure may not be much good as a comparison to China -
with a much larger population, they only have about a thirtieth of the
number of cities?  Unfortunately it does come to a matter of
definitions, but I couldn't find how China defines a city, except that
city status is determined by the Ministry of Civil Affairs.  The also
have something more than 17,000 towns, so that would bring the figure
up closer to the number in the US census figures.  Also, there doesn't
seem to be a US federal definition of city, but each state may or may
not define what a city is for their state.  To compare accurately, you
would need to see how China defines a city, then try to figure out how
many "incorporated places" in the US meet that definition.  That may
or may not be easy to do, depending on how they define city.  If it
strictly based on population, then it shouldn't be hard.

kibbage:
Thank you for the tip.
-juggler