These are based on 2014 numbers and also for the cities themselves, not for the metropolitan area. Does this look about like what you would guess? Or are there some surprises?
22 Washington[13] District of Columbia 658,893 601,723 +9.50% 61.0 sq mi 158.1 km2 9,856 per sq mi 3,806 km−2 38.9041°N 77.0171°W
23 Memphis Tennessee 656,861 646,889 +1.54% 315.1 sq mi 816.0 km2 2,053 per sq mi 793 km−2 35.1035°N 89.9785°W
24 Boston Massachusetts 655,884 617,594 +6.20% 48.3 sq mi 125.0 km2 12,793 per sq mi 4,939 km−2 42.3320°N 71.0202°W
25 Nashville[14] Tennessee 644,014 601,222 +7.12% 475.1 sq mi 1,230.8 km2 1,265 per sq mi 489 km−2 36.1718°N 86.7850°W
26 Baltimore[15] Maryland 622,793 620,961 +0.30% 80.9 sq mi 209.6 km2 7,672 per sq mi 2,962 km−2 39.3002°N 76.6105°W
27 Oklahoma City Oklahoma 620,602 579,999 +7.00% 606.4 sq mi 1,570.6 km2 956 per sq mi 369 km−2 35.4671°N 97.5137°W
28 Portland Oregon 619,360 583,776 +6.10% 133.4 sq mi 345.6 km2 4,375 per sq mi 1,689 km−2 45.5370°N 122.6500°W
29 Las Vegas Nevada 613,599 583,756 +5.11% 135.8 sq mi 351.8 km2 4,298 per sq mi 1,660 km−2 36.2277°N 115.2640°W
30 Louisville[16] Kentucky 612,780 597,337 +2.59% 325.2 sq mi 842.4 km2 1,837 per sq mi 709 km−2 38.1781°N 85.6667°W
31 Milwaukee Wisconsin 599,642 594,833 +0.81% 96.1 sq mi 249.0 km2 6,188 per sq mi 2,389 km−2 43.0633°N 87.9667°W
32 Albuquerque New Mexico 557,169 545,852 +2.07% 187.7 sq mi 486.2 km2 2,908 per sq mi 1,123 km−2 35.1056°N 106.6474°W 33 Tucson Arizona 527,972 520,116 +1.51% 226.7 sq mi 587.2 km2 2,294 per sq mi 886 km−2 32.1543°N 110.8711°W
34 Fresno California 515,986 494,665 +4.31% 113.2 sq mi 293.2 km2 4,418 per sq mi 1,706 km−2 36.7827°N 119.7945°W
35 Sacramento California 485,199 466,488 +4.01% 97.9 sq mi 253.6 km2 4,764 per sq mi 1,839 km−2 38.5666°N 121.4686°W
36 Long Beach California 473,577 462,257 +2.45% 50.3 sq mi 130.3 km2 9,191 per sq mi 3,549 km−2 33.8091°N 118.1553°W
37 Kansas City Missouri 470,800 459,787 +2.40% 315.0 sq mi 815.7 km2 1,460 per sq mi 564 km−2 39.1252°N 94.5511°W
38 Mesa Arizona 464,704 439,041 +5.85% 136.5 sq mi 353.4 km2 3,218 per sq mi 1,242 km−2 33.4019°N 111.7174°W
39 Atlanta Georgia 456,002 420,003 +8.57% 133.2 sq mi 344.9 km2 3,154 per sq mi 1,218 km−2 33.7629°N 84.4227°W
40 Virginia Beach[15] Virginia 450,980 437,994 +2.96% 249.0 sq mi 644.9 km2
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Imagine 9 out of ten Europeans dying by 1600s and the society that's left, meanwhile we dont decimate the population in the Americas. Story could be and period of time following.
The only north American ruined cities I can think of are some Puebloan sites in the southwest. Aside from that, there's Cahokia, but if I understand it correctly Cahokia is "just" a series of mounds with pieces of buried physical culture rather than structures, monuments and temples.
I am personally familiar with the classic Mediterranean and have taken a few undergraduate courses on the archaeology of Anatolia and the Near East. While I do know that metallurgy was mostly unknown to the Native Americans (correct me if I'm wrong) we still have lots of paleolithic city ruins in the near east like Gobekli Tepe.
In a kind of narrative sense, why did 17th century America look more like "unspoiled wilderness" than "post apocalyptic landscape" despite the continent relatively recently having a large population?
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