Urban systems and hierarchies THE RANK-SIZE RULE 1. RANK-SIZE RULE: Relatively developed societies produce a in the of their cities according to the following mathematical formula. RANK CITY Population as predicted by the rank-size rule US Census Bureau estimated 2007 population 1 New York 8.4 million 2 Los Angeles 3 Chicago 4 Houston 5 Philadelphia 6 Phoenix 7 San Antonio 8 San Diego 9 Dallas 10 San Jose Does the US follow the Rank-Size rule