How To Pronounce The Top 30 U.S. Cities

Today, in episode #8 of the English with Andrea podcast, we’ll practice the pronunciation of the top 30 U.S. cities. We will go coast to coast, perfecting how to pronounce these famous cities. We’ll also look at the most difficult cities to pronounce and talk about common errors people make when pronouncing those city names. Even though you might think you know how to pronounce U.S. cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles because you’ve heard those cities mentioned in your language (and even visited California!), you may not actually be pronouncing them correctly.

In this podcast, you will learn which U.S. cities you might be saying incorrectly. You’ll also get a chance to practice the 30 U.S. city names several times so you can pronounce them just like an American would. Visit our previous episode if you’re looking for how to pronounce all 50 states.

There are several names that are most difficult that others because the spelling of the city and the way we pronounce it don’t seem to match. Don’t worry! We’ll talk about each of those hard city names so you never make a mistake with them again. The difficult city names that I discuss in this podcast are as follows:

Phoenix
Louisville
Indianapolis

Then follow along as you repeat after me the 30 most populous U.S. cities (according to the U.S. Census Bureau):

1. New York (8,622,698)
2. Los Angeles (3,947,476)
3. Chicago (2,722,389)
4. Houston (2,239,558)
5. Philadelphia (1,560,297)
6. Phoenix (1,537,058)
7. San Antonio (1,436,697)
8. San Diego (1,381,069)
9. Dallas (1,281,047)
10. San Jose (1,015,785)
11. Austin (912,791)
12. Jacksonville (853,382)
13. San Francisco (852,469)
14. Indianapolis (848,788)
15. Columbus (835,957)
16. Fort Worth (812,238)
17. Charlotte (809,958)
18. Detroit (680,250)
19. El Paso (679,036)
20. Seattle (668,342)
21. Denver (663,862)
22. Washington DC (658,893)
23. Memphis (656,861)
24. Boston (655,884)
25. Nashville (644,014)
26. Baltimore (622,793)
27. Oklahoma City (620,602)
28. Portland (619,360)
29. Las Vegas (613,599)
30. Louisville (612,780)

Teaching pronunciation is a passion of mine. That’s why I’m building a premium video pronunciation course. In this course, we will practice vowel sounds, consonents, and more! It will be hours of pronunciation lessons so you can improve your pronunciation and people understand you even better.

P.S. If you want to dramatically improve your pronunciation skills, take my latest course Clear English Pronunciation. People are changing their lives by taking this course! The results have been dramatic. Simply visit StudyWithAndrea.com/speak to learn more.