# How do I find a list of cities, towns, place names in the US **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 1, 2007, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-a-list-of-cities-towns-place-names-in-the-us/414015 "2007-08-01T18:15:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-a-list-of-cities-towns-place-names-in-the-us/414015/1 "2007-08-01T18:15:22Z")
I’m trying to gather some information about places in the US. I want to see how many places are called Springfield for example. It doesn’t matter if it’s a large city, town or even just a place. I do have an older mapping program that will do this, and my Garmen GPS will as well. However, neither are all that great nor up to date. I have 30-40 different place names so looking through an atlas, while it would work, would take forever. It seems that Wiki will do it, but it may not be complete and has a lot of extra stuff to go along with it. It would be nice if there was a program so if I typed in Springfield, a list came up, this is how my mapping program works. Google seems to do it, but it also seems that I would have to type in every state to see if what I’m looking for exists. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-a-list-of-cities-towns-place-names-in-the-us/414015/2 "2007-08-01T18:54:36Z")
Try this: > **[PopulationMondiale.com - World population clock : suivez l'évolution de la...](http://www.populationmondiale.com)** > > Statistiques sur les populations du monde It is searchable by place name ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-a-list-of-cities-towns-place-names-in-the-us/414015/3 "2007-08-01T18:57:04Z")
Also try [www.city-data.com](http://www.city-data.com). ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-a-list-of-cities-towns-place-names-in-the-us/414015/4 "2007-08-01T19:08:01Z")
I did this on a whim once when I had a job that required uploading zip code files to an enterprise database on a regular basis. I don’t recall the exact numbers but Springfield was one of the most common place names and found in most states. Hiowever, it wasn’t the top one. IIRC Franklin was number one and found in almost all states followed by Clinton. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-a-list-of-cities-towns-place-names-in-the-us/414015/5 "2007-08-01T20:01:14Z")
The USGS [Geographic Names Information System](http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic). According to the database, there are 806 features with “Springfield” in the name, including churches, cemetaries, streams, and schools. You can filter by feature class, and if you set it to just look for Populated Places, there are 129. If you filter by actual named political divisions (aka "civil), you get 62. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-a-list-of-cities-towns-place-names-in-the-us/414015/6 "2007-08-01T20:03:04Z")
The best database for this kind of thing is [http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/](http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/) A search for “Springfield” (with feature class “populated place”) returns 129 such places. (There are only fifteen listed per page by default; click on “view & print all” to see the rest). Do not be alarmed that some of the hits aren’t listed as “Springfield.” If you click on Ellet, Ohio, for example, you’ll see ythat Springfield is a variant name. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-a-list-of-cities-towns-place-names-in-the-us/414015/7 "2007-08-01T20:10:30Z")
Hah! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2007, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-a-list-of-cities-towns-place-names-in-the-us/414015/8 "2007-08-01T20:57:06Z")
I thought the USGS would have something like that. FTR I was using Springfield as an example as I had looked at a couple of places and it didn’t come up with the one in WV.