The country had been overwhelmingly rural at the beginning of the century, with less than 5 percent of Americans living in large towns or cities. The proportion of urban percent by 1880 and to 46 percent by 1900. A country with only 6 cities boasting a population of more than 8,000 in 1800 had become one with 545 such cities in 1900. What proportion of population of the United States was urban in 1900?