CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Census Bureau today placed its new estimate for Cleveland's population at 385,525.

Depending on how you look at it, that's either a one-year drop of under 300 or a couple of thousand. To understand the discrepancy, you have to understand that estimates are moving targets (a little more on that below).

But suffice to say, after years of decline, the Census Bureau believes Cleveland's population has been leveling off over the last few years. And Cleveland's national ranking is unchanged from last year at No. 51 - just ahead of Tampa and just below Wichita. (Continue story below.)

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Cleveland's population is estimated at just under 400,000. (Rich Exner, cleveland.com)

Cleveland reached a high of 914,808 in 1950, dropping to 396,815 at the time of the last census in 2010 when it ranked 45th in size.

We'll have a better idea where exactly Cleveland stands after the next once-every-10-year census is conducted in 2020.

Until then, the annual estimates are the best numbers we have.

The estimates the Census Bureau released on Thursday are for 2017. Cleveland's population was placed at 385,525, down 1,926 from 387,451 in 2016.

But the 2016 number of 387,451 released Thursday was also an update, thanks to what the Census Bureau believes is better information. Updating old estimates is a matter of routine.

Last May, the Census Bureau estimated Cleveland's population at 385,809 for 2016. So the estimate for 2017 is a drop of just 284 from what was reported last year.

It's difficult for the Census Bureau to accurately estimate city populations, where significant changes have occurred, because of a lack of information.

The new estimates are based in part on changes in total housing units, applied to old vacancy rates and average household sizes from the 2010 census. The estimates done a similar way leading up to the 2010 census ended up being way off for Cleveland.

Countywide and statewide estimates historically have proven to be more accurate, because they are based on death and birth records, plus migration data. Such records are not available at the city level.

Akron, Ohio's fifth largest city, gained an estimated 135 residents, increasing from 197,711 in 2016 to 197,846 in 2017. Overall, Akron's population has been fairly stable. It was 199,110 at the time of the 2010 census.

Here are some rankings, based on the new estimates for 2017.

10 largest Ohio cities

Columbus, 879,170 Cleveland, 385,525 Cincinnati, 301,301 Toledo, 276,491 Akron, 197,846 Dayton, 140,371 Parma, 79,167 Canton, 70,909 Youngstown, 64,604 Lorain, 63,841

10 largest U.S. cities

New York, 8,622,698 Los Angeles, 3,999,759 Chicago, 2,716,450 Houston, 2,312,717 Phoenix, 1,626,078 Philadelphia, 1,580,863 San Antonio, 1,511,946 San Diego, 1,419,516 Dallas, 1,341,075 San Jose, 1,035,317

10 smallest Ohio incorporated places



Rendville, 36 Miltonsburg, 41 Holiday City, 51 Elgin, 56 Octa, 58 Jacksonburg, 63 Chilo, 66 Graysville, 73 Deersville, 75 Stafford, 76

Rich Exner, data analysis editor for cleveland.com, writes about numbers on a variety of topics. Follow on Twitter @RichExner.