Huntsville is now the largest city in Alabama, surpassing Birmingham by 14,273 residents, according to new information from the U.S. Census Bureau.

However, the Birmingham-Hoover metro area and Jefferson County still reign supreme in the state, topping the next-largest areas by hundreds of thousands of residents each.

In the city data:

• Birmingham now has 200,733 residents, 11,504 fewer than it had in the 2010 census.
• Huntsville grew by 34,901 residents to become the state’s largest city, with a population of 215,006.
• Montgomery is the state’s third-largest city, with 200,603 residents.
• Mobile comes in fourth, with 187,041 residents.

But looking at the census numbers from a broader view paints a different picture of the state’s population distribution. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Statistical Area still has double the population of its next biggest competitor.

• The Birmingham-Hoover MSA has 1,115,289 residents, according to the census.
• The Huntsville MSA has 491,723 residents.
• The Mobile MSA has 430,297 residents.
• The Montgomery MSA has 386,047 residents.
• The Tuscaloosa MSA has 268,674 residents.

The county population totals also tell a different story about the diffusion of Alabama’s population. Jefferson County remains at the top of the list. But the population in Mobile and Baldwin counties, combined, show south Alabama also is an area to be reckoned with, census data shows

• Jefferson County still is the largest county, with 674,721 residents.
• Mobile County comes in second, with 414,809 residents.
• Madison County, home to Huntsville, pulls up third on this list, with 388,153 people.
• Baldwin County, neighbor to Mobile County, added 231,767 people to Alabama’s population.
• Montgomery County came next, with 228,954 people.
• Tuscaloosa County has 227,036 people.
• Shelby County rounded off the top counties with 223,024 residents.