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I know opinions vary and we're all entitled to our own but I've considered the three to be peers for a while now. They're similarly "sized" I suppose, ranging from 8.3 million to 9.3 million and in between. Some of them arguably feel larger and smaller than those numbers, personally noting.
Curious to see what many of you think of as the largest and the smallest of the bunch, in terms of size. For criteria, we could use feel (vibrancy, crowds, big city congestions), aesthetics (skyscrapers would probably fall under this one), traffic, land area, total population, expansiveness of infrastructure, maybe even nearby large population centers that perhaps add to the feel. I probably didn't think of all size related criteria, if you find a usable one, go ahead and use it as long as it's logical.
You're right, the DMV is at a 5.8 million basis. Similarly Toronto's CMA starts off at 5.7 million and San Francisco's MSA starts from 4.5 million.
One thing all three have in common is that they could be the most multi-polar of large metropolises in North America. They are all surrounded by massive population centers, right and left. For Toronto, it's Hamilton, Mississauga, Niagra, such. Washington, well you live around here, why bother explaining? Bay Area is self explanatory too.
You're right, the DMV is at a 5.8 million basis. Similarly Toronto's CMA starts off at 5.7 million and San Francisco's MSA starts from 4.5 million.
One thing all three have in common is that they could be the most multi-polar of large metropolises in North America. They are all surrounded by massive population centers, right and left. For Toronto, it's Hamilton, Mississauga, Niagra, such. Washington, well you live around here, why bother explaining? Bay Area is self explanatory too.
I see what you mean. I'd guess Toronto would feel the largest since it's the largest of the 3 cities. I don't know about the Bay Area functions, but I know that with the Baltimore Washington Area, DC doesn't get a mass exodus from Baltimore like the other cities mentioned.
I couldn't answer this myself - Golden Horseshoe area wise seems smaller than the other two, but is much more densely populated and sprouts dense/tall CBDs every few miles it seems. Never been to Baltimore, but Washington is just huge - the city itself doesn't feel as large to me as SF or certainly Toronto, but the metro area is cohesive and well-served by public transit (perhaps better than the other two), and is best characterized as TOD perfection. The Bay Area can feel simply massive like South FL can because it's long, narrow, and totally dense (though not high-rise dense) - but then you realize that more than 2 miles on either side of 101 or whatever freeway you're on and you're either in water or in mountains.
Principal cities:
Toronto>SF>DC
Metros:
Golden Horseshoe>DMV>Bay Area
There's somthing to be said about strings of 70s/80s brick high-rise apartment buildings scattered everywhere throughout the burbs and along highways, and both DC and Toronto offer this more Northeastern setup. Suburban Bay Area can almost feel "LA-ish" to me, which is massive feeling of course, but doesn't give me the looming urban feel that NE cities do. SF city is a different story altogether - much "bigger" feeling than DC's, but smaller than Toronto's.
IF the Bay Area weren't in fact a "bay area" and instead had a more cohesive metro (keeping its multiple nodes to be sure), it would feel larger than DC's metro, and maybe even larger than Toronto's.
A better comparison to DC and Toronto's metros would be Houston's. To me Houston's metro area feels huge...very tall buildings scattered everywhere in nearly all directions. Huge highways and insane traffic. If going by feel from highways alone, I'd say it feels even larger than LA's metro (assuming one isn't driving all the way from SFV/Burbank to Irvine - then no metro in NA feels that large and expansive - but also nobody who's brain is on Planet Earth is deciding to make that drive - it could take nearly as long as it would to drive all the way up to SF!).
Oshawa to Niagara Falls is about 120 miles, closer to 150 if you extend it to Buffalo. Downtown Toronto to the top of the core Golden Horseshoe area (about at Georgina) is 50 miles.
It's equivalent to DC MSA + Baltimore MSA + a few outlying towns, basically the DC-Baltimore CSA/corridor. It's far larger than the Metroplex (DFW), and better compared to Golden Horseshoe and Bay Area, or even Chicagoland.
Still I think there is more of a disconnect between DC and Baltimore than SF and SJ or Toronto and Hamilton.
SF bay area feels the largest by city, and metro, followed closely by Toronto, and DC at a distant third.
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