Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I agree with everything else you said but I think for DC and Baltimore to have already over 600,000 people in the city boundaries of some 3 times less than the size of fort worth (estimate 700,000) and Dallas (estimate1 million) it has a stronger case for being more populated if its boundaries were expanded to be the size of the sun belt cities like fort worth/Dallas significantly increasing the population by thousands from added suburbs of the surrounding counties.
Yeah, I took some license with that one but only to illustrate the absurdity of suggesting that Fort Worth is not a major city.
There's definitely a sense of separation there compared to cities in the South and Southeast and Southwest.
I agree with this in a few limited respects, but would suggest that many of the reasons for that sense of separation have to do with the national parks located between them and the lack of a major institution like an airport located midway between them that together either prevent or suppress development from sprawling between those two cities. If Prince William County or Loudon County complete with Fulles airport were dropped in between Washington and Balitmore, would that make the two cities any less distinct?
I also think that you can have two cities that close to one another that are perceived as being more clearly separated when they are located on the East Coast where there are many more major cities, rather than would be the case if you somehow could drop Washington and Baltimore into North Texas.
Again, the criteria used by the OMB to designate MSAs is pretty arbitrary in these cases, but no matter what, you would never see the nation's capital share an MSA with any other major city. I would obviously much prefer it if the OMB reclassified Dallas and Fort Worth back into being separate MSAs.
the lack of a major institution like an airport located midway between them that together either prevent or suppress development from sprawling between those two cities. If Prince William County or Loudon County complete with Fulles airport were dropped in between Washington and Balitmore, would that make the two cities any less distinct?
Yes, they share an airport, but not in the sense that I was referring to. If BWI were the region's largest and most significant airport and if it were located in Laurel rather than along the edge of Baltimore, it'd be a more accurate comparison. Had the FAA a few decades back delivered an ultimatum that Washington and Balitimore consolidate their commercial service into one centralized international airport located midway between the two (and, to complete the picture, if Washington used a loophole to maintain service by a young Southwest Airlines from Reagan National), and a few corporate/industrial parks developed around it along with suburbs to house the employees working there, it'd be an even more accurate comparison.
There are a few cities that fit this bill. I think it is a mystery to most why some are separated and some are not. Supposedly a lot depends on travel patterns between the two and whether or not their economies are sufficiently linked. Minneapolis/St. Paul, Raleigh/Durham, Tampa St.Petersburg.
This is correct. The census bureau bases MSA borders around home-to-work commute patterns. A few months ago, I was reading somewhere about how, due to changing commute patterns, some Jersey suburbs that are now considered in the Philly MSA could potentially be reclassified as part of the NYC MSA based on the results of the in 2020 census.
Anyway, very few people in Baltimore commute to DC for work, and essentially nobody who lives in DC commutes to Baltimore. I've never met anyone who commutes to Baltimore from Virginia, and I've never met anyone who lives in Baltimore and commutes to Virginia.
Whereas, evidently (I'm basing this entirely on what I know about census stats--I've never been Dallas-Fort Worth so correct me if I'm wrong), in DFW, you have people working in Dallas and living all over the Metroplex, people working in Fort Worth and commuting in from far-flung places, and people living in the inner cities commuting to the suburbs.
While I've never been there, from my outsider prospective, it seems like Dallas and Fort Worth are as different in terms of culture. I imagine Fort Worth being the ultimate "Texas city" and Dallas being like a cross between Atlanta and LA...again this is all might not align at all with reality. Some day I'll make it down there and see for myself.
Last edited by Dawn.Davenport; 02-08-2015 at 09:07 AM..
This is correct. The census bureau bases MSA borders around home-to-work commute patterns.
Very few people in Baltimore commute to DC for work, and essentially nobody who lives in DC commutes to Baltimore.
Whereas, evidently (I'm basing this entirely on what I know about census stats--I've never been Dallas-Fort Worth so correct me if I'm wrong), in DFW, you have people working in Dallas and living all over the Metroplex, people working in Fort Worth and commuting in from far-flung places, and people living in the inner cities commuting to the suburbs.
While I've never been there, from my outsider prospective, it seems like Dallas and Fort Worth are as different in terms of culture. I imagine Fort Worth being the ultimate "Texas city" and Dallas being like a cross between Atlanta and LA...again this is all might not align at all with reality. Some day I'll make it down there and see for myself.
No, you pretty much nailed it.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
