Second most important city/suburb in large metros. (development, place, population)

[speagles84]

Pittsburgh's most important "Second City" would be an actual city neighborhood - Oakland followed by East Liberty.

If it were a different municipality, it would be:

Tier 1:
Cranberry
Mount Lebanon
Robinson/Moon

Tier 2:
Monroeville
Greensburg
Washington

[KodeBlue]

Baltimore-Annapolis.

[Mr Ambitious]

Minneapolis
-St Paul, second city(which sucks since they were established first)
-Bloomington - suburb(technically its a city but...)

[biscuit_head]

Originally Posted by JJG

I'd say Arlington takes that spot.

Historically, yes, but now, Plano for sure. Plano has far more corporate offices and headquarters than Arlington, which mainly functions as a bedroom community for both Dallas and Fort Worth. There are amusement parks and sports stadiums in the city and a fast growing university, but Plano has a far higher cachet and has become an office center in its own right. You have people from all over Collin County and even the City of Dallas who commute to Plano for its jobs. It's definitely the most important suburb in the DFW area.

[westhou]

Originally Posted by Jack Lance

I'm thinking Pasadena needs to be in the mix when discussing 2nd cities in the Houston area. It is basically thought of as the center of the industrial heart of the Houston area. All the other suburbs you listed are basically white collar enclaves and commuter cities (bedroom communities) of Houston.

Galveston is probably the most well known 2nd city in the metro. But I can see Pasadena being the most economically important 2nd city.

I'd probably rank them:

2. Galveston
3. Pasadena
4. The Woodlands
5. Baytown
6. Sugar Land

[biscuit_head]

Originally Posted by westhou

Galveston is probably the most well known 2nd city in the metro. But I can see Pasadena being the most economically important 2nd city.

I'd probably rank them:

2. Galveston
3. Pasadena
4. The Woodlands
5. Baytown
6. Sugar Land

Do you think The Woodlands surpassing Pasadena in the future? Seems like The Woodlands is not only growing fast with lots of new residents, but seems to attract a lot of major companies there too.

[cdw1084]

Originally Posted by anonelitist

I always thought Decatur was more important than Marietta. It has a bigger and far more charming downtown that has way more sex appeal to creative types and young professionals. It's home to Emory and the CDC. It's connected to Atlanta via MARTA. As spread out as Atlanta is, in my mind I actually do have a hard time calling it a suburb rather than a closer in neighborhood, but alas, it is technically a suburb. Relative to Atlanta, Marietta is definitely more of a "suburb". Aren't Decatur and Buckhead about equidistant to Midtown/Downtown (and both are well within the Perimeter)? I mean they would certainly be suburbs in other cities, but Atlanta is just so spread out that it almost feels like anything within 10 miles, practically Sandy Springs included, feels like "the city" and anything outside of the Perimeter/10 miles feels like suburbs.

I wouldn't say Decatur is more important than Marietta. The downtown in Decatur isn't that much bigger but I do think it's better. However, Marietta feels more of an independent city compared to Decatur and it's due to the fact that Decatur is much closer to Atlanta's city limits...

[JayJayCB]

Raleigh-Cary

[westhou]

Originally Posted by biscuit_head

Do you think The Woodlands surpassing Pasadena in the future? Seems like The Woodlands is not only growing fast with lots of new residents, but seems to attract a lot of major companies there too.

I don't see The Woodlands ever passing Pasadena. I say that because the Port of Houston will always be the most important economically to Houston. The Woodlands will always be more attractive place to live and work but because it's so planned and so much of the space is devoted to keeping it a nice safe and beautiful place to live it will always be limited.

But I could see Galveston falling to the 3rd slot and Pasadena moving to the first slot and The Woodlands moving ahead to the 2nd slot. The Woodlands is quickly becoming a very attractive place to not only live and work but also a place to visit.

[NCOriolesfan]

Originally Posted by KodeBlue

Baltimore-Annapolis.

See, I'd have said Towson.