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What is the best 2nd city when comparing Washington to Colorado?
Seattle and Denver are certainly the top cities in each State. I am not including Tacoma here because it is so close to Seattle.
Spokane and Colorado Springs have similar populations. Both are thriving to some extent, but which offers a better cost of living, a better climate, and a better economic future? Please offer any other factors, such as access to mountain or recreation, watersports, or scenic beauty.
What is the best 2nd city when comparing Washington or Colorado?
Seattle and Denver are certainly the top cities in each State. I am not including Tacoma here because it is so close to Seattle.
Spokane and Colorado Springs have similar populations. Both are thriving to some extent, but which offers a better cost of living, a better climate, and a better economic future? Please offer any other factors, such as access to mountain or recreation, watersports, or scenic beauty.
I've never been to either city, but just from street view Spokane feels larger and more dense.
So just from looking at these images I like the look of Spokane more, I like that Spokane has quite a bit of historical midrise buildings. But I'm not going to vote yet, I might change my mind if someone makes a case for Colorado Springs.
Honestly, I'd pin Tacoma as Washington's second city. Pierce County is nearly twice as populated as Spokane County. But I suppose most just consider Tacoma as too connected to the Seattle metro to be considered apart.
Honestly, I'd pin Tacoma as Washington's second city. Pierce County is nearly twice as populated as Spokane County. But I suppose most just consider Tacoma as too connected to the Seattle metro to be considered apart.
I think using Spokane is a more fair comparison since they both are inland cities, whereas Tacoma is a coastal city.
One thing is that Spokane is much farther away from Seattle than Colorado Springs is from Denver, I think that Colorado Springs is part of Denver's CSA.
Either way in a about a decade Tacoma will become larger than Spokane since Spokane isn't growing that fast. Tacoma has added ~9,500 people since 2010, Spokane only added ~4,300. Tacoma only needs to add ~5,300 people to catch up to Spokane. The last time that Tacoma was larger than Spokane was way back in 1900. Tacoma might even regain the second city title during the 2020 census.
Tacoma and Spokane are both legit cities. Spokane has more of its own stuff because it's not in a bigger city's orbit. Tacoma keeps losing things to Seattle but it's also been revitalizing in its core, not including much retail unfortunately. It's not a huge job center because much of that "local" population works up north. Both have in-town topography worthy of lengthy threads. Spokane has a downtown Nordstrom, something that even Denver has no equal to. Tacoma has a ton of waterfront and it's probably 20-25 miles closer to Mt. Rainier than Seattle is, so it dominates the horizon in a much bigger way.
Colorado Springs. The city is beautiful and probably what a lot of people think Denver is. An underrated city for sure. Just wish it would stop trying to function as a small town when it clearly isn't.
Spokane's crime rate turns me off, but the city doesn't look bad.
I find it interesting that Tacoma can compare to cities like Little Rock and OKC, where Spokane cannot. But since it is so close to Seattle and part of the Sea-Tac metro area it tends to get little recognition. I think in time however, great artists will emerge from Tacoma, and since it has such great urban bones and more space than Seattle, it has room for the same amenities and much more growth. I think Tacoma will become internationally recognized within the next 15 years. The artist scene here is large and in charge. It is a great time to be here and the city is on the cusp of exploding. Within the next two years there will be many new mixed use projects built all to accommodate population growth and increase density. Rents are steadily rising, and neighborhoods are becoming larger and more distinct. I think it's a great asset to Seattle's overflow and will become much more pronounced as time goes on.
As far as second cities go, it's hard to beat Tacoma imo, unless you're talking about Oakland.
Colorado Springs and Spokane have huge potential though and I see growth and prosperity in their futures.
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