Cities/metros compared at different metrics (state, places, bigger, populations)

[mjlo]

As a stats nerd I'm always curious how different cities compare at the different metic levels used to calculate population (City Pop. - UA - MSA - CSA). Over the last couple of weeks I created a matrix showing the 1 million+ metro areas(and some bonus cities I was curious about) in a side by side comparison of how they look next to each other for the metrics. I also added in a column for how many people live within a theoretical hours drive (50mi radius).

*I did not include Riverside/IE in this comparison as I refuse to acknowledge it as a legitimate independent metro area.

The metrics for city/UA/MSA/CSA are pretty straight forward since they are all calculated by the OMB standard. The radius metric is a bit subjective since there no one standard tool for it. I settled for a tool in a different link because it provided the most consistent methodology and used 2019 county numbers. I set the radius bar at 50 miles and typed in a city, and it tabulates every county within 50 miles of that city. The caveat is that it calculates entire counties so if only a portion of a county is actually within 50 miles, the whole counties population is still included. Still it provided a consistent idea of how many people live within an hour of the city, kind of a "sphere of influence" metric. Obviously not perfect with places like Hartford being within an hours drive of almost 5 million people, and the bulk of them being centric to much larger cities.


I had originally started creating the metric using the link below which calculates population within a true radius and not at a county level. They do not list data sources and from what I can tell it's based on much older data. I felt it gave an accurate depiction of places with stagnant population growth, but was not confident in the data it gave for cities with more explosive growth, it appeared to be off by millions in some cases. The one thing I liked about this tool is that it calculated across international borders which gave a more true depiction for border cities. It calculated Detroit to have 6.4million people within a 60 mile radius, and included the Canadian portion as well, which by research is fairly accurate. On the flip side it only shows Dallas to have about 5.5 million people within the same radius which I think is WAY off.

https://www.freemaptools.com/find-population.htm

For the regular census data I used the census reporter tool direct from the census website. The numbers on the site are from the 2018 ACS which aren't the latest estimates. ACS data runs 2 years behind given the level of detail. All data is from the most recent estimates release. City/MSA/CSA is 2019, UA is 2018. I may have inadvertently mixed some 2018 numbers so I apologize if there are a couple discrepancies. The point was to show a side by side of how cities stack up so i'm not going to split hairs. This is a very fun tool as you can search estimates for urbanized areas as well. It also gives the land area totals which I've included in my matrix below.

https://censusreporter.org/profiles/...00-detroit-mi/

Here is the matrix, if you're a stats nerd I hope you enjoy (again I apologize for any errors)

[As Above So Below...]

EXCELLENT WORK! Love this!!!

[masssachoicetts]

I really do love the 50 mile radius lol

[Heel82]

Great job. Salt Lake City is fairly comparable to Nashville and Raleigh interestingly, at least in UA, CSA, and 50-miles.

[cpomp]

Awesome list.

I did not expect Philadelphia 4th behind Chicago in the 50 mile radius factor.

Interesting to see LA, Philadelphia and Miami square mileage with such high populations compared to some other MSAs that have twice the land area. And even moreso for Philadelphia and Miami when looking at CSAs.

I always knew that, but when its graphically displayed it shows so much more.

[ckhthankgod]

I wonder if Buffalo and Rochester overlap at the 50 mile radius level? Do the Detroit and Buffalo numbers include nearby Canadian populations as well?

Hartford and the other bigger CT areas are definitely helped by their location in terms of the 50 mile radius. I believe other Northeastern areas like Albany, Syracuse, Harrisburg, Allentown, Springfield, Worcester and Trenton would be over 1 million people in the 50 mile radius column.

[mjlo]

Originally Posted by ckhthankgod

I wonder if Buffalo and Rochester overlap at the 50 mile radius level? Do the Detroit and Buffalo numbers include nearby Canadian populations as well?

Buffalo and Detroit do not include Canadian numbers in their 50 mile radius. You can use the second radius tool to calculate those polulations with them. Buffalo was around 3.7 million(which I assume has an overlap with part of the Golden Horseshoe), and Detroit’s is 6.4 million using a true radius. The problem is I can’t tell how old the data is, and it’s grossly understated for sunbelt metros.

Buffalo and Rochester do have some overlap in the 50 mile metric. As does Philly and New York which is why Philly’s 50 mile number is so big. Same with DC and Baltimore, SF and San Jose etc. I debated on even including San Jose as an independent metro because I don’t really regard it as such.

[_Uncommon_]

Wow this is awesome. I laughed at the Riverside thing. I can’t believe that region has 4 million people. Realistically, it owes its existence to its proximity to LA and should be a part of its metro area. That would make NY and LA peers with each having close to 18 million people. The fact that Riverside goes all the way out to Nevada is head-scratching. Anyway, I too often dismiss it as not being a real city/metro area.

[mhays25]

This is awesome.

I wish whoever creates the UA stats also did one with a higher standard, like 2,000/sm. Or hell, do gradients. One at 4,000 would be good too. Even with all of the available measures, we really don't have enough.

[the resident09]

Great work mjlo!