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While Baltimore is a great city in its own right, it is the secondary city in that region!! I know that some of you people wish that it 300 miles or whatever from DC, but it’s only 35 miles away, thus making it second fiddle. And while DC and Balt will never become a MSA (because of politics), the reality is that they are close to each other and share overlapping suburbs. They even share an airport that is 10 miles from Balt and a little over 20 miles from DC (I realize that the region has two additional airports). So yes, Baltimore is the secondary city in the DC/Balt/Arlington CSA, which in reality is a single mteropolitan area. It’s just a shame that some of you people have a heart attack every time Baltimore and DC are put into the same sentence!!!
DC and Baltimore don't function as a single metropolitan area. We share suburbs, yet our media markets are separate. They're relatively close geographically, but they are also ,relatively, geographically small cities. Baltimore is the primary city in it's own Baltimore-Towson-Columbia metropolitan area. We have our own airport (which we gladly poach travelers from DC area), but it is in fact Baltimore's airport) which is 4 miles outside the city of Baltimore (9 miles from downtown Baltimore), and was also owned by the city of Baltimore. Different sports teams. Different, and separate..everything.
It's cool to have a Separate metro close by, though; we have two: DC, Philly.
Based on the OP's criteria, I'd substitute Naperville for Aurora in Chicagoland. Aurora is still bigger and it was far more prominent when Chicago hit its peak population. It has a historic downtown as well. That being said though, Chicago has done a rather bang up job in whitewashing over its metropolitan area's history. Everything seemingly revolves around Chicago at this point, and Aurora and Naperville alike are just two parts of Chicagoland. That being said, my favorite non-Chicago downtown is probably Evanston's.
Off the topic of Chicago, I'm also going to put forward Clayton, MO for metropolitan St. Louis. It doesn't neatly fit the OP's criteria, nor would I necessarily consider it to be the best in the country, but it is St. Louis' immediate economic and political rival. It's the county seat of St. Louis County, in addition to being the metro's second primary business district with highrises going up all over the place. It's essentially the rich and governmentally powerful face of the city/county divide that plagues metropolitan St. Louis, all while only being about 16,500+ in size.
What is your favorite secondary/tertiary city in the US/Canada?
(For example, Oakland to San Francisco, St.Paul to Minneapolis, Arlington to Washington D.C, Fort Worth to Dallas, Fort Lauderdale to Miami)
Which are the best in the following criteria
-Synergy and connectivity with primary city in metro area:
-Independence and recognition apart from the primary city:
-Differences between their primary city and their peer cities:
-Downtown (and other notable neighborhoods):
-Walkability, Transit, and Traffic:
-Amenities, Food, Fun, and Nightlife:
-Economy, Growth, and Cost of Living
-Architecture, Street Layout, and Scenery
In the other option you can choose any city as long as it's:
-The second or third largest city in its metro
-The primary city's metro size is equal to or greater than 1 million
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
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Below are the top 25 metros by population, but their "2nd" largest city by population listed instead of the primary one. In some places the 2nd largest by population may not be the next most important in it's metro.
1. Newark
2. Long Beach
3. Naperville
4. Fort Worth
5. The Woodlands
6. Arlington, VA
7. Fort Lauderdale
8. Camden
9. Sandy Springs
10. Cambridge
11. Mesa
12. Oakland
13. San Bernardino
14. Warren
15. Tacoma
16. St. Paul
17. Chula Vista
18. St. Petersburg
19. Aurora
20. St. Charles
21. Columbia, MD
22. Kissimmee
23. Concord
24, New Braunfels
25. Vancouver, WA
Below are the top 25 metros by population, but their "2nd" largest city by population listed instead of the primary one. In some places the 2nd largest by population may not be the next most important in it's metro.
1. Newark
2. Long Beach
3. Naperville
4. Fort Worth
5. The Woodlands
6. Arlington, VA
7. Fort Lauderdale
8. Camden
9. Sandy Springs
10. Cambridge
11. Mesa
12. Oakland
13. San Bernardino
14. Warren
15. Tacoma
16. St. Paul
17. Chula Vista
18. St. Petersburg
19. Aurora
20. St. Charles
21. Columbia, MD
22. Kissimmee
23. Concord
24, New Braunfels
25. Vancouver, WA
St. Paul and Mesa probably should have been poll choices....oops.
Wait im a little confused by this chart. Why is NY-NJ-CT Metro all together, but Boston and Philly separated? NYC is five counties so shouldnt we see 3/5 represented on here?
Wait im a little confused by this chart. Why is NY-NJ-CT Metro all together, but Boston and Philly separated? NYC is five counties so shouldnt we see 3/5 represented on here?
NY is divided into 4 and CT is not included in NY.
Interesting thread. My top 3 for national prominence if the primary city in the metro was removed.
1. Oakland
2. Long Beach
3. Fort Worth
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