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A lot is said for migration trends and how the Sun Belt dominates this list, at least in recent decades. There is another side to the story, however, that rarely gets mentioned, and that is annexation. I recently collected census data for the top 100 largest cities on area size back to 1950. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the data for all of them, but was able to find it for 76. I then ranked them by total area growth and total % growth for the period of 1950-2010. Here are the top 50 in each catergory.
By Total Area Growth**
1. Jacksonville, FL: +716.8
2. Oklahoma City: +555.6
3. Phoenix: +499.6
4. Nashville: +453.1
5. Houston: +439.6
6. Louisville, KY: +346.1
7. San Antonio: +338.1
8. Indianapolis: +309.9
9. Charlotte, NC: +267.7
10. Austin, TX: +265.8
11. Fort Worth, TX: +246.1
12. Kansas City: +232.9
13. El Paso, TX: +229.6
14. Dallas: +228.5
15. San Diego: +225.8
16. Memphis: +198.1
17. Tuscon: +191.2
18. Colorado Springs: +185.5
19. Columbus: +177.8
20. Tulsa, OK: +170.1
21. San Jose, CA: +159.5
22. Albuquerque, NM: +152.5
23. Corpus Christi, TX: +140.8
24. Wichita, KS: +133.6
25. Montgomery, AL: +133.5
26. Raleigh, NC: +131.8
27. Las Vegas: +123.3
28. Columbia, SC: +119
29. Winston-Salem, NC: +113.6
30. Greensboro, NC: +108.3
31. Charleston, SC: +103.9
32. Little Rock, AR: +98.2
33. Fresno, CA: +97.0
34. Atlanta: +96.3
35. Tampa: +94.4
36. Durham, NC: 94.2
37. Fort Wayne, IN: +91.8
38. Orlando: +88.3
39. Omaha, NE: +86.4
40. Denver: +86.2
41. Sacramento, CA: +81.0
42. Birmingham, AL: +80.8
43. Portland, OR: +70.2
44. Lincoln, NE: +65.3
45. Madison, WI: +61.4
46. Salt Lake City: +57.2
47. Stockton, CA: +49.9
48. Baton Rouge, LA: +46.7
49. Milwaukee: +46.1
50. Toledo: +42.4
**Some cities have consolidated with their counties, adding the entire county as the city population. Since annexation is essentially adding land to the city, this does count, imo. These include cities like Louisville and Indianapolis.
For total area growth, Sun Belt and high-growth Western cities dominate, having 41 total cites on the list. Only 9 were Midwestern or Northeastern.
For % growth, 38 of the cities were Sun Belt or high-growth Western cities. By Western, I'm generally referring to the Pacific coastal states and not intermountain cities like Denver. One has to wonder just how much annexation has been responsible for city growth.
Exactly and this is a factor that gets overlooked. Actually, I don't think there was a Northeastern city on either list.
There wasn't. Granted, a lot of those cities are older and were boxed in by their suburbs early on, but we have been hearing for years now how the Sun Belt growth was due to so many people moving there from the North. I haven't seen a single article or report on how annexation played into that growth rate. How many of those people were already in a metro area before the city annexed around them? Metro populations may be a better measure of growth in this case, but even then, counties are added to metros all the time and I haven't seen any report on that, either. Still, the perception of high-growth plays a role in where people want to move. If an area is considered popular and "Hey look, everyone's moving to... ", is it a case where that perception of growth has created real growth?
There wasn't. Granted, a lot of those cities are older and were boxed in by their suburbs early on, but we have been hearing for years now how the Sun Belt growth was due to so many people moving there from the North. I haven't seen a single article or report on how annexation played into that growth rate. How many of those people were already in a metro area before the city annexed around them? Metro populations may be a better measure of growth in this case, but even then, counties are added to metros all the time and I haven't seen any report on that, either. Still, the perception of high-growth plays a role in where people want to move. If an area is considered popular and "Hey look, everyone's moving to... ", is it a case where that perception of growth has created real growth?
Yes but to be fair MSA or UA would show many to also be growing at a high clip.
On city size, it is silly to compare populations of say Jax and SF and make any rationale insights but from a municipal authority standpoint there are many advantages to a larger city land area wise. Taxes, services etc can all be significantly streamlined in larger land area municipalities.
Just a tidbit, among that top 50 list, the first table all but three added more land area than exists in current day SF
Yes but to be fair MSA or UA would show many to also be growing at a high clip.
On city size, it is silly to compare populations of say Jax and SF and make any rationale insights but from a municipal authority standpoint there are many advantages to a larger city land area wise. Taxes, services etc can all be significantly streamlined in larger land area municipalities.
Just a tidbit, among that top 50 list, the first table all but three added more land area than exists in current day SF
Yeah, but you can't argue that when a city like Phoenix annexes nearly 3,000% of its 1950 starting size, it doesn't have a role in the perception of growth. And I think it can be argued that that annexed growth creates an image of the city being a boom town. The question becomes how does a city population like that influence its metro population, if at all. Or which comes first, the metro growth or the city growth?
San Francisco added just 2.3 square miles 1950-2010, or 5.2%. It grew more like a Northeastern city.
A lot is said for migration trends and how the Sun Belt dominates this list, at least in recent decades. There is another side to the story, however, that rarely gets mentioned, and that is annexation. I recently collected census data for the top 100 largest cities on area size back to 1950. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the data for all of them, but was able to find it for 76. I then ranked them by total area growth and total % growth for the period of 1950-2010. Here are the top 50 in each catergory.
By Total Area Growth**
1. Jacksonville, FL: +716.8
2. Oklahoma City: +555.6
3. Phoenix: +499.6
4. Nashville: +453.1
5. Houston: +439.6
6. Louisville, KY: +346.1
7. San Antonio: +338.1
8. Indianapolis: +309.9
9. Charlotte, NC: +267.7
10. Austin, TX: +265.8
11. Fort Worth, TX: +246.1
12. Kansas City: +232.9
13. El Paso, TX: +229.6
14. Dallas: +228.5
15. San Diego: +225.8
16. Memphis: +198.1
17. Tuscon: +191.2
18. Colorado Springs: +185.5
19. Columbus: +177.8
20. Tulsa, OK: +170.1
21. San Jose, CA: +159.5
22. Albuquerque, NM: +152.5
23. Corpus Christi, TX: +140.8
24. Wichita, KS: +133.6
25. Montgomery, AL: +133.5
26. Raleigh, NC: +131.8
27. Las Vegas: +123.3
28. Columbia, SC: +119
29. Winston-Salem, NC: +113.6
30. Greensboro, NC: +108.3
31. Charleston, SC: +103.9
32. Little Rock, AR: +98.2
33. Fresno, CA: +97.0
34. Atlanta: +96.3
35. Tampa: +94.4
36. Durham, NC: 94.2
37. Fort Wayne, IN: +91.8
38. Orlando: +88.3
39. Omaha, NE: +86.4
40. Denver: +86.2
41. Sacramento, CA: +81.0
42. Birmingham, AL: +80.8
43. Portland, OR: +70.2
44. Lincoln, NE: +65.3
45. Madison, WI: +61.4
46. Salt Lake City: +57.2
47. Stockton, CA: +49.9
48. Baton Rouge, LA: +46.7
49. Milwaukee: +46.1
50. Toledo: +42.4
**Some cities have consolidated with their counties, adding the entire county as the city population. Since annexation is essentially adding land to the city, this does count, imo. These include cities like Louisville and Indianapolis.
For total area growth, Sun Belt and high-growth Western cities dominate, having 41 total cites on the list. Only 9 were Midwestern or Northeastern.
For % growth, 38 of the cities were Sun Belt or high-growth Western cities. By Western, I'm generally referring to the Pacific coastal states and not intermountain cities like Denver. One has to wonder just how much annexation has been responsible for city growth.
Your asterisk for the first, neither Louisville or Indianapolis encompass all of Jefferson or Marion County's. The same is with Nashville. Davidson is not all of Nashville.
Second, do you account for years. You look within a certain time frame yes, but there is a difference between a city doing several annexations over more recent years ie Houston or KC and more frequently vs. the cities that did it once. Nashville, Jax, Indpls all consolidated around 67-68 and as far as I know, neither has done anything since as Indianapolis can't, but do not know if the others can or can't. Louisville was '95 I believe, not 100% sure but was the 90's.
Your asterisk for the first, neither Louisville or Indianapolis encompass all of Jefferson or Marion County's. The same is with Nashville. Davidson is not all of Nashville.
Second, do you account for years. You look within a certain time frame yes, but there is a difference between a city doing several annexations over more recent years ie Houston or KC and more frequently vs. the cities that did it once. Nashville, Jax, Indpls all consolidated around 67-68 and as far as I know, neither has done anything since as Indianapolis can't, but do not know if the others can or can't. Louisville was '95 I believe, not 100% sure but was the 90's.
Indianapolis and Louisville encompassed most of their core county when they consolidated. That accounts for the large jumps in their sizes. They don't have to include every square mile of their counties, I just wanted to note that some cities experienced this outside of traditional annexation.
I have a breakdown of each decade 1950-2010. You're right, different cities annexed at different times during this period, though in general, most cities had more annexation in the earlier decades than later, simply because all of them were obviously much smaller in 1950 than in 1990. Some cities even saw small drops in area size more recently. All of the cities you mentioned, save for Louisville, grew more 1950-1980 than 1980-2010. Others, like Charlotte or Austin, have seen more annexation 1980-2010 than in earlier decades.
Louisville was during the 2000s. It went from 62.1 to 385.1 square miles that decade.
Yes but to be fair MSA or UA would show many to also be growing at a high clip.
On city size, it is silly to compare populations of say Jax and SF and make any rationale insights but from a municipal authority standpoint there are many advantages to a larger city land area wise. Taxes, services etc can all be significantly streamlined in larger land area municipalities.
Just a tidbit, among that top 50 list, the first table all but three added more land area than exists in current day SF
This also effects crime rates too. I just got into this with a guy comparing upstate NY cities with Raleigh and how upstate NY cities haven't annexed anything since before WW2, by and large. So, I told him that a first or second ring suburb in NY and really the Northeast at large is in line with say outer city neighborhoods in Raleigh. So, even that has to be put into perspective to some degree, as many times those first and second ring suburbs are just as affordable in some, if not most cases too.
The only thing I read from this table is that Southern/Western cities are younger.
It's not like Northeastern cities never annexed other cities around them (i.e. NYC with Brooklyn). They just did it before the seemingly arbitrary date of 1950.
The only thing I read from this table is that Southern/Western cities are younger.
It's not like Northeastern cities never annexed other cities around them (i.e. NYC with Brooklyn). They just did it before the seemingly arbitrary date of 1950.
well that and size, in general the size of cities is far smaller in the NE then any of these (Baltimore, DC, Philadelphia, and Boston would all fit in Houston, Phoenix, or Jax I believe; I think nearly twice) .
But yes they did annex, municipalities in general (GA as a state is one that definately bucks this generality) are far smaller in the NE as a comparator
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