Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
NYC, Boston, SF and LA are generally considered coastal cities... in the use of the term.
But how about Philadelphia or Portland? Do these count under the grouping of "coastal cities" When people talk about the coastal elites in such?
Is Seattle in this mix? How about DC and Miami???
What are your thoughts or is it more just talking about those top 4?
Think it depends on the criteria. Philly is not on the coast but is a seaport and has very close proximity to the ocean, even the salt water line will cross the cities borders and the DE river is Atlantic (really DE Bay) tidal in Philly. But to me Philly is not coastal in the truest sense as would a Boston/NYC/Miami/LA/SF be.
These (Philly example)are kind of the tweaners, also to me Houston (as both have pretty strong ties to the ocean within the metro) would probably be in the same grouping, very close but not quite on the actual coast. DC is probably the least coastal among cities commonly associated with being called a coastal city many times lumped in with others as being called the large East Coast cities.
I have only been to Portland once so really dont understand fully its relationship and distance to the Ocean.
Baltimore I probably would give more a benefit of the doubt relative to a Philly as it truly sits on the bay itself, which under this criteria is Wilmington DE coastal etc.
These (Philly example)are kind of the tweaners, also to me Houston (as both have pretty strong ties to the ocean within the metro) would probably be in the same grouping, very close but not quite on the actual coast. DC is probably the least coastal among cities commonly associated with being called a coastal city many times lumped in with others as being called the large East Coast cities.
Philly and Houston are coastal, while neither have city boundaries on salt water coasts in this age city boundaries are pointless IMO. Their metros have plenty of counties on the coast. DC is given credit for 'east coast' more than it should, a rarity in the DC metro to feel coastal.
From a Portland perspective, is it considered coastal. How far inland is Portland?
Portland isn't a coastal city, it takes more than an hour to get to the coast--but it's just considered part of the West Coast due to it's geographic location and the fact that regionally it's more tied in with Seattle and Vancouver than it would be with Boise. It's a got a sizable shipping port on the Columbia River, which makes it sort of similar to somewhere like Sacramento in terms of location. But to reach the coast even from the westernmost border of the metro area you're driving for at least hour over the coast range or along the Columbia River to get to the coastal bays and beaches. Because there's no where for the Portland metro to expand through this terrain to really meet the coast, I wouldn't consider it to be coastal by any means.
I mean Seattle(and Vancouver BC) are technically some distance from the actual Pacific Coast, but being on the salt water of Puget Sound makes them more of coastal cities. But there's really no sizable cities in the Pacific Northwest right on the Pacific Coast shoreline--the weather and climate are too rough right on the coast, which is why all the major cities or larger towns are inland or on more sheltered bays for the most part.
Miami...coastal??? I don't know...that's a difficult one. Let me look out my window.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Let me look out my window. 
