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If we include metro areas as a whole, then there are some places like Grand Rapids, Fresno, Albany (New York), and Dayton which are usually overlooked. I'd say that the Greenville-Spartanburg area of South Carolina gets overshadowed by Charleston and Columbia, even though it is the biggest metro area in SC by a large margin.
I'd also say that the south Texas border region is largely overlooked on here. The McAllen-Harlingen area, along with Brownsville. That area continues to grow rapidly, but it's usually overlooked even within Texas itself. McAllen might be the most "anonymous" metro area of its size in the country; I'd bet that most people around the country have simply never heard of it.
Also, Bakersfield (California) is quite a bit larger than many people assume (its Census MSA is over 850,000 people), but it doesn't usually come up in discussions of California, or southern California in particular.
I'd also say that the south Texas border region is largely overlooked on here. The McAllen-Harlingen area, along with Brownsville. That area continues to grow rapidly, but it's usually overlooked even within Texas itself. McAllen might be the most "anonymous" metro area of its size in the country; I'd bet that most people around the country have simply never heard of it.
McAllen is huge because of the border crossings. Just because it has a lot of people does not mean we should be talking about it strengths because what exactly are its strengths? It has a lot of people and that is that.
How about Fort Lauderdale or West Palm Beach? People lump them in with Miami, but both FTL (MSA pop 1.7 mil) and WPB (MSA pop 1.4 mil) are decently large metro areas in and of themselves, and each has their own unique vibe and culture. Skylines are underrated as well.
Since when did Ft. Lauderdale have it's own metro area? It's part of South Florida Metro.
Dallas survived because of FW and the other cities in Texas and the surrounding states.
FW's cattle industry fed Dallas shipping industry. SA's cotton industry did the same. Houston's port did the Same. None of the other cities really need Dallas, but Dallas's existent depended on the Industries of its neighbors.
As for the the rivalry, the FW- Dallas one is just as intense as the ST Paul- Minneapolis one. There is lots of name calling and looking down upon in DFW.
"Name calling" and "looking down upon" is one thing, but that was nothing back when Minneapolis and St. Paul had their real rivalry going on. When one city built a building, the other builds one taller. When one city finishes a Cathedral, the other builds a basilica right afterwards. St. Paul is farther downriver, so they were stealing most of the river industry and barge traffic from Minneapolis. They used to both be a similar size, and during one Census, each city organized the arresting or kidnapping of the other city's census taker. At one point, the two cities couldnt agree on Daylight Savings Time, so St. Paul was an hour behind Minneapolis, so the time switched every time you crossed the border. People would never visit the other city. People from Minneapolis would get in violent fights with People from St. Paul. Both competed for major league teams and stadiums. That, my friend, is rivalry.
Just like FW would have been in line with OKC without Dallas, Dallas would also be in line with OKC without FC. It goes both ways
I'm sorry but I just 100% disagree with this. They aren't twin cities at the slightest. Dallas was growing long before Fort Worth or even the Fort Worth side was growing. Dallas was the social and economic powerhouse for the region long before FW started seeing it's greatest growth and that's only within the past 20 years. Dallas was bound to become what it was because of it's strategic location on railroads, airhubs (Love would have definitely been a successful airport on it's own), and its can-do attitude. I mean Dallas in 1940 grew from a city of 294k to a city of 904k in 40 years. FW in that same time period grew from a city of 177k to a city of 385k. It even lost population in the 70s. Hardly twin cities.
Virgina Beach is another area that is always ignored. You never hear about anything coming out of this area. I can't even think of any big businesses HQ here except for the big Navy Ship Building yards.
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