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Most people outside of the United States believe that NYC and Chicago are the two biggest cities. L.A cant create enough white collar jobs to have over 10 million people...all of those jobs are housed in Chicago and NYC. Another reason I believe Chicago may pass up L.A is because Chicago plays a larger role in the WORLDS economy. Even if Chicago is fewer in people, it is still "bigger". It will eventually rebound from its 5 decades of population loss (Mainly to L.A) and gain back the nearly 1 million people it lost. I think it will happen (hopefully) !
La metro is Lesser in land wise than Ny and chicago's metro so i could see why were the most densely populated metro and out metro doesn't pass the state line like ny metro does. I Love Chicago even more than NYC it hurts but it is what it is.
Houston is nothing compared to Chicago, and Chicago should remain as America's 2nd true city.Chicago will always be more important and more of a global city than Houston.
L.A is going to be a city of Hispanics in the near future, and the only reason it is so populated is because its one of the closest major cities to the boarder. It isn't bad that the city has a heavy Hispanic presence, but soon, white flight will destroy the city as it has in Detroit. Chicago and New York were affected by white flight and only now are they starting to rebound. It's only a matter of time L.A, its only a matter of time...
also, California, I don't get what you mean by someone needs the green light XD
L.A is going to be a city of Hispanics in the near future, and the only reason it is so populated is because its one of the closest major cities to the boarder. It isn't bad that the city has a heavy Hispanic presence, but soon, white flight will destroy the city as it has in Detroit. Chicago and New York were affected by white flight and only now are they starting to rebound. It's only a matter of time L.A, its only a matter of time...
also, California, I don't get what you mean by someone needs the green light XD
I really don't think L.A will be as decayed as Detroit, but I won't argue with the fact that its population will falter. And with the economy as it is, only cities with highly diversified economies like New York and Chicago will pull through in better conditions than when this economic decline started.
Houston is nothing compared to Chicago, and Chicago should remain as America's 2nd true city.Chicago will always be more important and more of a global city than Houston.
Good thing you don't have a complex about Chicago isn't it?
Houston having more Fortune 500 headquarters than Chicago is clearly nothing, not important at all; no global impact. I see your point.
Most people outside of the United States believe that NYC and Chicago are the two biggest cities. L.A cant create enough white collar jobs to have over 10 million people...all of those jobs are housed in Chicago and NYC. Another reason I believe Chicago may pass up L.A is because Chicago plays a larger role in the WORLDS economy. Even if Chicago is fewer in people, it is still "bigger". It will eventually rebound from its 5 decades of population loss (Mainly to L.A) and gain back the nearly 1 million people it lost. I think it will happen (hopefully) !
Chicago didn't really lose population to LA or other cities, it lost population to its suburbs.
In 1950 when the city peaked, it was a jam packed area surrounded by 1,850,000 people in the suburbs. Since then the city has lost 800,000 people, while the suburbs have grown to house 6,650,000 of the metros residents.
In the 50's after Chicago was totally built out, people could start to afford cars, the interstates were created, and people wanted nice large houses with yards - Chicago was certainly not calling their name. The families left the city and hundreds of thousands of them bought up houses in the suburbs. The Chicago metro area has never shrunk, because while 800,000 people left the city, most of them just moved across the random city limit borders to where they could find nice cheap vacant land.
In LA in the 50's you still had hundreds of square miles of vacant land within the city to build your new houses, hence why the city of LA has always continued to grow quickly.
LA the city is 500 square miles, Chicago is 237. With all that open land that didn't start being developed until the 50's and 60's, it's fairly natural that LA would grow larger than Chicago.
In the 20th century people wanted large lots, garages and yards. As a result the city took a blow, the economy within the city struggled, crime rose, money was tight, services were cut back, schools suffered.
It's only been the past 12-14 years that Chicago has finally stabalized and started moving ahead once more. It's reinvented itself and gotten back on the right track - unlike so many other cities that have seen the flight to the cheap suburbs.
I don't think LA will drop below Chicago in population. The city still has vacant land to build on, and of course this is why the city is and has been growing at a steady clip. Chicago already has 12,500 people per square mile. That's extremely high for what's "normal" in this country.
Older cities that had very high population densities back in the 50's didn't exactly shrink over the past 40 years, they just "fluffed out" their urban areas with the sprawl that was in such high demand. Unfortunately, by the time this happened the city limits of those places were already trapped by other suburbs, and it was impossible for them to take advantage of all the new housing. You either make yourself attractive for people like San Fran or New York, or you decline like Detroit and Cleveland.
Good thing you don't have a complex about Chicago isn't it?
Houston having more Fortune 500 headquarters than Chicago is clearly nothing, not important at all; no global impact. I see your point.
You're right! People need to wake up and smell the coffee. People who think Chicago is so awesome and is some kind of global powerhouse...don't make me laugh. Don't get me wrong, Houston is not a global powerhouse either, but come to think of it, I don't even consider LA to be a global powerhouse. I think New York is the only city in this country that meets my own personal benchmark for major globally important cities.
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