Will the largest cities in each state ever be surpassed by another city in the state? (military, beach)
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Which states do you think have a realistic possibility of having a new "most populated city" in the coming years? And which cities have the best chance of stealing the title?
If you need a refresher, here is a list of each of the largest cities of each state:
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York Illinois, California, Texas, and Pennsylvainia will not change largest city unless thee is some sort of major border shifting of the cities in the state
Connecticut, South Carolina, Louisiana, Missouri and Tennessee are the most likely to change their top city, With Connecticut the entire top 4 can reshuffle. The rest have 2 cities that are close to the top, then an abyss to number 3.
Except for CT where the cities are neck and neck TN will be next. The Nashville metro is already larger than Memphis metro.
But then it already happened in TN when Memphis and Nashville overtook Knoxville. I'm guessing Memphis grew faster first because of the mississipi, even though it is further west.
Of course Atlanta surpassed Savannah and Columbia surpassed Charleston. LA surpassed SF. I'll guess this happened a lot in the older states.
Bridgeport, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Billings, Columbus, and Virginia Beach have only very recently taken over as the biggest cities in their states. So, most states' biggest cities are in jeopardy of being surpassed. Since Montana statehood, four different cities have held the title of biggest in the state.
Not Sioux Falls. It is growing the fastest by far. One of the fastest growth rates in the Midwest and I believe Lincoln county is one of the fastest growing the the country
Last edited by RC01; 05-09-2013 at 09:43 AM..
Reason: thought it was something else
States that I would say "no" is the answer: Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, New York, Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Nebraska, Nevada, and Pennsylvania.
Those states are at least the first ones that came to my mind. If you are meaning strictly city limits, then there may be some reshuffling that goes on; if you mean metro area, then I think these are pretty accurate.
Alabama: the top four could easily shift around. In fact, they already have. They're closer now than they ever have been. Of course, much of the "loss" in Birmingham was directly to metro suburbs. So the people are still around, just not in the city limits. Huntsville has seen a lot of military/federal growth, and also isn't challenged by a lot of small, appealing suburbs.
1980 Census
Birmingham 284,413
Mobile 200,452
Montgomery 177,857
Huntsville 142,513
Bridgeport, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Billings, Columbus, and Virginia Beach have only very recently taken over as the biggest cities in their states. So, most states' biggest cities are in jeopardy of being surpassed. Since Montana statehood, four different cities have held the title of biggest in the state.
Not a chance do you realize Columbus' population is over 787,000. The city is over 200 sq miles. It is physically impossible for Cleveland or Cincinnati to ever reach this size. Further, it isn't just that Columbus has large city limits that works in its favor. The entire metro is growing faster than anywhere in Ohio, and the city and county, and the economy has stable, reliable growth. These are factors that have been consistent since WWII.
Maybe if a major economic shift occurs there could be a change, but under current economic conditions Columbus has the strongest economy in the state and one of the strongest in the entire NE/midwest/greatlakes region. The trend (of Columbus not growing faster economically/metro wise/and city population wise) be something way beyond a lifetime.
Many of these surpassed other cities on their way to being the most populated (some through city-county merger or large-scale annexation), so there is no need to think that a decent number of them may be passed by some other booming city in the future. In other words, it has happened many times before and it will happen again.
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