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Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill form Research Triangle. An area with far more prestigious universities and more research centers than Charlotte could ever hope to match. Charlotte is known for its banking, after Boston it's the second largest Financial Headquarters in the country. Raleigh-Durham CSA is almost the same size as Charlotte CSA. Raleigh may not outshine it, but they are on an almost equal level I would say.
I'll agree with one of the posters who first replied to this. It's the same friggin' metro. If the cities were separated, hands down it would go to Minneapolis though. It's the bigger city of the two. Also the first to have LRT, though the second LRT line will soon connect both cities in the coming months..
I know they are the same metro, I live in it. It was a joke. As a St. Paulite, I like to give Minneapolis a hard time. They try hard over there.
Might have something to do with some of the city lands being water. I don't know, I didn't do the calculations. Make an entry on Wikipedia to correct it.
Hmmm...right below that, it says Kansas City has 464,000 people.
Boulder is a boutique city, much like Asheville NC and Santa Fe NM are. Boulder however enjoys being within spitting distance of metropolitan Denver. I wouldn't say it outshines Denver at all, but I can see why some people would prefer it.
As for North Carolina, Raleigh or the Research Triangle as a whole does not outshine Charlotte. The Triangle does have its advantages, but when you get down to it, it is simply a collection of small cities grown together and NONE of the individual cities that make up the Triangle can come anywhere close to offering what Charlotte does on its own.
As for Alabama, there is no way Huntsville outshines Birmingham. While Birmingham itself leaves so much to be desired, it pretty much pulls all the weight in the state. I would say Mobile is Alabama's second metro before Huntsville.
Well Baltimore is officially the largest metro area in Maryland, but the DC suburbs are a lot more prosperous and powerful politically within the state.
The Washignton DC area as a whole is more populous than the Baltimore area, but part of it lies in Virginia and DC is not in Maryland. Likewise, the Huntington area is officially the largest in West Virginia but parts of it are in Kentucky and Ohio, and I think Charleston is better.
Columbus and Cincinnati are both better than Cleveland in Ohio.
I wonder if they're including East St. Louis on the Illinois side. Oh well, KC has been the biggest metro for the most part. Perhaps St. Louis population has caught up and surpassed it. In either case, KC was bigger than St. Louis at one point, but people still perceived St. Louis as being the premier city in Missouri. People know almost nothing about KC, and think it's a one horse town, while they look at St. Louis as an actual city that can contend with other midwestern big cities like Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, MLPS, and Cincinnati.
Yes I wonder about the St Louis vs Kansas City metro ranks and which is "the largest metro area in Missouri" since both areas span states. Yes I also wonder if East St. Louis, Illinois is included, and also if Overland Park, Kansas is included, or Kansas City, Kansas.
Sometimes the mentality with metro areas is bigger is better but I don't think that is always the case. What are some states you can think of where the second largest metro outshines or is more desirable than the largest? Here are ones I can think of.
California: San Francisco > Los Angeles
Oklahoma: Tulsa > Oklahoma City
Ohio: Columbus > Cleveland
South Carolina: Charleston > Columbia
Texas: Austin > San Antonio (Not 1st and 2nd but a case of a smaller metro within a state overshadowing a larger one)
It might be a little close, but don't see how Tulsa outshines Oklahoma City. OKC has been growing considerably faster, has Thunder for pro sports, OU for college sports and the state capitol for starters. If one wants somewhat hillier and greener landscape, then Tulsa outshines in that way.
Not that it's really a state where people think of its cities first and foremost, but for Montana, Missoula (MSA 120k) and Bozeman (119k) have somewhat "cool" reputations --- blue islands in a red state, national/state park access, decent walkability and public transit since they're college towns. Missoula is even becoming slightly hipsterified, with prominent biking infrastructure and a few "weird" restaurants. Billings (MSA 180k) doesn't have this kind of reputation at all.
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I know they are the same metro, I live in it. It was a joke. As a St. Paulite, I like to give Minneapolis a hard time. They try hard over there.
