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.
I used to live in the Capital District of upstate New York, which has a unique metropolitan geography: three cities of roughly equal size and prominence (Albany, Schenectady and Troy) forming a triangle.
Most American metro areas are dominated by a single city which serves as the hub for the adjacent smaller cities and suburbs. A few are twin cities, like Minneapolis-St. Paul and Dallas-Fort Worth. But I can only think of one other tri-city area besides the Capital District, the Research Triangle (Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill) in North Carolina. Are there any others?
Davenport IA, and Rock Island & Moline, IL were once the Tri-Cities until East Moline, IL and Bettendorf, IA came into greater prominence to become the Quad (infrequently "Quint") Cities. On paper Davenport is much larger in area and population, but in large part that was because the city limits were not as geographically constrained from expanding. Also Rock Island and Moline have larger national visibility.
Binghamton, Johnson City, and Endicott NY are the "Triple Cities" - never seen rendered by locals as "Tri-". Binghamton is older and still larger. Endicott-Johnson was once a large shoe company, big enough to have two factory towns. Endicott was where IBM came to prominence but its local remnants are pretty much shut down.
Johnson City and Kingsport, TN, and Bristol VA/TN are called Tri-Cities too.
The one I'd heard of before was also in NC: Winston-Salem, Greensboro, High Point
I think some of those are really grasping at straws. When I think tri-cities, I think cities that share borders. At least in Nebraska, Grand Island, Kearney, and Hastings are not that close. Hastings is about 40 miles from Grand Island and Grand Island is about 55 miles from Kearney. Yes, there's not much else in that area, but I don't consider that tri-cities.
I don't know anything about the Capital District, but from the way you describe it I don't think the Research Triangle of North Carolina fits that definition. Population ratio between Chapel Hill-Durham-Raleigh is roughly 1:4:8...not very equal. And there are many smaller towns mixed into the metro, some larger than Chapel Hill.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
8,132 posts, read 7,575,946 times
Reputation: 5796
Baltimore-DC-Annapolis?? 30 mins from each cities core to the next, and almost sits in a triangle shape. Everywhere inside of that triangle pretty much completely developed, interconnected by highways in all 3 directions, rail connected between DC and Baltimore. Incorporates the Maryland state capital, largest and most powerful city in Maryland, and Nations Capital all in a 30-35 mile circle or triangle.
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.
