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Anyone know of any possible city/county consolidations that could create some new Jacksonvilles out there? Rumors or previous failed attempts? City/county consolidations have boosted city populations in Georgia, but amongst the second tier cities.... Columbus consolidated back around the time Jacksonville did, since then Augusta, Athens and Macon have consolidated with their counties. However, Georgia counties are tiny compared to most other states, most of them still have smaller limits than a lot of western cities.
What's the next city over 1million people? I don't know, which southern/western city can annex enough land/merge with it's county to inflate it's population fastest?
Just where is Borington anyway? Is it near Pittsburgh? They're the ones always complaining about the western/southern cities, without any factual reason for doing so. In point of fact, Colorado voters approved an amendment to the Colorado constitution in 1974 that seriously hampered Denver's annexations. The western boundary of Denver (Sheridan Boulevard) hasn't changed in >100 years. (There is a tiny amount of land in Denver proper west of Sheridan.)
I'm not familiar with the annexation laws of the other western states, but maybe you could provide some actual examples of this.
Sorting that list the densest areas over 500K are LA-LB-ANAHEIM______2702.5 SF-OAKLAND_________2419.5 SAN JOSE___________2247.2
NYC-NEWARK_________2053.6
HONOLULU___________1820.7 LAS VEGAS__________1746.9
MIAMI______________1715.2
SAN DIEGO__________1558.7 MISSION VIEJO______1497.1
FRESNO_____________1475.6
BAKERSFIELD________1461.4 SLC-WVC____________1418.9
SACRAMENTO_________1413
NEW ORLEANS________1381.8 DENVER-AURORA______1372.4 RIVERSIDE-SB_______1369.3
PORTLAND___________1362.1
CHICAGO____________1360.6
DC_________________1339.9
EL PASO____________1237.5 PHOENIX-MESA_______1222.1
BALTIMORE__________1186.6
SEATTLE____________1169.2
CONCORD (CA)_______1167.2 HOUSTON____________1150
CO SPRINGS_________1149.9 ABQ________________1142.3
SAN ANTON__________1136.9 DFWA_______________1111.5
VA BEACH___________1078.4
DETROIT____________1078.2
PHILLY_____________1060.4
COLUMBUS___________1034.7
OMAHA______________1032.1
AUSTIN_____________1005.7
TWIN CITIES________1001.7
TAMPA BAY__________985.1
ORLANDO____________975.8
MILWAUKEE__________974
OGDEN-LAYTON_______969.1
SAN JUAN___________957.1
BUFFALO____________951.1
TUCSON_____________921
ST LOUIS___________899
CLEVELAND__________890.6
KC_________________865.5
BOSTON_____________861.7
ROCHESTER__________857.4
PROVIDENCE_________843.7
MEMPHIS____________823
TOLEDO_____________815.2
INDY_______________813.8
OKC________________810
CINCY______________796.4
DAYTON_____________795.5
LOUISVILLE_________787.7
MCALLEN____________786.1
GRAND RAPIDS_______784.3
ALBANY_____________776.8
JAX________________775.5
BRIDGEPORT_________764.7
SARASOTA___________760.3
TULSA______________753.4
RICHMOND___________748.1
ALLENTOWN__________741.1
PITTSBURGH_________739.6
CHARLESTON_________721.8
NEW HAVEN__________709.9
HARTFORD___________691.7
SPRINGFIELD (MA)___688.2
AKRON______________675.8
NASHVILLE__________664.4
RALEIGH____________659.4
ATLANTA____________659
CHARLOTTE__________650.6
BATON ROUGE________625.6
CAPE CORAL_________619.9
COLUMBIA___________558.6
BIRMINGHAM_________546.1
KNOXVILLE__________492.3
Note the bolded cities, which are often cited for sprawl and strip malls. I guess strip mall post 1950s urban development is denser than older style development. Either that or the older dense cities are actually vacant and just appear dense.
Just where is Borington anyway? Is it near Pittsburgh? They're the ones always complaining about the western/southern cities, without any factual reason for doing so. In point of fact, Colorado voters approved an amendment to the Colorado constitution in 1974 that seriously hampered Denver's annexations. The western boundary of Denver (Sheridan Boulevard) hasn't changed in >100 years. (There is a tiny amount of land in Denver proper west of Sheridan.)
I'm not familiar with the annexation laws of the other western states, but maybe you could provide some actual examples of this.
This is my take... and painting with a very broad brush here.
Cities that have massive city limits tend to be in states with large counties in area. Huge counties (land wise of course) don't have as much going on in regards to municipal services. If an area needs municipal services in many states, it must be provided by an incorporated municipality, so when growth comes to an area, it either incorporates into a city or is annexed into an existing city.
Many eastern states have counties that are smaller and provide municipal services so it is not necessary to be in a city proper (either central city or suburb) to have basic city services. Suburban areas of Atlanta and DC (in both Virginia and Maryland) are prime examples of this.
This isn't just an east/west thing, but I would say your older eastern states with more numerous counties and counties that are more active in providing municipal service fit this category than what you find west of the Mississippi. The primary exception in the east are areas where cities and counties have consolidated: Jacksonville, Virginia Beach, Indianapolis, Nashville....
As others have already stated San Jose, Austin, Jacksonville. I'd also add Fort Worth and Indianapolis.
Where does Indianapolis have room for another 150,000 people to reach a million? Marion County only has around 400 square miles, and that's just about the whole of Indianapolis. Unless a bunch of high rise condos start springing up within the city limits of Indianapolis, I don't see the city becoming a whole lot larger in population than it is right now.
I don't even see why this is a meaningful accomplishment anymore. Most cities could achieve it with heavy annexation of suburban communities. There are 52 MSAs right now over 1M. Most could get to a million simply by merging city and county government, like Jacksonville did with Duval Co..
I was reading a book by a foreign investment manager recently, and he said he looks at how fast the second cities Ina country are growing and if a country has more than one city of a million people. His thoughts were that it indicated economic development was spread across the country instead of being concentrated in one city.
Where does Indianapolis have room for another 150,000 people to reach a million? Marion County only has around 400 square miles, and that's just about the whole of Indianapolis. Unless a bunch of high rise condos start springing up within the city limits of Indianapolis, I don't see the city becoming a whole lot larger in population than it is right now.
Indianapolis isn't that densely populated. There is plenty space to fit a lot more than 150,000 people.
Where does Indianapolis have room for another 150,000 people to reach a million? Marion County only has around 400 square miles, and that's just about the whole of Indianapolis. Unless a bunch of high rise condos start springing up within the city limits of Indianapolis, I don't see the city becoming a whole lot larger in population than it is right now.
Center Township alone can hold 150,000 more people; not to mention all the sparsely populated space in the outer townships.
I agree, those MSA rankings in particular mean nothing in my opinion. You have places like Orlando that claim an MSA of over 2.1 million people, but has the feeling of a giant strip mall with interspersed cookie cutter home subdivisions. The MSA criteria is also as crazy as gerrymandering with cities like Raleigh and Durham split from one another and counted separately even though the city limits touch in places.
This one is particularly mind-boggling because of all the counties in NC, guess which two have the most commutes between them (by far)? What definition of MSA could split Wake and Durham without splitting every other county in the state?
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