Metro and city population, and how big a city feels (stores, stats)

[south-to-west]

Originally Posted by Katiana

Just curious, what metro area is 7 hrs from Denver? Omaha and Salt Lake City are both 500 miles away, at least 8 hrs (usually takes us 9 to Omaha, more to SLC b/c you have to cross the mountain. Good post though, nice words for Denver.

I drive fast.

[desert sun]

Albuquerque is 6 hours away, and its funny cause I never think of Omaha or ever hear anything about it except for what is said on this site,but I've never been to the mid-west either.

[tfox]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

Geographical ignorance? I think about Albuquerque all the time, actually! But then again I've always been oriented towards the desert southwest, whereas I've never even been to the midwest before. We spent a day there on my way back home from Phoenix. I'm even considered moving there, either in the near future (if for some reason Denver doesn't work out) or down the road, possibly. Interestingly, ABQ is the closest "big" city to Denver. While Denver is the bigger city, bigger economy, more things going on, etc, the New Mexican cuisine in Albuquerque is simply beyond comparison to what Denver offers.

I think it just depends on where you came from. My folks have left Colorado behind and have settled in New Mexico, so I head south all the time.

What I find interesting is that despite the proximity, most Coloradans rarely make it down that far for some reason. You'd think there would be a lot of ties between the two states; after all, the southern quarter of Colorado and northern quarter of New Mexico are pretty much the same people, same culture, same everything. But I suppose the border region is very sparsely populated in both states, and Denverites seem to know very little about New Mexico, and not many have been there. The few that have been seem to know about Santa Fe and Taos only.

On the other hand, there is a a fairly large NM expatriate community in the front range of Colorado, a lot of NM students in the state universities here, and people who drift up this way because of jobs. Even so, I don't think Colorado is really a primary destination for people leaving NM, either.

[desert sun]

Originally Posted by tfox

I think it just depends on where you came from. My folks have left Colorado behind and have settled in New Mexico, so I head south all the time.

What I find interesting is that despite the proximity, most Coloradans rarely make it down that far for some reason. You'd think there would be a lot of ties between the two states; after all, the southern quarter of Colorado and northern quarter of New Mexico are pretty much the same people, same culture, same everything. But I suppose the border region is very sparsely populated in both states, and Denverites seem to know very little about New Mexico, and not many have been there. The few that have been seem to know about Santa Fe and Taos only.

On the other hand, there is a a fairly large NM expatriate community in the front range of Colorado, a lot of NM students in the state universities here, and people who drift up this way because of jobs. Even so, I don't think Colorado is really a primary destination for people leaving NM, either.

I live in Albuquerque and I dont know anyone who goes to Denver for anything even though its closer to us than Phoenix is by like 10 miles,actually I dont really know where anyone goes,I never hear anything,I guess I know more people who go to El Paso than anywhere else, but I guess most places have a certain city they rely on.

[nubianbrotha]

Originally Posted by ogre

I've seen a number of posts on this forum where users have made the assertion that metro area population has more bearing than principal city population on how large a city feels, or how large it is in effective practical terms. Generally I agree with this, but I wonder sometimes whether a city below a certain population threshold would look and feel smaller than a larger city with a similar metro area population. Or whether two cities with similar populations would seem different in size if their metropolitan area populations were significantly different.

Hypothetical examples:

One city has a population of150k, another has 450k, and both have metro area populations of a little over a million, say, 1.1-1.2 million. Does the city of 450k seem larger, or does the similar metro area population make them both look and feel similar?

Two cities have populations of around 500k. One has a metro area population of three million, while the other has approx. 1.5 million people in its metro area. Even with similar city populations, does the city with twice the metro area population feel much, much larger, or do they seem closer in size than this?

I'd be interested in users' thoughts, especially thoughts from people who are familiar with two or more cities with either similar city populations but different metro populations, or vice versa.

DC is about 550-575 k now but i grows to over a million durring the work day. i think i depends on how we use our core city.

[nubianbrotha]

Originally Posted by nubianbrotha

DC is about 550-575 k now but i grows to over a million durring the work day. i think i depends on how we use our core city.

I'll compare 2 realativelly close cities, Baltimore and Washington,B-more city has more people but DC has a busier core.

[ogre]

It does seem that in most cases metro area population affects the apparent size of a city. The larger the metro population, the more active the city's core, as Nubianbrotha points out with Wash. and Balt. as examples. I'd guess that metro area population alone may not be the only effect that the metro area has on the principal city. It may vary from one metro to another what portion of the population commutes to the city, which will affect the actual number of people found in the city each day, which in turn will affect a city's apparent size and level of activity.

[Tom Lennox 70]

Ogre....well.....the Washington, D.C. area has a metro population of about 3.5 million and Baltimore about 2 million, though DC's city is 500,000 and Baltimore's is 600,000. Washington, D.C. feels like a bigger city, for example despite how often people from Baltimore complain about their rush hour traffic, traffic there always seems very fast and easy compared to DC.

However, Norfolk's metro area, the Hampton Roads region, also has a metro population of around 2 million but it feels smaller than Baltimore because Norfolk itself only has about 250,000 people. But then it could also because Norfolk's skyline has fewer high-rises than Baltimore's. I think the skyline of a city really matters a lot in how big it feels. Miami's city population is a lot less than DC or Baltimore's but it feels like a HUGE megacity due to all the high rises though some of those are hotels and condos and vacation rentals.

[lammius]

Originally Posted by Tom Lennox 70

Ogre....well.....the Washington, D.C. area has a metro population of about 3.5 million and Baltimore about 2 million, though DC's city is 500,000 and Baltimore's is 600,000. Washington, D.C. feels like a bigger city, for example despite how often people from Baltimore complain about their rush hour traffic, traffic there always seems very fast and easy compared to DC.

However, Norfolk's metro area, the Hampton Roads region, also has a metro population of around 2 million but it feels smaller than Baltimore because Norfolk itself only has about 250,000 people. But then it could also because Norfolk's skyline has fewer high-rises than Baltimore's. I think the skyline of a city really matters a lot in how big it feels. Miami's city population is a lot less than DC or Baltimore's but it feels like a HUGE megacity due to all the high rises though some of those are hotels and condos and vacation rentals.

Well, Norfolk/Tidewater and Baltimore metros aren't exactly the same size. Tidewater metro is a little under 1.7 million while Baltimore's metro is a little under 2.7 million. Furthermore, the Tidewater metro is very balkanized, consisting of more (and smaller) urban centers than the Baltimore area, and Baltimore city is far more densely populated and developed than anything in Tidewater. I think those reasons, more than any, are why Norfolk feels so much smaller than Baltimore to me.

[nubianbrotha]

Most residents in the Tidewater area only do business in there city . Most of them hate driving through the tunnels or bridges to get to Norfolk or VA beack if they have too..MAybe when the Light rail come in line there this will change.