Macon/Warner Robins: Suburban County will soon pass the county of Hub city in population? (metro, area)

[powellinwr]

If you want to live in a city...move to NYC... In Georgia and other southern places we like our space.

[aboutmetro]

Originally Posted by J2rescue

I'm beginning to think that this is a Georgia problem. It seems that every city in the state has faced these issues at some point and on some level.

Some causes of it are

• the relatively difficult annexation rules in Georgia
• metro counties operate just like cities
• a pro-sprawl state government
• too numerous, small counties

There is little room for sprawl within most existing city limits, thus little growth occurs within city boundaries. And as we've all seen, this eventually leads to a disproportionately high poor population within the city limits if they aren't able to grow.

I know that a couple of cities were able to consolidate with the county but ideally they would have been able to grow through annexation as the population of the metro grew. But since GA metro area counties act just like cities, there is little reason to live in the city and still receive city-like services. Also if the counties were larger, you would get a lot better regional cooperation in the metros instead of every tiny little county with its own separate agenda.

There's a lot of truth to what you've said. Many county governments have been pushed by developers looking to satisfy customer demand for bigger cheaper homes. When gas was cheap, it was easy to satisfy that demand. Now, it's not so easy. County governments are struggling to provide school transportation, garbage collection and just general road maintenance.

[J2rescue]

Originally Posted by powellinwr

If you want to live in a city...move to NYC... In Georgia and other southern places we like our space.

And yet there are other "southern places" where the cities are not only growing but thriving while most of the cities in this state languish.

[Sam552311]

Originally Posted by J2rescue

And yet there are other "southern places" where the cities are not only growing but thriving while most of the cities in this state languish.

I agree.
Most are heading "south" as you say.

[lilmusket]

This is a possibility in the Augusta area too. Aiken Co, SC could conceivably pass Richmond County in population.. but this would not likely happen for 20 years.

Originally Posted by King_X

As of 2000, (Macon) Bibb County's population was 153,887
2007 estimate is 154,709

As of 2000, (Warner Robins/Perry, etc.) Houston County's population was 110,765
2007 Estimate is 131,016

Thats not too far apart, and at that rate, it will one day past Bibb

Is this becoming really unique? Have you ever heard of a "suburban" county
surpassing the county the "hub city" was located in?

[lilmusket]

Originally Posted by NewtownMacon

San Jose may Have passed San Francisco in pop, but it still much smaller in size.....

San Jose 178 sq miles
San Francisco 231.92 sq miles

Those numbers are waaaay off. San Francisco is only about 45 square miles.. it is a very densely packed area.
Geographic size doesn't really mean that much... if it did, then Juneau, Alaska would be one of the biggest cities in America.

[yerocal]

Originally Posted by lilmusket

Those numbers are waaaay off. San Francisco is only about 45 square miles.. it is a very densely packed area.
Geographic size doesn't really mean that much... if it did, then Juneau, Alaska would be one of the biggest cities in America.

San Francisco is a densely packed area but its way larger than 45 sq miles, Macon is over 50 sq miles; you need to do your research.

Also the size of a city does matter,because it give a true reflection of the city's actually size;excluding the cities consolidated with there counties. .....I feel to say that a city is larger than another one based on just pop is kind a Stupid; If the actually size is smaller. If a city is only 22.9 sq miles and to say its larger than a city that is 106.5 sq miles just because it pop is larger is crazy. For an example Jacksonville, Fl is much larger than Atlanta in size and pop, but no one ever says or looks at Jacksonville as being larger than Atlanta; because it's known that Atlanta's economy, demographics and metro is larger. The same for Athens-Clarke county, it pop is higher than Macon but anyone that has often visited both knows that the actually city of Athens is no where near the size of Macon.

[lilmusket]

Originally Posted by yerocal

San Francisco is a densely packed area but its way larger than 45 sq miles, Macon is over 50 sq miles; you need to do your research.

.

The city of San Francisco is a small area... it is no where near 200 sqr miles. It is less than 50 square miles in total area. Now the Bay area is a large area, but the city of San Francisco comprises a small piece of it. The city has over 800,000 residents and is one of the most densely populated cities in teh country.. because it is less than 50 square miles. If you have some source that says the city has a greater area then that then please post. I have been to SF many times.. it's about 7 miles by 7 miles.

[lilmusket]

The City of San Francisco is 47 square miles.

here is the link from the official city website:
SF Quick facts

Before you accuse someone of not doing proper research, you may want to do a little research yourself.

[aboutmetro]

Originally Posted by yerocal

...Athens-Clarke county, it pop is higher than Macon but anyone that has often visited both knows that the actually city of Athens is no where near the size of Macon.

Maybe you're talking about differences between corporate boundaries of cities and metro areas. Sure, Jacksonville-Duvall County is bigger than Atlanta proper, but, as you say, the two metro areas which include both populations inside and outside of their corporate boundaries (as determined by the census bureau) switch rankings. Atlanta metro then becomes about 5-times more or less larger than Jacksonville metro.

But the thread that started this forum isn't exactly what that's about. It's an interesting scenario where the suburban county is becoming larger than the original urban county. This is what I call a "binary metro". I'm sure there are other examples in the US somewhere, but I can't think of any in Georgia or Alabama. Although truthfully, it's probably more likely to happen in Georgia since this state has an unusually high number of small counties.