Twin Cities - 16th largest metro area in the Country, can you feel it? (Minneapolis: hotels, university)

[emcee squared]

A list from the Twin Cities Wiki page:

Suburbs of Minneapolis and St. Paul include:
Anoka County: Andover, Anoka, Bethel, Blaine, Columbia Heights, Circle Pines, Coon Rapids, East Bethel, Fridley, Hilltop, Ham Lake, Lino Lakes, Oak Grove, Ramsey, St. Francis, Spring Lake Park
Carver County: Carver, Chanhassen, Chaska, Cologne, Hamburg, Mayer, New Germany, Norwood Young America, Victoria, Waconia, Watertown
Dakota County: Apple Valley, Burnsville, Eagan, Farmington, Hampton, Hastings, Inver Grove Heights, Lakeville, Lilydale, Mendota, Mendota Heights, New Trier, Rosemount, South St. Paul, Sunfish Lake, Vermillion, West St. Paul
Hennepin County: Bloomington*, Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Champlin, Corcoran, Crystal, Dayton, Eden Prairie, Edina, Excelsior, Golden Valley, Greenfield, Greenwood, Hopkins, Independence, Long Lake, Loretto, Maple Grove, Medicine Lake, Medina, Minnetonka, Minnetonka Beach, Minnetrista, Mound, New Hope, Orono, Osseo, Plymouth, Richfield, Robbinsdale, Rogers, St. Anthony, St. Bonifacius, St. Louis Park, Shorewood, Spring Park, Tonka Bay, Wayzata, Woodland
Ramsey County: Arden Hills, Falcon Heights, Gem Lake, Lauderdale, Little Canada, Maplewood, Mounds View, New Brighton, North Oaks, North St. Paul, Roseville, Shoreview, St. Anthony, Vadnais Heights, White Bear Lake
Scott County: Belle Plaine, Elko New Market, Jordan, New Prague, Prior Lake, Savage, Shakopee
Washington County: Afton, Birchwood Village, Cottage Grove, Dellwood, Forest Lake, Grant, Hugo, Lake Elmo, Lakeland, Lakeland Shores, Lake St. Croix Beach, Landfall, Mahtomedi, Marine on St. Croix, Newport, Oakdale, Pine Springs, St. Marys Point, St. Paul Park, Stillwater, Willernie, Woodbury
Some of these cities are part of the Minneapolis–St. Paul–St. Cloud, MN-WI CSA rather than the urban or metropolitan area, but can still be considered suburbs.

• Bloomington is also considered to be a major/core city, rather than a large suburb, but can be listed as either.

I'm not sure if these are all suburbs in the strict sense of the word, but I have heard the names of most of them.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by emcee squared

A list from the Twin Cities Wiki page:

I'm not sure if these are all suburbs in the strict sense of the word, but I have heard the names of most of them.

I may have to sit corrected when it comes to Atlanta. Yes, roughly 80% of its suburban area is completely unincorporated and the county plays the role of a city in those cases, but there seem to be a lot more actual cities in the metro than I had thought.

In the list below, areas marked as "CDP" are Census Designated Places which have a name and a defined location but aren't really cities. You can see a map in the Wikipedia link below.

Atlanta metropolitan area - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cities and suburbs

Principal city

Atlanta pop. 420,003

Places with 75,000 to 99,999 inhabitants

Sandy Springs pop. 93,853
Roswell pop. 88,346
Johns Creek pop. 76,728

Places with 50,000 to 74,999 inhabitants

Alpharetta pop. 57,551
Marietta pop. 56,579
Smyrna pop. 51,271

Places with 25,000 to 49,999 inhabitants

Dunwoody pop. 46,267
Brookhaven (North Atlanta) pop. 40,456
Mableton (CDP) pop. 37,115 **
Peachtree City pop. 34,364
Peachtree Corners pop. 34,274
Gainesville pop. 33,804
East Point pop. 33,712
Newnan pop. 33,039
Redan (CDP) pop. 33,015 **
Milton pop. 32,661
Douglasville pop. 30,961
Kennesaw pop. 29,783
Lawrenceville pop. 28,546
Tucker (CDP) pop. 27,581 **
Duluth pop. 26,660
Stockbridge pop. 25,636

Places with 24,999- inhabitants

Carrollton pop. 24,388
Woodstock pop. 23,896
Griffin pop. 23,643
Candler-McAfee (CDP) pop. 23,025 **
Canton pop. 22,958
McDonough pop. 22,084
Acworth pop. 20,425
Cartersville pop. 19,731
Union City pop. 19,456
Decatur pop. 19,335
North Druid Hills (CDP) pop. 18,947 **
Sugar Hill pop. 18,522
Forest Park pop. 18,468
Snellville pop. 18,242
North Decatur (CDP) pop. 16,698 **
Fayetteville pop. 15,945
Suwanee pop. 15,355
Conyers pop. 15,195
Belvedere Park (CDP) pop. 15,152 **
Riverdale pop. 15,134
Druid Hills (CDP) pop. 14,568 **
Winder pop. 14,099
Villa Rica pop. 13,956
College Park pop. 13,942
Powder Springs pop. 13,940
Monroe pop. 13,234
Covington pop. 13,118
Fairburn pop. 12,950
Buford pop. 12,225
Lilburn pop. 11,596
Mountain Park (Gwinnett) (CDP) pop. 11,554 **
Loganville pop. 10,458
Chamblee pop. 9,892
Panthersville (CDP) pop. 9,749 **
Vinings (CDP) pop. 9,734 **
Thomaston pop. 9,170
Norcross pop. 9,116
Doraville pop. 8,330
Clarkston pop. 7,554
Braselton pop. 7,511
Irondale (CDP) pop. 7,446 **
Centerville (CDP) pop. 7,148 **
Hampton pop. 6,987
Auburn (CDP) pop. 6,887 **
Tyrone (CDP) pop. 6,879
Barnesville pop. 6,775
Austell pop. 6,581
Morrow pop. 6,445
Lovejoy pop. 6,422
Hapeville pop. 6,373
Conley (CDP) pop. 6,228 **
Stone Mountain pop. 5,802
Flowery Branch pop. 5,679
Cumming pop. 5,430
Jonesboro pop. 4,724
Palmetto pop. 4,448
Dacula pop. 4,442
Bonanza (CDP) pop. 3,135 **
Lakeview Estates (CDP) pop. 2,695 **
Lake City pop. 2,612
Lithonia pop. 1,924
Berkeley Lake pop. 1,574

[pete6032]

Considering that most of us who grew up in MPLS and suburbs only ever venture out on the west side, and those who grew up in St. Paul and suburbs only hang out on the east side of the cities, I can see why it might feel half as large as it really is.

[Astron1000]

For fun, you can "beat the clock" and try to name as many Twin Cities' suburbs as you can over at Sporcle. They list 141 incorporated cities.

Can you name the suburbs of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul? by Matt91486 | Online Games & Trivia by Sporcle

[Beenhere4ever]

Like most places, these "suburbs" were actually as old as the central cities. They only became suburbs as city workers decided to buy homes there and commute.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by Beenhere4ever

Like most places, these "suburbs" were actually as old as the central cities. They only became suburbs as city workers decided to buy homes there and commute.

That could be said for all of the suburbs....

White Bear Lake, for example, was once the summer resort area for the wealthy in St. Paul. Edina was it's own town. Stillwater is older than Minneapolis and St. Paul, as are many "suburbs". Most people in the suburbs, however, do not "commute to the city".

[emcee squared]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

I may have to sit corrected when it comes to Atlanta. Yes, roughly 80% of its suburban area is completely unincorporated and the county plays the role of a city in those cases, but there seem to be a lot more actual cities in the metro than I had thought.

In the list below, areas marked as "CDP" are Census Designated Places which have a name and a defined location but aren't really cities. You can see a map in the Wikipedia link below.

Atlanta metropolitan area - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There are many cities below 25,000 in that list I have never heard of. That is probably due to the metro stretching out 500 miles in every direction. I wonder how many true locals know of all those places.

Honestly, I haven't been to the entire eastern half of ATL, so that doesn't help my cause.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by emcee squared

There are many cities below 25,000 in that list I have never heard of. That is probably due to the metro stretching out 500 miles in every direction. I wonder how many true locals know of all those places.

Honestly, I haven't been to the entire eastern half of ATL, so that doesn't help my cause.

Yeah, I'm the same way with both metros. Since I've lived in Minnetonka, Eden Prairie, and Bloomington, and mainly worked either in Hopkins, in Eagan, or at the airport, most of my Twin Cities knowledge tends to center around the SW quadrant. Suburbs like Lake Elmo were places that we drove through on the way to the Apple River.

In Atlanta, it's the NW quadrant ... mostly Cobb County and bits of the city, but I do know some areas around Tucker because we have friends there, and also up around Cartersville.

[uptown_urbanist]

Why the quotation marks around "suburbs"?

Just because, say, Edina, had its own name in the 1880s, doesn't make it any less of a suburb today. It was already suburban in the early 20th century!

[emcee squared]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Yeah, I'm the same way with both metros. Since I've lived in Minnetonka, Eden Prairie, and Bloomington, and mainly worked either in Hopkins, in Eagan, or at the airport, most of my Twin Cities knowledge tends to center around the SW quadrant. Suburbs like Lake Elmo were places that we drove through on the way to the Apple River.

In Atlanta, it's the NW quadrant ... mostly Cobb County and bits of the city, but I do know some areas around Tucker because we have friends there, and also up around Cartersville.

It is weird how that works. I know my little corner of Mableton/Smyrna, the way to the airport, and 400 up to Alpharetta. I don't have much use for the rest of the metro, except one friend that lives around Piedmont Park in Midtown.

In the Twin Cities is was the southern 'burbs, Lakeville mostly, and then the Eden Prairie area. Even after living there for 15 years, I hadn't been to half of the communities. It really shows you how one can live in their own little corner of a large metro and be totally self-sufficient.