Scranton/Wilkes-Barre vs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton? (Philadelphia, Allentown: home, campus, title)

[ScranBarre]

This is a topic that's been bugging the hell out of me for years now! Is our part of NEPA entitled "Scranton/Wilkes-Barre" or "Wilkes-Barre/Scranton?" Here's a few local examples that support both:

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre MSA (U.S. Census designation)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Nielsen Ratings Market

My vote goes for "Scranton/Wilkes-Barre." My reasoning is as follows:

1.) The largest city always comes first in other areas. Think "Raleigh/Durham", "Minneapolis/St. Paul", "Tampa/St. Petersburg", "Champaign/Urbana", "Cincinnati/Covington",
"Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton", "Seattle/Tacoma", etc. In our case, Scranton has a population of roughly 70,000 vs. Wilkes-Barre's roughly 40,000 inhabitants. Shouldn't this be clear-cut enough?

2.) "Scranton/Wilkes-Barre", as I stated earlier, is what the government refers to us as with the U.S. Census Bureau.

Why, then, do I repeatedly here so many people say they hail from the "Wilkes-Barre/Scranton" area? Any answers or other insight into the issue?

[Phish Head]

Neither, dog. I believe the US Census calls it the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), even though Hazleton isn't that close.

[in2dadark]

Welp...Hazle-slum is as close to wilkes-berry as Scrantoon is to WB..

[kettlepot]

While the Census bureau does list the largest city first, but that would make the Bay Area, the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland MSA. I think the Census Bureau gets around this by putting San Jose into it's own metro area, and then consolidates it into the SJ-SF-Oak CMSA. However, EVERYONE knows that San Francisco is the center city of the metropolis. So, I wouldn't make the Census Bureau the absolute law on this. Still, unless there's a compelling reason the bigger city rules. A compelling reason would be soemthing such as over the centuries one of the cities has consistantly been the larger one, until recently.

[mechtm84]

Who cares?

Some people say both. Are you gonna persecute the ones who say WB/SCR? People are gonna say it how they want, not how people like you want or the govt. want you to say it. PA has enough laws to make it a dictatorship as is. Limiting free speech is crossing the line. You should really put a "who cares?" slot in there.

[FightinPhils]

It should be Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Scranton is the larger of the two cities. Period. We don't hear other places named "St. Paul/Minneapolis" or "Camden/Philadelphia" or "Durham/Raleigh."

Our airport is named backwards among many other things. Although I have no problem with the Penguins and Pioneers being named "Wilkes-Barre/Scranton" since the arena is in Wilkes-Barre.

[WasPA]

The airport is largely in Luzerne County, thus Wilkes-Barre/Scranton makes sense as did the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons in terms of the teams location in Lackawanna County and so forth.....

Scranton does have a larger population, but also a much larger area than Wilkes-Barre's small 8 s.m.--about the size of Harrisburg .Were Wilkes-Barre's municipal boundaries extended to include Hanover Twnshp, Kingston, Larks & Edwardsville, Forty Fort, the Wyomings, Luzerne, Swoyersville, Plains Twnship, W-B Twnshp, Ashley, etc., in other words the nearby Wyoming Valley inner 'burbs, the present population would exceed Scranton's without as much land area.... As it is, Wilkes Barre claims to have the largest centralized business concentration in NePa. I have no way of gauging that right this minute...that's not to say that Scranton isn't the more fully urban 'seeming' of the two, given its condensed, handsome downtown layout & buildings, natch

[FightinPhils]

Originally Posted by WasPA

Scranton does have a larger population, but also a much larger area than Wilkes-Barre's small 8 s.m.--about the size of Harrisburg .Were Wilkes-Barre's municipal boundaries extended to include Hanover Twnshp, Kingston, Larks & Edwardsville, Forty Fort, the Wyomings, Luzerne, Swoyersville, Plains Twnship, W-B Twnshp, Ashley, etc., in other words the nearby Wyoming Valley inner 'burbs, the present population would exceed Scranton's without as much land area.... As it is, Wilkes Barre claims to have the largest centralized business concentration in NePa. I have no way of gauging that right this minute...that's not to say that Scranton isn't the more fully urban 'seeming' of the two, given its condensed, handsome downtown layout & buildings, natch

Sure W-B would be larger if you were to include all those surrounding towns, but then you would have to include towns like Dunmore, Moosic, Taylor, Throop, Dickson City, South Abington, Clarks Summit, Clarks Green, etc, in with Scranton, effectively making Scranton larger once again.

Actually, I think Wilkes-Barre does have the more "urban" feel than Scranton. W-B's neighborhoods seem more crammed together, while many of Scranton's are more spaced apart, giving many of Scranton's neighborhoods a more small-town feel. I do like the layout for W-B's downtown better than Scranton. It boggles me that W-B's downtown is not more vibrant....it has a great setting with the Susquehanna River, Public Square, and a college campus at each end.

[HomeAgainInWestPittston]

I just figured it depended on if you were from Luzerne or Lackawanna County. While we are on the subject, have you noticed that it is an either or situation? Either Scranton OR Wilkes-Barre is is prospering - I have never seen BOTH doing well at the same time.

Truth be told - to the outside world, Scranton is more notorious. You can mention to someone from most parts of the US - "I'm from Scranton" - they may look blankly at you and say... "Oh" (cause they have heard of it), but, tell them Wilkes-Barre, and they say "huh?".... you'll smile knowingly and reply... "near Scranton".

[mm_mary73]

Originally Posted by HomeAgainInWestPittston

....Truth be told - to the outside world, Scranton is more notorious. You can mention to someone from most parts of the US - "I'm from Scranton" - they may look blankly at you and say... "Oh" (cause they have heard of it), but, tell them Wilkes-Barre, and they say "huh?".... you'll smile knowingly and reply... "near Scranton".

Of course, if they watched "All in the Family", they'll remember that Edith Bunker regularly visited family in Scranton......