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^Actually that would not be a correct assumption from any list of items. You will need to look at a distribution curve for whatever statistic you are interested in. In this case population. Could be Mega, big, large whatever are bunched up on one side and then the curve drops down fast to small.
Good point, to elaborate a little bit, the largest MSA - New York City is upwards of 19 million people. If you look at the 100th largest MSA according to wikipedia which would be the so-called 'cut-off point' of the top 1/3, it is Daytona Beach at just 500k people. The 200th largest MSA - Longview, TX is just over 200k people. So looking at it, #100 is much much closer to #200 than it is to #1, which is why you can't just look at well, there are over 300 MSAs (actually it's around 400) so the top 1/3 should be considered large cities. Columbia ranks #69, yet it is closer to Longview, TX (700k - 200k = 500k) than it is to #40, Jacksonville (1.3 million - 700k = 600k); and no one confuses Jacksonville w/NYC or LA!
I personally categorize cities into 4 or 5 categories, and you can argue that NYC and LA belong in their own, but here's how I sort the cities.
Huge cities - NYC, LA, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia, DC, and maybe Boston being on the border of huge/large.
Large cities - Seattle, Cleveland, Denver, St. Louis, basically, I guess b/c I'm a sports fan, any city large enough to house at least a couple pro sports teams I'll throw them into this category.
Mid-sized cities - This is where I put Columbia or Charleston, although they are both probably towards the bottom of this category, while I'd say a city the size of Raleigh is towards the top. I'd also include cities such as Dayton, Birmingham, Omaha, Greensboro to name a few.
Small cities - Lexington, KY, my hometown of Canton, OH, Ann Arbor, Asheville, Augusta to name a few.
I'd say once a city/metro gets down around 150k-200k, you're looking at towns or very small cities such as Florence or Myrtle Beach.
I know some will disagree/agree w this, but again, it all comes down to your perspective. Growing up in NE Ohio, I used to think Cleveland and Columbus were huge, until I visited NYC & LA and realized that while they may be pretty big, they weren't close to the size of those places!
Very good reasoning Buckeye, on point.
After living in NYC all my life (30 + years), I feel NYC is in a class completely by itself. Have visited a lot of the larger citys and none of them felt like walking down the street in NYC during the rush hour crunch or riding the subway and the trains are so crowded that the train conductor can barely close the doors to move the train! Gives new meaning to the phrase "mega city"!
Very good reasoning Buckeye, on point.
After living in NYC all my life (30 + years), I feel NYC is in a class completely by itself. Have visited a lot of the larger citys and none of them felt like walking down the street in NYC during the rush hour crunch or riding the subway and the trains are so crowded that the train conductor can barely close the doors to move the train! Gives new meaning to the phrase "mega city"!
OK, I was with you up until the above highlighted comment. I agree with you 10,000% that NYC is in a league of its own! However, I think a comment like the one above is not very accurate. It is fair to note that NYC's subways are nearly 10 cars long and run every couple of minutes during most of the day (also they run 24/7). That is the true NYC difference IMO.
Just saying that "the trains are so crowded that the train conductor can barely close the doors to move the train!" is something MANY cities in America can relate to. Even Charlotte's little (one and two-car train) system has times during rush hour (and mid-day) when the doors can not be shut. Sometimes the conductor even comes over the loud speaker to tell folks (trying to board) to wait for the next train. "This train has reached capacity".
Here is what it can look like on Charlotte's train.
Flickr Photo Download: Mid-day Charlotte Light Rail Ridership (http://www.flickr.com/photos/12208406@N03/3017364438/sizes/l/ - broken link)
Now Back to the Original Topic of this Thread
After doing some research, I am now starting to think that Metro Greenville (specifically Greenville county) is SC's True Big City/Metro.
I do believe much of this is due to Greenville being on the booming I-85 corridor of the South. Every metro area on this corridor (from Richmond to Atlanta) has a population of at least 1 million (including Greenville). I've been to Greenville, Charleston, and Columbia. In person, Charleston feels like the largest city of the three (and in many cases, it kinda is). Columbia feels like the 2nd largest. However, Greenville's Metro acts more like Atlanta's metro than it does Columbia or Charleston. By this, I mean that Greenville's population is distributed over a large area in which people commute in EVERY direction IMO. Anyone driving through Metro Greenville on I-85 will clearly get the impression that Metro Greenville "ain't small".
In short, I'd have to go with Greenville on this one. Metro Greenville is the first and only 1 million plus metro in the state. Metro Greenville will probably be the state's first 2 million plus metro also (years down the road).
Last edited by urbancharlotte; 09-16-2009 at 09:45 AM..
Urbancharlotte if that was an attempt to draw some insane comparison between Charlotte's train system and the NYC subway system........then it is absured!
First of all not only does NYC subway system run 24/7, it also takes residents to every destination around the 5 boroughs that they need to go and is one of the most extensive mass transit systems in the world. This means that people in NYC are not FORCED to depend on a car. The last time I checked people in Charlotte still have to depend on cars in spite of having train service!
In addition to that Charlotte is in it's infancy when we are talking about comparing it to NYC which has been a well known city for many years and might I add whose influence stretches around the world. In fact both Atlanta and Charlotte owe a large part of the credit for their progress to the NYC transplants who relocated there and shaped the direction that both of those citys went in. As things stand right now both Atlanta and Charlotte have more northern transplants living there then native southerners!
It is no mistake that there are tall buildings in both of these citys that resemble the architecture of the NYC office buildings. The very fact that both citys have a significant banking presence is because of the huge investment made by northern transplants relocating to both Atlanta & Chatlotte.
If it would not have been for this interest in Atlanta & Charlotte by northern transplants both citys would probably be lagging 25 years behind the rest of the US in their progress like the other southern citys in the south!!
Damn I knew someone was going to go there and give me a big laugh!&@
Urbancharlotte if that was an attempt to draw some insane comparison between Charlotte's train system and the NYC subway system........then it is absured!
First of all not only does NYC subway system run 24/7, it also takes residents to every destination around the 5 boroughs that they need to go and is one of the most extensive mass transit systems in the world. This means that people in NYC are not FORCED to depend on a car. The last time I checked people in Charlotte still have to depend on cars in spite of having train service!
In addition to that Charlotte is in it's infancy when we are talking about comparing it to NYC which has been a well known city for many years and might I add whose influence stretches around the world. In fact both Atlanta and Charlotte owe a large part of the credit for their progress to the NYC transplants who relocated there and shaped the direction that both of those citys went in. As things stand right now both Atlanta and Charlotte have more northern transplants living there then native southerners!
It is no mistake that there are tall buildings in both of these citys that resemble the architecture of the NYC office buildings. The very fact that both citys have a significant banking presence is because of the huge investment made by northern transplants relocating to both Atlanta & Chatlotte.
If it would not have been for this interest in Atlanta & Charlotte by northern transplants both citys would probably be lagging 25 years behind the rest of the US in their progress like the other southern citys in the south!!
Damn I knew someone was going to go there and give me a big laugh!&@
Dude, my mother spent most of her adult life in East Orange and Queens. I was raised in Charlotte yet born in the Northern Blvd area of Flushing. THANK YOU for the laugh! My accent is "country", but I'm "NewYorkBorn" just like you.
As you stated, Atlanta and Charlotte are probably more than 50% Northern transplants. Yet you assumed that I were (am) a native Southerner. tisk tisk grasshopper
Last edited by urbancharlotte; 09-16-2009 at 11:31 AM..
After doing some research, I am now starting to think that Metro Greenville (specifically Greenville county) is SC's True Big City/Metro.
I do believe much of this is due to Greenville being on the booming I-85 corridor of the South. Every metro area on this corridor (from Richmond to Atlanta) has a population of at least 1 million (including Greenville). I've been to Greenville, Charleston, and Columbia. In person, Charleston feels like the largest city of the three (and in many cases, it kinda is). Columbia feels like the 2nd largest. However, Greenville's Metro acts more like Atlanta's metro than it does Columbia or Charleston. By this, I mean that Greenville's population is distributed over a large area in which people commute in EVERY direction IMO. Anyone driving through Metro Greenville on I-85 will clearly get the impression that Metro Greenville "ain't small".
In short, I'd have to go with Greenville on this one. Metro Greenville is the first and only 1 million plus metro in the state. Metro Greenville will probably be the state's first 2 million plus metro also (years down the road).
Greenville is certainly the primary city of the state's largest metro area (CSA), no question. But because the metro area is multinodal, both Spartanburg and Anderson contribute to that 1 million+ metro "feel." You don't get that feel by being in Greenville alone (although it is the recipient of most of the benefits that come with being the center of the region), just like you don't get the feeling of being in a 1.5 million+ metro being in Greensboro alone or Winston-Salem alone or Raleigh alone. As cities, Greenville, Columbia, and Charleston are more or less the same size--very close. But I can agree that Charleston feels the largest, at least on the street level, because it has the densest core of the three. Sometimes Columbia can feel the largest due to the large area its downtown covers and its skyline. Greenville can feel the biggest riding through on the interstate. You could actually make a subjective case for any of these cities, but at the end of the day, there really is no big city in SC. As it was stated, the closest is Charlotte, since its metro area does extend into SC.
Dude, my mother spent most of her adult life in East Orange and Queens. I was raised in Charlotte yet born in the Northern Blvd area of Flushing. THANK YOU for the laugh! My accent is "country", but I'm "NewYorkBorn" just like you.
As you stated, Atlanta and Charlotte are probably more than 50% Northern transplants. Yet you assumed that I were (am) a native Southerner. tisk tisk grasshopper
Exactly, thank you for admitting that you are a transplant from NYC but one would think that someone who is a transplant from NYC would not get on the forum and make such a crazy comparison between NYC and Charlotte!
Sumter is small, Columbia is large, Charlotte is larger, Atlanta and DC are big, Los Angeles and Chicago are huge, and NYC is in a class by itself. Case settled.
In my opinion claiming that Atlanta, Charlotte, Greenville, Columbia, or Charleston are large citys is just laughable. Have visited all of them and did not feel like I was in a big city by any stretch of the imagination. Guess if you are someone who grew up in these citys and witnessed their growth, then I guess you would consider them large.
I am definitely in agreement with some of the other posters here.........South Carolina has more rural undeveloped land then it has population. Unlike Atlanta and Charlotte where everything revolves around those citys........here in SC there is no one city that anyone can point to as the main city. Everything here in SC feels spread out with small towns scattered throughout the countryside.
What The Hey.....Atlanta is a World Class City...Duh.....
What The Hey.....Atlanta is a World Class City...Duh.....
That is your opinion and I do not share it.
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However, I think a comment like the one above is not very accurate. It is fair to note that NYC's subways are nearly 10 cars long and run every couple of minutes during most of the day (also they run 24/7). That is the true NYC difference IMO.
My accent is "country", but I'm "NewYorkBorn" just like you.
Atlanta Is A World Class City Duh.............
What The Hey.....Atlanta is a World Class City...Duh.....
