If you live in NW WA, what do you consider your major city? Seattle or Vancouver? (Bellingham: train)

[beenhereandthere]

It's a lighthearted question, but, I just wonder what other residents of Whatcom County think of it. Skagit County is in between, but I think it's more reasonable to say Seattle is their major city, or they depend on it more than Vancouver....Bellingham and points north, however?
I just said it since I put as current city on my Facebook page Vancouver. Very few people know where Bellingham is, (even though I'm about 12 miles closer to Bellingham than Vancouver), or what it is and Seattle is just over 100 miles from me.....
Just curious, even though one could say, Who cares?

[angelagardner]

Well...I wouldn't consider Seattle a huge city but at least the closest major city to Bellingham. Even though it is an hour away it is an easy drive and there is a lot to do so I enjoy heading to Seattle, the train ride down from Bham is awesome. Vancouver is also a great city but it depends on the border waits...on a busy weekend you can be there for at least an hour if not more, which is why I tend to stay away from going to Canada except for when going to Whistler or IKEA.

[Sobefobik]

I would say Seattle since you do actually live in the United States, not Canada. I'm a little confused as to why Angelagardner doesn't consider Seattle a huge city with the population of the area being in the millions (including surrounding areas, not just city central).

[Dendrite]

Originally Posted by Sobefobik

I would say Seattle since you do actually live in the United States, not Canada. I'm a little confused as to why Angelagardner doesn't consider Seattle a huge city with the population of the area being in the millions (including surrounding areas, not just city central).

I agree with you that most west-coasters consider Seattle a large city (although everything is relative I suppose! ) but, at least if you're just counting city limits population, Seattle and Vancouver, BC are actually about the same size- roughly 600K. (I suppose the 2010 census numbers could show a population change, we'll see)

"Millions" for Seattle and surrounds? I know it seems like it during rush hour traffic on I-5 Realistically though, you'd have to include the entire population of the whole of King Co. (~1.9M) just to get anywhere near to a plurality of millions. Again, we'll see what the 2010 census numbers look like... But you're still right about size, as almost one third of the population (~29%) of WA state resides in King Co.- which of course is Seattle and surrounding areas!

[jm31828]

Originally Posted by Dendrite

I agree with you that most west-coasters consider Seattle a large city (although everything is relative I suppose! ) but, at least if you're just counting city limits population, Seattle and Vancouver, BC are actually about the same size- roughly 600K. (I suppose the 2010 census numbers could show a population change, we'll see)

"Millions" for Seattle and surrounds? I know it seems like it during rush hour traffic on I-5 Realistically though, you'd have to include the entire population of the whole of King Co. (~1.9M) just to get anywhere near to a plurality of millions. Again, we'll see what the 2010 census numbers look like... But you're still right about size, as almost one third of the population (~29%) of WA state resides in King Co.- which of course is Seattle and surrounding areas!

And that's exactly what it is- the Seattle metro area is 3.5 million people- that is just the contiguous urban/suburban development from Seattle outwards, not even counting the other towns and cities that hopscotch their way further up and down the Puget Sound. The entire Puget Sound region is 4 million. That is pretty good sized- maybe not huge compared to the 6 million that the Dallas/Ft. Worth metro have or the 10+ million the Los Angeles metro have, but still a big city nonetheless.