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Found this website where you can find the estimated population within a certain radius. Think it gives a more accurate representation of actual city size as compared to what's defined by city limits or the metropolitan areas
Using a 10 mile radius and picking a central point in each city here are the sizes.
Charleston - 144,503
Huntington - 131,380
Wheeling - 114,021
Weirton - 101,389
Parkersburg - 95,864
Morgantown - 82,956
Martinsburg - 81,064
Beckley - 66,358
Clarksburg/Bridgeport - 62,481
Didn't include Fairmont due to too much overlap with Morgantown and Clarksburg. Number was around 60k
Of course there are a million ways to look at this. I chose 10 miles because it seemed like a decent compromise on the extent of each city. But the bottom line, I just thought it was cool and makes you realize that WV is a lot bigger than many people realize
Populations by changing radius sizes (in general, bigger city, bigger radius) and moving center point away from city center to "more accurately" determine each cities "sphere of influence". For instance, putting Martinsburg's center farther east to include more of Charles Town and Harper's Ferry and to try to exclude as much of Winchester and Hagerstown as possible
Pretty neat little tool. Although some will dismiss this because it doesn't say what they want, it's about what you'd expect really. That's one thing a lot of people don't realize is how small West Virginia cities are square mileage wise compared to larger places. They have a bigger population but they are often 5-10 times the square mileage or more. Thanks for sharing.
How do they even Know where City Limits are? For example on the Map the apt complex we live in the In the County. While The Owner pays City Tax the people Living her Buy County Dog Tags. I IF the dog Poo out side & the owners Don't pick it up the City don't care! But cross to the other side of the road then your on City & You pay a $25 fine. IF we call the police City cops respond Not County Nor State. BTW right down the road there is a sign that says City Limits!
Thanks for posting that, it fits about right with reality. Too bad like Tim said, some people make excuses for the data in order to meet their own agendas.
Thanks for posting that, it fits about right with reality. Too bad like Tim said, some people make excuses for the data in order to meet their own agendas.
Or, maybe some people will accept it because it meets their own agenda. Just sayin'
For example, it we extend the Morgantown radius out 62.14 miles, it falls right in the middle of downtown Pittsburgh and yields a permanent population of 2,422,670. That probably wouldn't fit your agenda. Push that out just another 10 miles and add hundreds of thousands more. A more realistic 35.38 miles (comfortable half hour commuting distance) yields a permanent population of 483,703. Using the same 35.38 mile radius around Charleston yields a permanent population of 389,672, and for Huntington a permanent population of 514,286.
None of those statistics figure in the folks who live in those places on a non-permanent basis. The only reason I'm pointing this out is not to start an argument, but to simply say that such a tool can promote various agendas... same as with statistics. It's a nice tool, but I really hate it when somebody puts something like that on here because it invariably leads to disputes. We all have our own agendas.
Last edited by CTMountaineer; 06-07-2015 at 02:04 AM..
Sort of belies the actual situation there, doesn't it? I was in Martinsburg 2 weeks ago. It is definitely one of the two most bustling, thriving, happening places I can think of in our little state. Extend that circle out 35 miles or so and see what you get. The most active places in our state are all near other states.
Also,you have to factor in that WV cities aren't developed like cities in other states because of our topography. For example: Charleston, Huntington, and Wheeling stretch out along the river in a thin and lengthy urban development, with a much smaller percentage of their residents living in the surrounding hills. This would mean that using a circle as a population guide would be misleading. Charleston's urban footprint stretches a Very Long ways both South-east and North-west, but has hardly any development towards the NE or due North along 77.
Cities like Parkersburg, Morgantown, Beckley, and Martinsburg on the other hand are more naturally round because the terrain permitted them to build on the hills, flats, or in Mtown's case they just ignored the terrain obstacle for space conservation which is fine. You could use a circle there because they have development in all directions.
To one point made earlier, you can't overlap with another cities commuting patterns in order to make a single city appear larger. An example would be, one could place the center in Hurricane and set the radius to 40 miles. You would end up with Hurricane looking like a 350,000 person city, but you are obviously taking the vast majority of that population from Char/Hunt. In the case of cities like Morgantown and Wheeling, you would be picking up places in PA that would not consider themselves connected with anything in WV. Washington, PA for example is a Pittsburgh suburb, but with this tool one could make it look as if it were part of Wheeling's metro.
I found the polygon tool option right next to the circle one on this tool.
Also,you have to factor in that WV cities aren't developed like cities in other states because of our topography. For example: Charleston, Huntington, and Wheeling stretch out along the river in a thin and lengthy urban development, with a much smaller percentage of their residents living in the surrounding hills. This would mean that using a circle as a population guide would be misleading. Charleston's urban footprint stretches a Very Long ways both South-east and North-west, but has hardly any development towards the NE or due North along 77.
Cities like Parkersburg, Morgantown, Beckley, and Martinsburg on the other hand are more naturally round because the terrain permitted them to build on the hills, flats, or in Mtown's case they just ignored the terrain obstacle for space conservation which is fine. You could use a circle there because they have development in all directions.
To one point made earlier, you can't overlap with another cities commuting patterns in order to make a single city appear larger. An example would be, one could place the center in Hurricane and set the radius to 40 miles. You would end up with Hurricane looking like a 350,000 person city, but you are obviously taking the vast majority of that population from Char/Hunt. In the case of cities like Morgantown and Wheeling, you would be picking up places in PA that would not consider themselves connected with anything in WV. Washington, PA for example is a Pittsburgh suburb, but with this tool one could make it look as if it were part of Wheeling's metro.
I found the polygon tool option right next to the circle one on this tool.
Basically, I don't disagree with you because what you are saying is each area's situation is different, and is affected to differing degrees by other areas in proximity. You mentioned Wheeling, and it hasn't been that long ago when those steel mills were humming there that Wheeling and Steubenville-Weirton, just 22 miles apart, were considered one area. Now Steubenville-Weirton is in the Pittsburgh area while Wheeling has it own, smaller area. Your mention of the "metro" designation emphasizes that too. Hurricane is now part of Huntington, but many people there simply work in Putnam County while others work in Charleston. There are significant overlaps everywhere, but in parts of our state near other states the statistics are much more easily skewed by arbitrary county line designations.
If you've been to Martinsburg, you know that, although technically it is a very small city, it sure does not have that characteristic. Berkeley-Jefferson is rapidly developing as part of the DC/Baltimore region, and the area from Chambersburg, PA through Hagerstown, MD, Martinsburg, Shepherdstown, and Winchester, VA is one long sub orbit in that larger picture.
Not everyone who lives in Morgantown commutes to Bridgeport or Fairmont, in fact most don't, but some do. Not everyone who lives in Uniontown or Oakland commutes to Morgantown, but some do. Not everyone who lives in Hurricane commutes to Charleston, but many do. Many from Wheeling commute to Pittsburgh and some from Morgantown do that. Tons of people from Martinsburg work in DC. And, we haven't mentioned the effects of large numbers of college students who aren't counted in anybody's statistics. Still, it is interesting to take a tool like this and play with it to see what happens under different situations.
It's possible for anybody to use a tool like this, or statistics, to promote a specific agenda. If you want to promote an agenda of a concentrated urban core... use a 10 mile radius like 304 did initially. That will tell you how many permanent residents can be found there. What it won't disclose is their characteristics, and it won't disclose the people who live there who aren't to be found in those numbers. Any objective analysis must take factors like that into consideration, and other factors that influence an area's real character and potential.
This isn't directed toward anybody here, but I've always found it strange that, in our little state, people seem to focus on who has more people and so forth. I wonder how that appears to somebody from Pennsylvania, for example, which probably has 20 cities larger than anything we have here. How does that appear if you look at Detroit, which has a lot of people but I sure wouldn't want to live there. Baltimore has millions in it's region, but you couldn't pay me to live there. New York City has more than 20 million people in and around the place. I used to live there... glad I don't any longer. The only conclusion I can come up with is West Virginians are fixated on that because historically that has influenced political developments within the state. That part is true, but if that is the consideration, one must also consider trends in analyzing that situation.
Areas outside of Charleston have always been at a decided disadvantage in the political regard because they are located near state lines where many area residents don't vote in West Virginia elections. Still, for those areas located in proximity to large, out of state cities, the spillover effect has the potential to cause major shifts in the state's political climate over time. That can not be ignored.
Last edited by CTMountaineer; 06-07-2015 at 08:27 AM..
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