Which is more urban, with more of a "big city" feel: Houston or Seattle? (living, better)

[pw72]

Woah, two entirely different cities. Both have attributes. Seattle is more dense when you look at population per square mile...but Houston is much bigger so the stats are somewhat misleading. Big city feel? Well, Houston feels bigger, but Seattle feels more "intense", if that makes any sense.

[Golden-mind-State]

Houston..big city feel?
Seattle.

[ironcouger]

HOUSTON DOWNTOWN

HOTEL ROOMS- 5,000
RETAIL SPACE- 2.7 million
WORK FORCE- 140,000
OFFICE SPACE- 44 million
POPULATION-15,000


SEATTLE DOWNTOWN

HOTEL ROOMS- 13,000
RETAIL SPACE- 4.2 million
WORK FORCE- 225,000
OFFICE SPACE-40million square ft
POPULATION- 60,000
RESTAURANTS AND BARS- 995

Downtown Seattle is a small dense area of 3.2 square miles .
So Seattle seems biger but Houston is more spread out.

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by ironcouger

HOUSTON DOWNTOWN

HOTEL ROOMS- 5,000
RETAIL SPACE- 2.7 million
WORK FORCE- 140,000
OFFICE SPACE- 44 million
POPULATION-15,000


SEATTLE DOWNTOWN

HOTEL ROOMS- 13,000
RETAIL SPACE- 4.2 million
WORK FORCE- 225,000
OFFICE SPACE-40million square ft
POPULATION- 60,000
RESTAURANTS AND BARS- 995

Downtown Seattle is a small dense area of 3.2 square miles .
So Seattle seems biger but Houston is more spread out.

Yeah Houston just feels MASSIVE when driving around the city with all of the tall buildings & 200' tall 5 stack interchanges looming over you.

I'm pretty sure you don't get that same rush in Seattle unless you are downtown.

[ironcouger]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

Yeah Houston just feels MASSIVE when driving around the city with all of the tall buildings & 200' tall 5 stack interchanges looming over you.

I'm pretty sure you don't get that same rush in Seattle unless you are downtown.

True the only massive part of seattle is downtown. The neighborhoods are more human scale but very dense mostly midrise buildings outside of downtown. Thats where houston seems big in scale its big and large in many areas.

[adavi215]

Has it dawned on anyone, that the city of Houston alone has nearly 60% of Seattle's MSA population? But Seattle is more dense? Am I missing something?

[nephi215]

Seattle is more urban

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by nephi215

Seattle is more urban

Yes, Seattle is more urban, but Houston is many times larger & would swallow Seattle alive only to spit it right back out.

Houston takes no prisoners & has no reservations towards any city smaller or larger.

One must realize Houston is the nations 5th largest metro while Seattle is 15th & that is a pretty sizable difference to say the least.

[adavi215]

Originally Posted by nephi215

Seattle is more urban

How is Seattle more urban? Houston at 640 square miles has a population of over 2 million. Seaatles MSA is around 3.5 million and I'm estimating that square mileage for the MSA is around 3,000. How is that more urban?

[ironcouger]

Originally Posted by adavi215

How is Seattle more urban? Houston at 640 square miles has a population of over 2 million. Seaatles MSA is around 3.5 million and I'm estimating that square mileage for the MSA is around 3,000. How is that more urban?

because Seattle has 617,000 people in a 83 square mile area the city.And downtown Seattle has 60,000 people in a 3 square mile area.You have to compare cities to cities and Msa to msa. Houstons metro area is 10,000 square miles 5,867,489 people.Seattles metro area is 5,894 square miles with 3.4 million people. Now you can understand.