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I think G,ville has a better upside and future than B,Ham despite the cities being about the same size. Bham does feel a little bigger though.
The cities are not the same size; where are people getting that from? The CSAs are about the same size, but for Greenville, that's an extremely spread-out area centering on three urban cores (Greenville, Spartanburg, and Anderson) whereas in the Birmingham CSA, Birmingham is *the* primary urban core of the region. Since city population figures don't accurately reflect the size of either city, when you use urbanized population figures, you see that Birmingham's is 749,495 while Greenville's is 400,492 (and if you include adjacent suburban Mauldin-Simpsonville, it comes to 521,069). So Birmingham feels bigger because it is bigger; again, the cities are not the same size. And because it did a good deal of developing in the pre-war era as an industrial center, it also has a structurally denser urban core.
Birmingham if you like the big city vibe, Greenville if you like a smaller city with nature right downtown.
Even though the metros are the same size the timing of their growth spurt makes B'ham feel much much larger.
Personally I favor Greenville.
Lol. Birmingham is larger than Greenville in every sense of the word. Birmingham is also a true urban/metropolitan area. It's cohesive and built up. Greenville is way to spread out and suburban (relatively speaking).
Lol. Birmingham is larger than Greenville in every sense of the word. Birmingham is also a true urban/metropolitan area. It's cohesive and built up. Greenville is way to spread out and suburban (relatively speaking).
But the comment was that both metros are about the same size - which is true. Birmingham has a larger urban area and looks/feels more urban, but that doesn't change the fact that both metros are similar in population.
The cities are not the same size; where are people getting that from? The CSAs are about the same size, but for Greenville, that's an extremely spread-out area centering on three urban cores (Greenville, Spartanburg, and Anderson) whereas in the Birmingham CSA, Birmingham is *the* primary urban core of the region. Since city population figures don't accurately reflect the size of either city, when you use urbanized population figures, you see that Birmingham's is 749,495 while Greenville's is 400,492 (and if you include adjacent suburban Mauldin-Simpsonville, it comes to 521,069). So Birmingham feels bigger because it is bigger; again, the cities are not the same size. And because it did a good deal of developing in the pre-war era as an industrial center, it also has a structurally denser urban core.
True, but if the point is to compare MSA/CSA then they are similar.
I'm familiar with both cities since I grew up in Birmingham and go down to Greenville on a weekly basis. There's really no comparison between the two. Historically, Birmingham had it's earlier boom as the South's largest industrial city producing steel at one time. It's larger urban core started long before Greenville became significant on the map. However, Greenville is currently the faster growing city with newer development primarily suburban. All around, I find Birmingham to be a more interesting city based on my experience. The only city in South Carolina I would prefer over Birmingham is Charleston.
You can see how much larger downtown Birmingham is compared to Greenville within the same radius on the same scale.
More photos I shot of Birmingham. The larger historic urban development was a result from an early industrial boom. In 1950, both Birmingham and Atlanta were similar in population.
View from the Vulcan Park over looking the city a top Red Mountain.
Vulcan at Vulcan Park is the city's own iconic statue. The world's tallest cast iron statue.
The city also has the 3rd tallest Statue of Liberty after NYC and Las Vegas located at Liberty Park. The flame when lit is actually real fire.
I have the same opinion as you - I would choose Birmingham between these two. But you really can't argue that the MSA/CSA are similar in population.
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