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Ah, I see... To be fair, cities like Columbus, Madison, and Richmond don't "box out" other cities because they are the only game in town. None of these are even the largest metros within their states, so I don't think they're the "only show in town." And I'd be willing to bet the vast majority of high school students and maybe even adults don't even know Springfield is the capital of Illinois.
And to be fair, none of those metros are ever compared to heavy hitter cities.
Hell, austitude is rarely even compared to other texas cities.
But sac gets put thru the wringer being compared to sf and la time and time again.
Boston, twin cities, phx, and atlanta are only other capital city metros that get put thru that same type of wringer.
Ah, I see... To be fair, cities like Columbus, Madison, and Richmond don't "box out" other cities because they are the only game in town. None of these are even the largest metros within their states, so I don't think they're the "only show in town." And I'd be willing to bet the vast majority of high school students and maybe even adults don't even know Springfield is the capital of Illinois.
Madison doesn't completely overshadow Milwaukee, but despite being about 2/5ths the size it more than holds its own. I can't speak for everyone in WI, but I'm sure that plenty of Wisconsinites view Mad-town as their "go-to" metro over MKE, which in some respects is the extreme northern fringe of the greater Chicago area.
And I'd like to think most Americans know that Springfield is the capital of IL - it's been hammered into just about every kid's head since grade school, so I truly hope that they still teach basic geography in elementary schools.
There was like 3 separate tests. The first test is only the first 10 states alphabetically, then the next 2 are the next 20 in order plus the ones you were already tested on. She got them all right for the one I helped her study for (my sister was in Mexico & my brother-in-law was helping my other 2 nieces) though, which was the middle test & included Illinois. Thanks for asking!
P.S. She struggled with Louisiana (Baton Rouge) & Iowa (Des Moines) when I was quizzing her.
I pulled up the state capitals quiz in Jetpunk and the average score is 29 with 62% correctly guessing Springfield, Illinois. That's not the most scientific way to explore my hunch, but it's the most readily available data. It's not as bad as I thought it would be either.
PS: If you're not familiar with jetpunk, check it out, but proceed with caution. It is very addicting.
Madison doesn't completely overshadow Milwaukee, but despite being about 2/5ths the size it more than holds its own. I can't speak for everyone in WI, but I'm sure that plenty of Wisconsinites view Mad-town as their "go-to" metro over MKE, which in some respects is the extreme northern fringe of the greater Chicago area.
Respectfully, you don't know what you're talking about here. I've lived in many areas of the state over the years, including both Madison and Milwaukee, and the only people who go to Madison over Milwaukee A) live much closer or B) are "afraid" of Milwaukee. Madison is still a small city lacking the real metro amenities you can get in Milwaukee or Chicago or Minneapolis. It's really not even close. And Chicago is often considered not worth the hassle unless you want to blow the weekend there. Milwaukee is the clear go-to in the state.
Madison metro is 550,000, Milwaukee is 1.6 million. They are about an hour drive apart, a good bit closer than downtown Milwaukee to downtown Chicago.
With 50 U.S. states come 50 U.S. state capital cities. These cities rank in size from nearly 1.5 million people (Phoenix) to around 8,000 (Montpelier). Some are the dominant cities in their regions, others are not. I think a thread discussing the most prominent state capital cities is a worthwhile topic for this forum.
I don't really have a set of specific criteria, but generally I considered how prominent the city is within its state. If I say Missouri, chances are most people are going to think of St. Louis or Kansas City, so Jefferson City did not make the top 5. I also considered cities that maybe were not the first city that came to mind at the mention of its state, but made it in on the strength of the state's prominence. All I ask is you give a short justification for your top 5. Or 10. However many you want. Maybe someone will rank all 50.
Following your criterea, most western capitol cities would be equal, especially in the Intermountain West, mainly because all of the cap cities are isolated and many miles apart and are generally the largest and most important cities in their respective states. Boise, Salt Lake City, Denver, etc. are all equally prominent imo, but Cheyenne to a lesser extent since it is close to the Front Range.
Following your criterea, most western capitol cities would be equal, especially in the Intermountain West, mainly because all of the cap cities are isolated and many miles apart and are generally the largest and most important cities in their respective states. Boise, Salt Lake City, Denver, etc. are all equally prominent imo, but Cheyenne to a lesser extent since it is close to the Front Range.
Couldn't disagree more regarding Denver. By a long shot the most prominent city in the Intermountain West (unless Phoenix is included in that region) and even then Denver's profile is a little higher than Phoenix's despite the size disparity. I used prominence within a state more to rule out state capitals. I guess I should have spelled that out a little better.
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