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Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, Detroits Oakland County Suburbs/ Ann Arbor area, Madison, Cleveland (i'm not all that fimiliar with the burbs) all fit that Criteria.
Pittsburgh, Columbus and Minneapolis/St. Paul are not Great Lakes metropolitan areas. The major Great Lakes metropolitan areas are Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Buffalo and Rochester, in order from largest to smallest.
Nobody has mentioned Duluth-Superior. That is the largest U.S. metro on Lake Superior. The metro population is 250,000. Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes. Since the OP stated he doesn't mind cold and snow, it is another choice for a mid-sized city. BTW...The port itself is one of the busiest on the Great Lakes. Shown below is a piece from the Duluth Port Authority:
"Located at the western end of the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence seaway, it is the farthest-inland freshwater seaport and one of the leading bulk cargo ports in all of North America. By far, the largest and busiest onthe Great Lakes, the Port of Duluth-Superior handles an average of 38 million short tons of cargo and nearly 1,000 vessel visits each year...connecting the heartland of the U.S. and Canada to the rest of the world."
1. Erie. Extremely family friendly.
2. Buffalo. More to do than can be imagined.
3. Suburbs of Cleveland
4. Toledo
5. Chicago
Pittsburgh???? Please. No where near the same attitude. Erie and Pittsburgh are complete opposites. Next the Pittsburgh Cheerleaders will be saying it is the best West Coast city in the US.
Nobody has mentioned Duluth-Superior. That is the largest U.S. metro on Lake Superior. The metro population is 250,000. Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes. Since the OP stated he doesn't mind cold and snow, it is another choice for a mid-sized city. BTW...The port itself is one of the busiest on the Great Lakes. Shown below is a piece from the Duluth Port Authority:
"Located at the western end of the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence seaway, it is the farthest-inland freshwater seaport and one of the leading bulk cargo ports in all of North America. By far, the largest and busiest onthe Great Lakes, the Port of Duluth-Superior handles an average of 38 million short tons of cargo and nearly 1,000 vessel visits each year...connecting the heartland of the U.S. and Canada to the rest of the world."
You think Duluth/Superior is a "top 5 Great Lakes metro?" I like the area, but I respectfully disagree - it's nowhere near the top 5 in any category I can think of, outside "hilliest." I grew up in Sturgeon Bay, WI, and it was "the biggest shipbuilding port on the Great Lakes" for many years. It was also under 8,000 people and nowhere near a "top Great Lakes metro." Though it's much nicer than Duluth/Superior! Lake Superior simply doesn't have a major metro. Good call throwing a new name in the hat, but I don't believe it qualifies.
This thread is a disaster anyway, because people keep including Chicago and Canadian cities, which the OP specifically asked not be included. As well as cities several hours away from a Great Lake.
I guess. I personally think calling Kansas City, St. Louis, Louisville, Cincinnati, and Altoona "Great Lakes" city is ridiculous, though. An argument can be made for Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, and Columbus since they are all within 2-3 hours of a Great Lake. I also don't know why they didn't include Syracuse.
Yeah LOL at KC being a Great Lakes city. In the time it'd take to get to the closest lake (southwestern tip of Lake Michigan/Chicago) one could also be in Denver or Dallas.
If you're talking about true great lakes cities (i.e. cities touching the great lakes, or in the great lakes watershed), my list would be as follows (excluding Chicago):
1) Cleveland - Great location for families. Economy is pretty strong, and improving. Lots of nice suburbs with good schools, such as Shaker Heights. 3 sports teams, including the newly Lebroned Cavs, the Johnny Footballed Browns, and Terry Francona's Indians. Great Downtown, lots of kids activities, GREAT parks (Cuyahoga County Metroparks and Cuyahoga Valley National Park are some of the nicest urban nature parks in the country), plus Lake Erie for water activities and going to the beach.
2) Milwaukee
3) Detroit
4) Buffalo
5) Rochester, NY
Minneapolis, Colombus, Cleveland, Pittsburgh are all great cities within driving distance of Great Lakes. I'm not gonna include Detroit as it's really run down and the metro isn't good anymore.
Oakland County, MI is one of the 50 richest counties in the United States in terms of median household income, and that's despite having over 1,000,000 residents. Yeah, the city of Detroit is a wreck, but that doesn't mean the entire metropolitan area is.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Classy Sassy
Nobody has mentioned Duluth-Superior. That is the largest U.S. metro on Lake Superior. The metro population is 250,000.
That's why I didn't mention it, because I listed the major metropolitan areas, which have populations over 1,000,000. It's the same reason I didn't mention Green Bay, Toledo, Erie, or any Michigan metropolitan area other than Detroit either, though Grand Rapids will be the next major metropolitan area in the region.
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Great Lakes Metros
