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Drive through Pennsylvania on the Interstates and you might not believe it's pushing 13,000,000 people, because most things are hidden behind the trees.
I think that's true of most Eastern metros. You don't see much more than trees and sound barriers along the NJ Turnpike until you reach Exit 12.
Yeah I agree, especially when you compare the city proper. Philly used to have a population of 2.1 million people in its city proper while Atlanta has yet to reach 500,000 people. They're really not on the same level when it comes to sheer size.
Comparing the Philly CSA with the Atlanta MSA would be a more better comparison if you want a more fairer match up when it comes to land size.
Philly MSA: 5,131.7 sq. miles
Philly CSA: 7,281.52 sq. miles
Atlanta MSA: 8,376 sq. miles
Atlanta CSA: 10,494.03 sq miles
As you can see, the Philly area reaches a population of over 7.1 million people in a land area smaller than the Atlanta MSA at 5.2 million. Philly is really on a different level when it comes to population. Throw in Mercer County "224.56 sq mi" (which should technically be in the Philly CSA) and the gap grows even larger to about 7.5 million "7,506.08 sq. mi" vs 5.2 million "8,376 sq. mi". That's a 2.3 million difference. A population difference almost the size of Chicago.
Atlanta's MSA population is 5.5 million and the CSA is 6.1 million and growing. Atlanta will surpass Philly in population eventually.
Atlanta's MSA population is 5.5 million and the CSA is 6.1 million and growing. Atlanta will surpass Philly in population eventually.
I wouldn't count on it because those CSA counties will most likely join the Philly MSA when the new OMB designations are released in the next decade. Either way, those two cities are not on the same level when it comes to population as my previous post clearly showed that. The Philly area has over 2 million more people in a land area smaller than the Atlanta MSA.
Using 2010 census data and radius-based measurements:
Philly
3 miles: 450,456 in 26 sq. miles
5 miles: 910,052 in 71 sq. miles
10 miles: 2,157,587 in 295 sq. miles
25 miles: 4,657,679 in 1906 sq. miles
45 miles: 6,844,639 in 6151 sq. miles http://mcdc.missouri.edu/cgi-bin/bro...ops=on&_debug=
Atlanta
3 miles: 154,431 in 28 sq. miles
5 miles: 300,120 in 78 sq. miles
10 miles: 859,752 in 314 sq. miles
25 miles: 3,386,824 in 1940 sq. miles
45 miles: 5,175,967 in 6243 sq. miles http://mcdc.missouri.edu/cgi-bin/bro...ops=on&_debug=
Philly is quite a bit bigger/more densely built. No slight to Atlanta, it just is what it is. And I think it felt that way when I visited Atlanta recently.
Atlanta just has more land area. The MSA and CSA are basically two times larger than Philly respectively in land area.
It's easier to fit more people in a larger area, but once an area gets to a certain density level development wise, growth rates slow. That's the way it is. We're seeing it in the Northeast, in LA, and in Europe.
Atlanta is still a young city, but I think it's a stretch to say it will keep growing at a fast pace for much longer. Eventually it is going to slow, especially since the younger generations are favoring denser, more walkable urban areas. The question is, when it hits it's decline period, which every city does at some point in it's life, will it be able to keep the infrastructure intact with the low density sprawled out tax base? Probably not.
The growth rates of Atlanta are far superior than anything Philly can produce. I think several Southern metros will surpass Philly (Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and Miami) in due time. The South is where the growth is at, has been and more than likely will always be.
Of course, Southern metros have been going through a pronounced growth spurt over the past several decades, but to think this growth will not eventually level-out or would not ever re-shift to another region is just silly.
In fact, there are many signs that Atlanta and Miami have both hit a more mature growth phase:
At the very least, what the recession proved is that growth in the Sun Belt is definitely not a given or an afterthought. People can change their migration habits very quickly and easily, and quite frankly no one can predict the future with great certainty.
I think Atlanta feels larger at the MSA level. Philly obviously feels like and is a larger city, and it is a larger MSA. But so much is concentrated in its core that it doesn't drag you out to all tarnation like Atlanta's metro does.
Atlanta's entire metro consists of 12-20 lane highways clogged with traffic going in all directions (which to me lends itself to a "big* TX city/LA feel). Philly does not have this feature.
Atlanta's skyline is much "sparser" and stretched out than Philly's, but overall, Atlanta and its metro have considerably more tall high rises, and literally interspersed everywhere. A highway 6 miles north of Midtown Atlanta, which is 1-2 miles north of Downtown Atlanta, tunnels under another separate skyline with 40-50 story buildings. And then in another 5 miles is another skyline of 30-40 story buildings.
The metro just goes on and on and on forever. Philly's just doesn't feel as "massive" in that sense. But CC Philly is no comparison for Midtown/Downtown Atlanta. CC Philly feels like Manhattan compared to the CBD of Atlanta. However, the growth story and the amount of new high rise construction in Atlanta's CBD (combined with the already present 50+ story condo/apartment towers spread around the 3 largest of Atlanta's skylines) gives it a pretty large/cosmopolitan feel, and it will eventually fill in over the next few decades to the extent it can. It can't really spread out much more than it has...
This is not to say I wouldn't rather live in Philly, personally, but Atlanta feels more like a larger metropolis and Philly feels more like a larger city. Just my take.
Last edited by JMT; 12-20-2014 at 12:24 PM..
Reason: Houston is not part of this thread.
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