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I never trust visitor stats. International visitor stats seem to be the most reliable, but total visitor stats are always wayyyy over the map. San Francisco only gets ~16 million total visitors a year according to its equivalent of a CVB or Chamber of Commerce, yet somehow cities like San Antonio get 2-3x as many (anyone who has been to both would undoubtedly expect SF to have many times more tourists based on how many tourists are covering its sidewalks all over the city at any given time of the year). Anecdotally, from visiting lots of cities, there is nothing, *nothing*, that will convince me that Baltimore, a city that most people I know have never been to and have no reason go and frankly have nothing positive to say about, receives more tourism than our nation's capital, which is also a *MUCH* larger city with *FAR MORE* things to do and places to see. Not trying to knock Baltimore, but please people, be careful when throwing out big numbers you don't know much about...measuring tourism is not as cut and dry as taking a Census, and it's actually easier to track the internationals than it is to track someone driving in for a day or weekend leisure trip from somewhere relatively nearby.
I mean, the Inner Harbor has the National Aquarium and some other notable places, but the Mall has the Lincoln Memorial, Reflecting Pool, WWII Memorial, MLK Memorial, Cherry Blossom Festival, the Smithsonian, Washington Monument, Capitol, etc. It's hard to believe the Inner Harbor would be anywhere close in visitor numbers.
I mean, the Inner Harbor has the National Aquarium and some other notable places, but the Mall has the Lincoln Memorial, Reflecting Pool, WWII Memorial, MLK Memorial, Cherry Blossom Festival, the Smithsonian, Washington Monument, Capitol, etc. It's hard to believe the Inner Harbor would be anywhere close in visitor numbers.
Looks like there's a bunch to *see* at the National Mall vs more to *do* at the inner harbor.
I never trust visitor stats. International visitor stats seem to be the most reliable, but total visitor stats are always wayyyy over the map. San Francisco only gets ~16 million total visitors a year according to its equivalent of a CVB or Chamber of Commerce, yet somehow cities like San Antonio get 2-3x as many (anyone who has been to both would undoubtedly expect SF to have many times more tourists based on how many tourists are covering its sidewalks all over the city at any given time of the year). Anecdotally, from visiting lots of cities, there is nothing, *nothing*, that will convince me that Baltimore, a city that most people I know have never been to and have no reason go and frankly have nothing positive to say about, receives more tourism than our nation's capital, which is also a *MUCH* larger city with *FAR MORE* things to do and places to see. Not trying to knock Baltimore, but please people, be careful when throwing out big numbers you don't know much about...measuring tourism is not as cut and dry as taking a Census, and it's actually easier to track the internationals than it is to track someone driving in for a day or weekend leisure trip from somewhere relatively nearby.
There's probably more people living within driving distance of San Antonio. I think that is what keeps SF numbers a little low; not many people within driving distance to visit.
I never trust visitor stats. International visitor stats seem to be the most reliable, but total visitor stats are always wayyyy over the map. San Francisco only gets ~16 million total visitors a year according to its equivalent of a CVB or Chamber of Commerce, yet somehow cities like San Antonio get 2-3x as many (anyone who has been to both would undoubtedly expect SF to have many times more tourists based on how many tourists are covering its sidewalks all over the city at any given time of the year). Anecdotally, from visiting lots of cities, there is nothing, *nothing*, that will convince me that Baltimore, a city that most people I know have never been to and have no reason go and frankly have nothing positive to say about, receives more tourism than our nation's capital, which is also a *MUCH* larger city with *FAR MORE* things to do and places to see. Not trying to knock Baltimore, but please people, be careful when throwing out big numbers you don't know much about...measuring tourism is not as cut and dry as taking a Census, and it's actually easier to track the internationals than it is to track someone driving in for a day or weekend leisure trip from somewhere relatively nearby.
When did DC become a much larger city than Baltimore? Metro, yes, but City....No. I'm almost certain that Baltimore is the most underrated city in the country. Even people from Baltimore are unaware of what goes in here...very sad. Baltimore is still more urban than Seattle tho, the structural density didn't drop off since Baltimore's population peak of just under a million. Seattle has yet to hit those numbers, and yet to hit Baltimore's urbanity.
When did DC become a much larger city than Baltimore? Metro, yes, but City....No. I'm almost certain that Baltimore is the most underrated city in the country. Even people from Baltimore are unaware of what goes in here...very sad.
DC's city population only recently passed Baltimore's (shortly after the 2010 census) and the growth rate for DC continues to be greater than Baltimore's. Not much larger right now, but just a smidge. Moreover, DC is doing it in a smaller physical area, so has higher density overall. If you wanted a more apples to apples comparison, you can look at the census tracts and make a glob of contiguous tracts to compare.
I can understand that perspective for sure. In terms of the raw numbers, Seattle and Baltimore are very similar (per wikipedia, Seattle data is 2014, Balitmore is 2013):
Seattle population change since 1990: +152,000
Baltimore population change since 1990: -114,000
run the population density numbers in a few years, and the gap will be even greater
This whole debate is ridiculous. Baltimore isn't even in the top 15 for household density per sq mile, and has less office space than edge cities like Stamford and Tyson's Corner. At best, it's comparable to Cleveland, but it's nowhere near the top 10 urban locations in the country.
I never trust visitor stats. International visitor stats seem to be the most reliable, but total visitor stats are always wayyyy over the map. San Francisco only gets ~16 million total visitors a year according to its equivalent of a CVB or Chamber of Commerce, yet somehow cities like San Antonio get 2-3x as many (anyone who has been to both would undoubtedly expect SF to have many times more tourists based on how many tourists are covering its sidewalks all over the city at any given time of the year). Anecdotally, from visiting lots of cities, there is nothing, *nothing*, that will convince me that Baltimore, a city that most people I know have never been to and have no reason go and frankly have nothing positive to say about, receives more tourism than our nation's capital, which is also a *MUCH* larger city with *FAR MORE* things to do and places to see. Not trying to knock Baltimore, but please people, be careful when throwing out big numbers you don't know much about...measuring tourism is not as cut and dry as taking a Census, and it's actually easier to track the internationals than it is to track someone driving in for a day or weekend leisure trip from somewhere relatively nearby.
I never trust visitor stats. International visitor stats seem to be the most reliable, but total visitor stats are always wayyyy over the map. San Francisco only gets ~16 million total visitors a year according to its equivalent of a CVB or Chamber of Commerce, yet somehow cities like San Antonio get 2-3x as many (anyone who has been to both would undoubtedly expect SF to have many times more tourists based on how many tourists are covering its sidewalks all over the city at any given time of the year). Anecdotally, from visiting lots of cities, there is nothing, *nothing*, that will convince me that Baltimore, a city that most people I know have never been to and have no reason go and frankly have nothing positive to say about, receives more tourism than our nation's capital, which is also a *MUCH* larger city with *FAR MORE* things to do and places to see. Not trying to knock Baltimore, but please people, be careful when throwing out big numbers you don't know much about...measuring tourism is not as cut and dry as taking a Census, and it's actually easier to track the internationals than it is to track someone driving in for a day or weekend leisure trip from somewhere relatively nearby.
When did DC become a much larger city than Baltimore? Metro, yes, but City....No. I'm almost certain that Baltimore is the most underrated city in the country. Even people from Baltimore are unaware of what goes in here...very sad. Baltimore is still more urban than Seattle tho, the structural density didn't drop off since Baltimore's population peak of just under a million. Seattle has yet to hit those numbers, and yet to hit Baltimore's urbanity.
Yes city too. Apparently you've missed the boat on that one.
DC: 658,893 as of 2014 (growing at a more significant rate than Bmore) and pop density of 10,528 ppsm.
Bmore: 622,104 as of 2013 (sluggish growth rate) and pop density of 7,671.5 ppsm.
So yes, I'd say DC is not only the larger metro area but also the larger CITY and it will only continue to experience steady leaps in population growth.
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