Smaller Cities with Urban Big City Bones (50,000 to 200,000) (best, ranking, building)

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by isawooty

St. Augustine, and Pensacola in Florida
Savannah, and Columbus in Georgia
Montgomery in Alabama
I would say Chattanooga, but it's just like most metros in SC and NC in that (when all things are considered) they're really 750k-1 million metros in reality-- and not the 467,986 or 598,334 (random numbers) sized MSAs as recorded by the census. CSAs give the Carolina MSAs massive boosts imho. More so than what you see in neighboring southern states.

Lexington, KY falls under the same umbrella as Chattanooga. I'm missing someone. Who is it?

What do you mean that the metros are really 750k-1 million? Metropolitan areas are based off of commuting patterns.

I guess in a similar respect, a lot of Northern cities could be viewed as having more people, as they have suburbs that would be within the city limits if they were in the South or in certain states in other regions. For instance, Greenville SC and Syracuse NY have essentially the same square mileage, but one has about 63,000 people and the other has about 145,000 people(about 75,000 below peak). Utica NY has as many people within city limits as Greenville in its city limits. So, metro and/or perhaps urban area populations are probably the indicators of the size of an area.

[Kingsley]

Lancaster, PA's small city urbanity would surprise most people.

[oobanks]

Originally Posted by isawooty

St. Augustine, and Pensacola in Florida
Savannah, and Columbus in Georgia
Montgomery in Alabama
I would say Chattanooga, but it's just like most metros in SC and NC in that (when all things are considered) they're really 750k-1 million metros in reality-- and not the 467,986 or 598,334 (random numbers) sized MSAs as recorded by the census. CSAs give the Carolina MSAs massive boosts imho. More so than what you see in neighboring southern states.

Lexington, KY falls under the same umbrella as Chattanooga. I'm missing someone. Who is it?

I can agree with all but Columbus Ga, it just doesn't feel like a city with a population straddling 200,000 and doesn't have much of a Skyline.. It seems more like consolidated land

[PortCity]

Originally Posted by HumpDay

It does. It's probably the only city in America that is under 200k AND has 3 buildings over 500 feet. Actually it's probably the least populated city in America that has a building over 500 feet. I may be wrong at that though. As some just mentioned, it's only 18 square miles but if Hartford's annexes East Hartford and West Hartford then it has over 250,000 people which isn't that small.

Some what true.My city is under 200k and we have a 700 + foot skyscraper.

[Drewcifer]

Duluth, MN is another one. When it was first settled it was expected to become a major city so it was built out in dense late 19th century form. Development came to a halt with the depression and never started back up so the city is like a time capsule of old school Midwestern urbanism.

[DinsdalePirahna]

I second Charleston, West Virginia

[Grizzly Addams]

Duluth, MN. I was too late.

[Sharks With Lasers]

State College, PA. They don't have any skyscrapers or anything, but with the transit system and importance of the university makes it feel bigger than a borough of about 40K and a metro area of about 160K.

[oobanks]

I think Augusta, GA used to Qualify for this back in the Early 90's. It had right around 50,000 before it Consolidated with Richmond County. Now it Straddles right around 200,000 which looks pretty much Correct for a City it's size if not a little over done a bit.

[Kar54]

Salt Lake City:

City proper: 191,180
MSA: 1,153,340
CSA: 2,423,912