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For purposes of this thread, Mid Sized is defined in the 1-3 Million range (MSA). I have traveled and lived extensively and have found that this size range seems to be one category in real life, although City Data life tries to act like there is some massive difference in mid sized metros. The ranking is fairly objective in that I went to the Tripadvisor main page for each city and saw the number of things to do listed, then ranked for each CITY based on OBJECTIVE NUMBER OF THINGS TO DO ON TRIPADVISOR. To me, these cities fit in groups and many of this correlates with actual tourism data. Let's have a civil discussion of the most surprising cities. Look at the tripadvisor "things to do" thing for your city. If something major was left out, let me know.
Portland 509
Vegas 507
Orlando 504
New Orleans 412
Austin 384
Tucson 334
San Antonio 313
Denver 299
Saint Louis 296
Nashville 288
I would definitely put Pittsburgh up there with Portland and would definitely put Las Vegas ahead of Portland. Matter of fact I would barely put Portland in the top 10.
Is this based off of city proper? If so, this can skew things given the difference in terms of city boundaries. For instance, even though it is in its metro area and is about 16 miles away, Niagara Falls isn't included in the Buffalo list. So, that is something to consider.
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 08-14-2019 at 08:12 AM..
Another point, even the BEA and different fed organizations consider cities at 2 million to be "large" cities, in a different class, so it isn't just CD Land. So if someone was to accept TripAdvisor's list as authoritative, it would break down like this:
2-3 million (17 cities)
Portland
Vegas
Orlando
Austin
San Antonio
Denver
St. Louis
Cleveland
Baltimore
Cincinnati
Charlotte
Pittsburgh
Sacramento
Indianapolis
Kansas City
Columbus
San Jose
I don't have alot of qualms with this. Pittsburgh is way, way, way too low. I find it hard to believe any city Pittsburgh's size actually has more going on, but I guess it's also dependent on the looseness of a "things to do" criteria. For sure, I wouldn't put Cleveland, Baltimore, or Charlotte ahead of Pittsburgh by any stretch. Sacramento should be more firmly in the middle than closer to the end of the pack...
1-2 million (18 cities)
New Orleans
Tucson
Nashville
Louisville
Jacksonville
Milwaukee
Richmond
Salt Lake City
Memphis
Buffalo
Raleigh
Rochester
OKC
Virginia Beach
Providence
Birmingham
Grand Rapids
Hartford
This isn't that bad, either. I'm calling BS on Tucson having more things to do or being a more captivating place than every city besides Nola. I mean, really? I have a sister in Tucson and haven't made it out yet, but I'm not buying this high of a ranking at all...
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