Best way to compare city/metro size

[NigerianNightmare]

[quote=bfmx1;56333931]

Originally Posted by btownboss4

Yeah I agree, they're pretty much spot on. But some are not indicative of the larger area and what benefits being so close to that larger area might bring.

Here's you another example..

I think Birmingham AL is "better" than Tulsa because its proximity to Atlanta and Nashville (although very separated...2.5 or 3 hr drive). Both are similar sized metros... but one benefits from being closer to other nearby metros, the beach, mountains, etc.

But you'd never know that by looking at MSA numbers.

I think Winston Salem is "better" than Birmingham because of its proximity to other metros, but you'd never see that with MSA, but you WOULD see that with radius.

Your conflating bigger with better. Geneva, Switzerland is a small town by all metrics in the U.S, yet the only U.S cities comparable to it are San Diego/Phoenix/Seattle and up in amenities. Geneva isn't even that clsoe to many major cities either it just packs a massive punch. The same can be said about Canadian cities. Toronto punches pretty high above it's weight and while it has things like Hamilton area and smaller 500,000-ish metros in the periphery, it's not a significant population gap from Dallas to Houston to Philadelphia radius wise, it's just built differently even though metro wise it is smaller than Houston and Dallas.

[bfmx1]

[quote=NigerianNightmare;56334328]

Originally Posted by bfmx1

Your conflating bigger with better. Geneva, Switzerland is a small town by all metrics in the U.S, yet the only U.S cities comparable to it are San Diego/Phoenix/Seattle and up in amenities. Geneva isn't even that clsoe to many major cities either it just packs a massive punch. The same can be said about Canadian cities. Toronto punches pretty high above it's weight and while it has things like Hamilton area and smaller 500,000-ish metros in the periphery, it's not a significant population gap from Dallas to Houston to Philadelphia radius wise, it's just built differently even though metro wise it is smaller than Houston and Dallas.

Agree, and again, this is where there's not a perfect metric to determine "better". This thread started with assumption that more population generally means more "stuff", more "opportunity", more "options".

It in no way takes into account the actual quality of: landscape, demographic, economic prowess, etc.

And, neither does MSA.