Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Similarities: Both city names start with "Ph" and they both have all 4 major sports franchises.
Other:
Philadelphia has about a 200 year jumpstart on Phoenix as city. I believe Philadelphia has been a top five largest city up until now.
Phoenix didn't crack the top 10 until around 1980.
Phoenix is absolutely on a growth tear not only with population, but construction development. Downtown is finally seeing the development it should have .. soon to be about 20 cranes across downtown building high-rises. Also tons of development in surrounding closely connected cities (Tempe and Scottsdale). There are zero signs of any slowing, but we'll see what the future holds.
I think of Phoenix as a 5yr old that wears size 13 shoes. It has a lot of catching up to do with its "size", but it is evident it's working on it.
I think Phoenix will retain the 5th most populous ranking, but I don't really think that matters much.
I think Philly is a great city, but I much prefer living in Phoenix because I like the newness, the outdoor activities/environment, and the sunnier weather. Yes, the summers are brutal, but at least 8 months out of the year are great in my opinion. To each his own.
Last edited by theTelecommuter; 01-13-2021 at 02:19 PM..
Philly is more of a World Class city but Phoenix is most definitely set to pass Philadelphia in Population if it hasn't already. That alone puts Phoenix in rare company.
To be a top 5 US city in Population is a great feat.
And Philadelphia has already been #1 in population. Its also 1 of only 5 US cities to reach a population of 2 million. Been there, done that. Philly is still a top 5 city in everything but city population.
Phoenix is close to Philly's size in metro, but in terms of amenties, etc. Philly wins by a ton.
CoL: Phoenix somewhat (Philly is decently expensive but not crazy so for where it's situation).
QoL: Depends on preferences; I'd argue Phoenix, but good arguments for Philly too.
Suburbs: Philly (Scottsdale is nice though)
Geographic Proximity: Philly
Transportation: Philly
K-12: Probably Phoenix, but tough one
Higher Ed: Philly
Economy: Probably Phoenix, but very different economies; difficult to compare
Arts/Culture: Philly by a lot
Things to Do: Philly
Shopping: Phoenix by a little
Sports: Philly easily
Food/Restaurants: Philly by a bit
Outdoors: Phoenix by a bit
Climate: I'd argue Phoenix, but neither are super
Crime: Phoenix by a hair
Downtown: Philly
Scenery: Phoenix, although outside of Center City, Philly gets decent
Phoenix is close to Philly's size in metro, but in terms of amenties, etc. Philly wins by a ton.
The Philly CSA population is over 7.2Million, the Phoenix CSA population is just a bit over 5Million making the Philly area about 44% larger. That's not really very close.
Similarities: Both city names start with "Ph" and they both have all 4 major sports franchises.
Other:
Philadelphia has about a 200 year jumpstart on Phoenix as city. I believe Philadelphia has been a top five largest city up until now.
Phoenix didn't crack the top 10 until around 1980.
Phoenix is absolutely on a growth tear not only with population, but construction development. Downtown is finally seeing the development it should have .. soon to be about 20 cranes across downtown building high-rises. Also tons of development in surrounding closely connected cities (Tempe and Scottsdale). There are zero signs of any slowing, but we'll see what the future holds.
I think of Phoenix as a 5yr old that wears size 13 shoes. It has a lot of catching up to do with its "size", but it is evident it's working on it.
I think Phoenix will retain the 5th most populous ranking, but I don't really think that matters much.
I think Philly is a great city, but I much prefer living in Phoenix because I like the newness, the outdoor activities/environment, and the sunnier weather. Yes, the summers are brutal, but at least 8 months out of the year are great in my opinion. To each his own.
The age between the two is the most important factor. Do we really expect Phoenix to have the same rail infrastructure, urban amenities, culture as a city 2 centuries older? Or historic architecture? For a long time there was no Western US. If we started the US with the way it is now, rather than the Manifest Destiny with western expansion, would Philadelphia be a big city still? I think Philadelphia would not have been, due to its proximity to other major cities in the region, and other cities in other parts of the US would be larger. Seattle would be bigger, somewhere in inland NW US (Idaho, Montana, eastern Washington/Oregon) there'd be another city. I think Denver would be bigger. The US Capitol I think would be somewhere in Kansas or nearby central in the Plains. Though I do believe Philadelphia would be significant, just not as big as it is now.
It's hard to ask a city that's in a state that's barely 100 years old, and still in double digits in age as a city (65k in 1940s for comparison so it wasn't a city until after this), to compete with a city double its age. Phoenix is fighting with rapid and significant growth spurts since the 1950s, almost tripling in some decades, and as a result can't keep up with demand. Philadelphia has had time to input amenities in communities that developed before they had them, or in areas with slower growth were able to do them simultaneously. Phoenix does not have this luxury, as instead they have to put in more basic infrastructure (roads, water mains, fire stations) rather than focusing on QOL for the plurality of subdivisions getting put here just to meet basic demand. Construction is faster now than it ever was in history. Phoenix is playing catch up in certain areas now.
Nonetheless, many of these things Phoenix fails to meet Philadelphia at are things Philadelphia had a benefit on, because history put a lot of cultural amenities like museums, education, etc. in the eastern part because again our country didn't go this far at the time. Philadelphia had a head start and we need to recognize that when making this comparison. You can still prefer Philadelphia of course, but at least recognize this privilege in terms of infrastructure, education, and culture especially.
I’m okay with change.Things most certainly can’t stay the same forever & it’s about time EastCoast cities clean up to rebuild! I vote Phoenix even though I’m New York to the soul>
I don't like the big sunbelt cities, their boring. Philly is a Real City, it may not be pretty but I'm ok with that, I vote for Philly
Hmmm. "A real city"
City= A city is a large human settlement.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
