Best Downtowns Among Smaller Cities (living, economy, largest, compared)

[Mighty Joe Young]

Originally Posted by IowanFarmer

Not sure where you cut off "small" but Des Moines and Omaha have great downtowns.

Omaha is a 1 million population metro and Des Moines is basically 750,000-800,000. I wouldn’t consider either “small”.. they’d Both land in that mid major 750,000 to 1.5 million population category..

Having said that, I’d consider a metro under 750,000 or 500,000 in population as small. But that’s me.

[rowhomecity]

This is the range you can measure for cities/metro area categories...

Micro Metropolitan Areas: 100,000 - 250,000

Small Metropolitan Areas: 250,000 - 550,000

Small/Medium Metropolitan Areas: 550,000 - 850,000

Medium Metropolitan Areas: 850,000 - 1,500,000

Medium Large Metropolitan Areas: 1,500,000 - 2,500,000

Large Metropolitan Areas: 2,500,000 - 4,500,000

Major Metropolitan Areas: 4,500,000 - 7,000,000

Mega Metropolitan Areas: 7,000,000 +

I cannot find the direct link (BEA website is not pleasant to navigate). But it kind of all falls within that range based on BEA data.

[mjlo]

Originally Posted by rowhomecity

This is the range you can measure for cities/metro area categories...

Micro Metropolitan Areas: 100,000 - 250,000

Small Metropolitan Areas: 250,000 - 550,000

Small/Medium Metropolitan Areas: 550,000 - 850,000

Medium Metropolitan Areas: 850,000 - 1,500,000

Medium Large Metropolitan Areas: 1,500,000 - 2,500,000

Large Metropolitan Areas: 2,500,000 - 4,500,000

Major Metropolitan Areas: 4,500,000 - 7,000,000

Mega Metropolitan Areas: 7,000,000 +

This is your own personal scale? As I read it the OP doesn't specifically define what they consider to be a "small city".

[rowhomecity]

Originally Posted by mjlo

This is your own personal scale? As I read it the OP doesn't specifically define what they consider to be a "small city".

It is an estimation based on BEA data on Metro and Micro politan areas across the USA.

It is not the direct link from BEA. But an estimation I made based on the scale of metros and cities if you analyze BEA data on metro and micropolitan areas across the USA.

[mjlo]

Originally Posted by rowhomecity

It is an estimation based on BEA data on Metro and Micro politan areas across the USA.

It is not the direct link from BEA. But an estimation I made based on the scale of metros and cities if you analyze BEA data on metro and micropolitan areas across the USA.

I'm pretty sure the BEA just considers any MSA over 1 million residents as large.

[rowhomecity]

Originally Posted by mjlo

I'm pretty sure the BEA just considers any MSA over 1 million residents as large.

Here is a link to the map. They include less than 1,000,000 as part of an MSA area.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...C_Feb_2013.gif

[mjlo]

https://www.bls.gov/web/metro/laulrgma.htm

According to this a "large metropolitan area" is any metro 1 million or more. There is no official government classification the way you have it bracketed.

[westsaeed]

Spokane WA is decent.

[rnc2mbfl]

Originally Posted by As Above So Below...

I recently had to go to Greenville, SC. I had no expectations of the city since Id never been there so I went in with an open mind. I was completely blown away by Downtown Greenville. One of the finest downtowns Ive ever been to! I could have spent three days there and not been bored.

Im wondering, what other small cities in the US have amazing downtowns.

I'm giving you a rep point for simply using "among" instead of "between".

[MarcBetrus]

Ann Arbor, Michigan