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.
What in your opinion are the Top 10 state capitals areas (metro suburbs/exurbs/sister cities included) in terms of vibrancy, amenities, culture, things to do etc?
My top 10
1)Boston
2)Atlanta
3)Phoenix
4)St. Paul
5)Austin
6)Denver
7)Nashville
8 tie)Sacramento
8 tie) Columbus
8 tie) Salt Lake City
Obviously the bigger cities would win on these categories, so I'll just list the ones I find most interesting, or that I think are pretty good on these categories relative to their size.
1. Charleston, WV
2. Atlanta, GA
3. Olympia, WA
4. Santa Fe, NM
5. Honolulu, HI
6. Helena, MT
7. Providence, RI
8. Madison, WI
9. St. Paul, MN
10. Albany, NY
1- Boston
2- Santa Fe
3- Nashville
4- Annapolis
5- Honolulu
6- Salt Lake City (only for skiing)
Places not on that list but are OK for a business trip
St Paul
Denver
Austin would require a flux capacitor set back 20 years. It’s too congested now.
I’m 35 minutes to Providence. I wouldn’t go there at all if it weren’t for proximity. The gentrified part is OK and I use Providence Place occasionally.
I’ve never been to Madison.
Obviously the bigger cities would win on these categories, so I'll just list the ones I find most interesting, or that I think are pretty good on these categories relative to their size.
1. Charleston, WV
2. Atlanta, GA
3. Olympia, WA
4. Santa Fe, NM
5. Honolulu, HI
6. Helena, MT
7. Providence, RI
8. Madison, WI
9. St. Paul, MN
10. Albany, NY
In that category, I'd also place Annapolis, Md., in the top 10.
Annapolis, however, is not a metropolitan center but a suburb: its county, Anne Arundel, is in the Baltimore MSA, and you can even travel between Annapolis and Baltimore on a Maryland Transit Administration commuter bus route. Washington is only about 1-3 miles further away from Annapolis, too, depending on what roads you take to get to Baltimore*, and an MTA Maryland commuter bus route connects those as well.
The city itself is charming as all-get-out, with a fairly lively downtown centered on its harbor, from which you have a great view of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. It'd be a perfect place to live for someone who wants easy access to a big city and urban amenities close at hand without actually living in a big city.
*The road distance between Baltimore and Annapolis is shorter using MD 2, but the trip is faster using the nation's shortest 2-digit Interstate, I-97, which connects the two cities.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
8,134 posts, read 7,586,619 times
Reputation: 5796
Quote:
Originally Posted by MarketStEl
In that category, I'd also place Annapolis, Md., in the top 10.
Annapolis, however, is not a metropolitan center but a suburb: its county, Anne Arundel, is in the Baltimore MSA, and you can even travel between Annapolis and Baltimore on a Maryland Transit Administration commuter bus route. Washington is only about 1-3 miles further away from Annapolis, too, depending on what roads you take to get to Baltimore*, and an MTA Maryland commuter bus route connects those as well.
The city itself is charming as all-get-out, with a fairly lively downtown centered on its harbor, from which you have a great view of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. It'd be a perfect place to live for someone who wants easy access to a big city and urban amenities close at hand without actually living in a big city.
*The road distance between Baltimore and Annapolis is shorter using MD 2, but the trip is faster using the nation's shortest 2-digit Interstate, I-97, which connects the two cities.
Yea this thread is becoming misleading to be honest, this is the biggest outlier because Annapolis truly is equidistant to both DC and Baltimore, it just has to belong to one of the two metros, but really serves the same purpose to both, and Annapolis is still part of the greater CSA. You can't justifiably say that someone in Annapolis doesn't have equal access and opportunity to all of metro DC or Baltimore. The three cities are each setup in almost equal distance in the shape of triangle.
My rankings are:
1. Annapolis meaning (Baltimore-Washington or the Washington-Baltimore metro region, 3rd largest in the country)
2. Atlanta
3. Boston metro area
4. Phoenix
5. St. Paul
5. Nashville
6. Honolulu
7. Salt Lake City
8. Austin
9. Sacramento
10. Raleigh
Last edited by the resident09; 09-29-2021 at 02:20 PM..
Obviously the bigger cities would win on these categories, so I'll just list the ones I find most interesting, or that I think are pretty good on these categories relative to their size.
1. Charleston, WV
2. Atlanta, GA
3. Olympia, WA
4. Santa Fe, NM
5. Honolulu, HI
6. Helena, MT
7. Providence, RI
8. Madison, WI
9. St. Paul, MN
10. Albany, NY
What's notable about Charleston, WV?
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.
