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.
It seems like a common refrain when comparing MSAs is that they vary significantly in size. Cleveland's MSA is less than 2,000 square miles (1,999.4 to be exact) whereas Phoenix's is 14,566.7 square miles. That's a huge difference!
But what would happen if we standardized it and tried to compare city sizes at fixed areas. This thread does that by using a 2,500 square mile benchmark.
The rules are simple. Starting with the center county, I'll adjacent counties (prioritizing those with higher density) until the area is 2,500 square miles, +-10% max deviation.
For counties that are themselves > 2,500 square miles, I'll use the Census Bureau's hidden weapon: Census County Divisions.
The end result should allow us to compare metro areas controlling for land area.
Because CCDs are hard to find, and not yet available for 2020 Census data, I'll be using ACS 2019 data.
BOSTON-PROVIDENCE
Bristol County, MA - 565,217 - 553
Essex County, MA - 789,034 - 493
Middlesex County, MA - 1,611,699 - 818
Norfolk County, MA - 706,775 - 396
Providence County, RI - 638,931 - 410
Suffolk County, MA - 803,907 - 58
CINCINNATI-DAYTON
Boone County, KY - 133,581 - 246
Butler County, OH - 383,134 - 467
Campbell County, KY - 93,584 - 151
Clermont County, OH - 206,428 - 452
Hamilton County, OH - 817,473 - 405
Kenton County, KY - 166,998 - 160
Montgomery County, OH - 531,687 - 462
Warren County, OH - 234,602 - 401
Good luck with West. Seattle's central county is mostly mountains and forest, but is around 2,000 square miles.
I'd suggest omitting the rural parts of even the central counties. But that wouldn't be fair to the East so maybe do the same there.
Yes, I'll chop out weird quirks like that. Another East Coast example is Miami, where a majority of the metro area is protected swampland. All of those will get surgically removed.
The biggest issue is that I'm starting with the center city and then adding counties based on density counts. If, during the course of adding counties, I go over 2,750 (+10% deviation), then I try to pull out the least dense land (see how I removed the farmland of northern Williamson to get it under 2,750).
And sometimes, like the Cincinnati example above, that means adding an entirely different metro to the counts. So Cincinnati becomes Cincinnati-Dayton since that's the most cohesively dense 2,500 square mile catchment area I can get.
DALLAS-FORT WORTH
Collin County, TX excl. CCDs of Anna, Blue Ridge, Celina, Farmersville, and Nevada - 935,921 - 339
Dallas County, TX - 2,635,516 - 872
Denton County, TX - only CCDs of Carrollton, Denton, Lewisville-Flower Mound, Pilot Point and The Colony - 794,432 - 455
Rockwall County, TX - 104,915 - 127
Tarrant County, TX - 2,102,515 - 864
DENVER
Adams County, CO excl. East Adams CCD - 507,302 - 303
Arapahoe County, CO excl. East Arapahoe CCD - 618,459 - 147
Broomfield County, CO - 70,465 - 33
Boulder County, CO - 326,196 - 726
Denver County, CO - 727,211 - 153
Douglas County, CO - 351,154 - 840
Jefferson County, CO - Northeast CCD - 485,555 - 167
Larimer County, CO - Berthould CCD - 14,115 - 58
Weld County, CO - Erie-Frederick CCD - 51,547 - 99
Weld County, CO - Johnstown-Milliken CCD - 33,904 - 151
TOTAL POPULATION - 3,185,908 Land Area: 2,677
Denver is also surprisingly high.
Last edited by manitopiaaa; 09-27-2021 at 07:05 PM..
DETROIT
Macomb County, MI - 873,972 - 479
Oakland County, MI - 1,257,584 - 867
Washtenaw County, MI - 367,601 - 706
Wayne County, MI - 1,749,343 - 612
Windsor city, ON - 235,428 - 57
HOUSTON
Fort Bend County, TX - Fulshear-Simonton CCD - 174,558 - 161
Fort Bend County, TX - Rosenberg-Richmond CCD - 109,201 - 205
Fort Bend County, TX - Stafford-Missouri City CCD - 160,829 - 84
Fort Bend County, TX - Sugar Land CCD - 303,793 - 95
Galveston County, TX - 342,139 - 379
Harris County, TX - 4,713,325 - 1,706
KANSAS CITY
Clay County, MO - 249,948 - 398
Douglas County, KS - 122,259 - 456
Jackson County, MO - 703,011 - 605
Johnson County, KS - 602,401 - 474
Leavenworth County, KS - Leavenworth City CCD - 36,064 - 24
Platte County, MO - 104,418 - 420
Shawnee County, KS - Tecumseh Township CCD - 7,781 - 33
Shawnee County, KS - Topeka City CCD - 125,318 - 61
Wyandotte County, KS - 165,429 - 152
Very interesting thread.
It's as close to apples to apples comparisons of development patterns we can get.
2500 sq miles is a good limit.
Information like this thread dispels exaggerated comments such as DFW is only big because it is 10,000 sq miles. It is clear from your data that most of that area is fluff.
Can't wait to see how many people the Bay Area squeezes in 2500 sq miles.
MEMPHIS
Crittenden County, AR - 48,672 - 610
DeSoto County, MS - 184,945 - 476
Shelby County, TN - 937,166 - 764
Tate County, MS - 28,404 - 405
Tipton County, TN - 61,447 - 458
MIAMI
Broward County, FL excl. Conservation CCD - 1,952,778 - 404
Indian River County, FL excl. Fellsmere CCD - 137,526 - 117
Martin County, FL excl. Indiantown CCD - 139,463 - 134
Miami-Dade County, FL excl. Everglades CCD - 2,710,289 - 970
Monroe County, FL excl. Cape Sable CCD - 74,209 - 123
Palm Beach County, FL excl. CCDs of Belle Glades, Glades, and Western Community - 1,428,291 - 591
St. Lucie County, FL excl. West St. Lucie CCD - 322,168 - 208
TOTAL POPULATION - 6,764,724 Land Area: 2,547
Extremely impressive numbers for Miami. The Everglades really do take away from just how dense the metro is.
MINNEAPOLIS-SAINT PAUL
Anoka County, MN - 356,921 - 422
Carver County, MN excl. Carter Township + New Germany City - 103,776 - 319
Dakota County, MN - 429,021 - 563
Hennepin County, MN - 1,265,843 - 554
Ramsey County, MN - 550,321 - 152
Scott County, MN - 149,013 - 356
Washington County, MN - 262,440 - 384
TOTAL POPULATION - 3,117,335 Land Area: 2,750 (exact max)
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.
