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.
Memphis does have a lot of rural and suburban areas with in its city limits. I hear Oklahoma City is the same way. Btw, culturally Memphis has a very "small town" local culture when it comes to religion, work ethic and general outlook on life.
I also agree Atlanta does not feel like a top 10 MSA outside of the huge skyline.
Nashville feel like it's a new city but it isn't as urban as other cities in the midwest and on the coast. Lots of empty space in the boundaries.
I disagree and i doubt you've ever been to Greenville, Clarksdale, Greenwood. Memphis feels like it's own city in TN.
That poster you’re refuting is from Memphis and has relatives in Mississippi IIRC, so he may have a very different experience from yours.
I’ve been to all three of the towns you’ve mentioned plus I’ve been to other parts of Tennessee, and Memphis feels a lot more like Mississippi than cities in Middle and East Tennessee. It’s right north of the Mississippi Delta and across the river from the Arkansas Delta region, and it’s not all that different from its surrounding region. While there’s a southern urban feel to the city, it definitely feels like a big version of a country Delta town, even though it’s a city of 650,000 and has a metro area of 1.3 million. Since TN is at least 500 miles long from Memphis to Bristol, the state spans multiple regions of the South. West Tennessee is firmly in the Delta while East TN is in Appalachia.
Also, I lived in Jackson, MS for a decade or so, and visited Memphis quite a bit, and it feels like a bigger version of Jackson culturally. My friends from Jackson who have relocated to the Memphis area call it a “Big Jackson” and some of my college friends from Tupelo and other parts of NE MS notice the similarities between the two. Lots of people from TN and MS joke that Memphis is in North Mississippi.
Memphis does have a lot of rural and suburban areas with in its city limits. I hear Oklahoma City is the same way. Btw, culturally Memphis has a very "small town" local culture when it comes to religion, work ethic and general outlook on life.
I also agree Atlanta does not feel like a top 10 MSA outside of the huge skyline.
Nashville feel like it's a new city but it isn't as urban as other cities in the midwest and on the coast. Lots of empty space in the boundaries.
Portland, Maine is the state's biggest city with a population of 66,000+. So, as far as city's are concerned, it is small. It's Metro area serves over 500,000+. When you are in downtown Portland in the shopping district and the wharf area, it feels bigger than a city of 66,000. However, it's skyline would suggest otherwise and befits it's city population.
My perception of Boston has changed. Obviously as a child, Boston was 'the big city' and even my first few years of trips into Boston as an adult it felt huge. After visiting New York City, my perception of Boston shifted to befit the big category, but not huge.
Experiencing all areas of each city does help with perspective immensely.
Baton Rouge overall does feel very suburban even though there's over 200,000 in the city and over 800,000 in the metro area. There's nothing here as dense as the pictures on this thread from Portland, Maine or what I saw in Lancaster, Pennsylvania both of which are far smaller. Lancaster has many row house neighborhoods while most of Baton Rouge's housing stock even inside the city is single family homes. Downtown Baton Rouge's skyline isn't much larger than Charleston, West Virginia though this is a significantly larger city.
Some of the outlying suburbs, like parts of Denham Springs, Central and Prairieville have a somewhat rural character. The suburbs west of the Mississippi definitely have a more small town feel and in some spots you can see sugarcane fields in the front and the state capitol in the background.
That poster you’re refuting is from Memphis and has relatives in Mississippi IIRC, so he may have a very different experience from yours.
I’ve been to all three of the towns you’ve mentioned plus I’ve been to other parts of Tennessee, and Memphis feels a lot more like Mississippi than cities in Middle and East Tennessee. It’s right north of the Mississippi Delta and across the river from the Arkansas Delta region, and it’s not all that different from its surrounding region. While there’s a southern urban feel to the city, it definitely feels like a big version of a country Delta town, even though it’s a city of 650,000 and has a metro area of 1.3 million. Since TN is at least 500 miles long from Memphis to Bristol, the state spans multiple regions of the South. West Tennessee is firmly in the Delta while East TN is in Appalachia.
Also, I lived in Jackson, MS for a decade or so, and visited Memphis quite a bit, and it feels like a bigger version of Jackson culturally. My friends from Jackson who have relocated to the Memphis area call it a “Big Jackson” and some of my college friends from Tupelo and other parts of NE MS notice the similarities between the two. Lots of people from TN and MS joke that Memphis is in North Mississippi.
I live in the Memphis metro, and I mostly agree with this. It feels more like some combination of eastern Arkansas and northern Mississippi than a part of Tennessee.
There are also parts of Memphis that feel very “quiet” compared to other cities/metros of similar size.
I live in the Memphis metro, and I mostly agree with this. It feels more like some combination of eastern Arkansas and northern Mississippi than a part of Tennessee.
There are also parts of Memphis that feel very “quiet” compared to other cities/metros of similar size.
I'd say Little Rock, Memphis, and Jackson all share this cultural tie and that it's distinct from the rest of Tennessee. I've always felt Jackson and Little Rock were cousins and that Memphis was a larger combination of them both.
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.
