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I would say columbus oh is the smallest biggest city i been in. Really seems like a small town but its a big city. And ill say charleston sc is a small town but feels like you are in a place much bigger than it is. It has alot of amminites as a big city
Portland does not really seem like a big city. Some say it seems more like a large town. Still, the city's population is only about 65k. Maybe some of the pictures above will give an idea why Portland, while not seeming like a really big city, still always impresses me as looking and feeling substantially larger than it is.
Most likely, one reason that Portland always comes to mind first when I think of cities that look and feel bigger than they are is that the first time I saw Portland, about fifteen years ago, when I saw how much more of a city Portland looked like than I had expected based on its population, this was the first time that I began to consider the effect of metro area population on the apparent size of a city. Because I associate Portland with that moment of epiphany, this little city always stands out in my mind when I think about this matter of why cities seem large or small. The Portland metro area population is approx. 500k, not huge but still large enough so that Portland serves a much larger population than the relatively small numbers within its official city limits would indicate. The presence of the number of buildings, stores, and facilities, and the infrastructure to support a population of several hundred thousand is most likely the reason that Portland seems bigger than the large town that its city-proper population would lead one to expect.
Portland is mostly jutted out on that peninsula. What's there has to be dense because there's not much space. I was very impressed with it as well.
Nine pages and only one (from what I saw) mention of Oklahoma City?
Population (2013)-610,613
Metro-1,459,758
It's the biggest small town in the US. Nearby Tulsa, with a population of around 400k, feels more happening than OKC
This is spot on. I would say it feels like a city of 150,000 with a metro of about 500,000. Wichita, Amarillo, and maybe Little Rock or even Springfield MO are good comparisons. Omaha, Tulsa, and Albuquerque are a notch above OKC. It's true peers i.e. Memphis, Louisville, and Richmond feel a good 2-3 tiers above OKC. It really is mind-blowing how far OKC punches below its weight. Phoenix is a good large city comparison but it is also large enough to have a decent amount of amenities even if it isn't quite on the level of other 4 million metros.
Last edited by bawac34618; 05-13-2016 at 09:59 AM..
This is spot on. I would say it feels like a city of 150,000 with a metro of about 500,000. Wichita, Amarillo, and maybe Little Rock or even Springfield MO are good comparisons. Omaha, Tulsa, and Albuquerque are a notch above OKC. It's true peers i.e. Memphis, Louisville, and Richmond feel a good 2-3 tiers above OKC. It really is mind-blowing how far OKC punches below its weight. Phoenix is a good large city comparison but it is also large enough to have a decent amount of amenities even if it isn't quite on the level of other 4 million metros.
Phoenix may not be up to the level of its peer cities but it does not feel like a "rural/small" big city.
This is spot on. I would say it feels like a city of 150,000 with a metro of about 500,000. Wichita, Amarillo, and maybe Little Rock or even Springfield MO are good comparisons. Omaha, Tulsa, and Albuquerque are a notch above OKC. It's true peers i.e. Memphis, Louisville, and Richmond feel a good 2-3 tiers above OKC. It really is mind-blowing how far OKC punches below its weight. Phoenix is a good large city comparison but it is also large enough to have a decent amount of amenities even if it isn't quite on the level of other 4 million metros.
However, one reason I would live in OKC over any of those above metros: the Thunder. I can't watch Durant/Westbrook in any of those other markets.
Phoenix may not be up to the level of its peer cities but it does not feel like a "rural/small" big city.
I think if Phoenix was as small as OKC, 1.4 million people, it would feel similar. However, its about three times that size and that really helps it feel a little more like a city. Phoenix has many of the same problems OKC does. OKC just doesn't have the population to be able to compensate for its issues.
Tucson is a "small" big city to a T. Haven't been to any other city that has felt this way before.
Phoenix is a "big" big city.
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