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Status:
""...I wrote it down, now I follow thru...""
(set 10 days ago)
Location: North Raleigh x North Sacramento
5,748 posts, read 5,506,702 times
Reputation: 7021
The Five Tier South, 2017
Tier 1
Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Miami
Tier 2
Charlotte, Tampa, Orlando
Tier 3
Austin, Nashville, New Orleans
Tier 4
Richmond, Louisville, Raleigh, San Antonio
Tier 5
Birmingham, Jacksonville, Oklahoma City, Memphis
Room for variation here, but I think there is a clear seperation between Tiers 2 and 3. I think there is a very thin gap between Tier 3 and 4. I put New Orleans in Tier 3 but there is debate that some of the top-end Tier 4 cities could be Tier 3 if New Orleans is. It definitely isn't Tier 2...
I'm sorry. I disagree with Tampa in tier 1 and I disagree with the tier 1a thing. Also, if you're going to put Northern VA in there, you might as well put DC in tie 1 and call it a Southern city. Tier 1a is another way of saying that they are near the same level as the tier 1 cities and I don't see that.
Tier 1 in no order
Houston
Atlanta
Dallas
Miami
DC (if you're going to include NOVA)
There really isn't anything close to these cities
Tier 2
New Orleans
Charlotte
San Antonio
Fort Worth
Tampa St-Pete
Orlando
Tier 3
Austin (tho very close to tier 2)
Jacksonville
Memphis
Nashville
Raleigh (also very close to tier 2)
Tidewater/Hampton Roads area
and a few more.
How is San Antonio a Tier 2 city but Austin is not a Tier 2? Ask most any Texan and they will say that the three most economic influential and important cities for the state are DFW, Austin, and Houston. San Antonio is sort of like the black sheep of the bunch and is only 200k more people but the GDP per capita of Austin is much higher, and now tourism is larger in Austin than San Antonio. Austin is also a MAJOR tech city with an amazing skyline, world-class music festivals, and the circuit of America! San Antonio really can't compete. Also Fort Worth stand alone away from Dallas is misleading IMO. Sure it has a major economy, but that is driven because of Dallas being next door. And if we are just looking at Tarrant County as the FW economy, much of the eastern portion are the wealthier Dallas bedroom communities and aren't necessarily tied to the Fort Worth economy (I'm looking at you Colleyville, Grapevine, Southlake).
DC (Is not Southern nor is it Northern, mid-atlantic and that is that) Delete from list.
There really isn't anything close to these cities (Agreed) Miami's saving grace is tourism otherwise...
Tier 2
New Orleans
Charlotte
San Antonio
Fort Worth (Indeed It's own city and rightfully in tier 2)
Tampa St-Pete
Orlando
Tier 3
Austin (tho very close to tier 2) No sports teams, and infrastructure are holding them back form tier 2
Raleigh-Durham (also very close to tier 2) (agreed) (All the right pieces now that light rail has been funded, just needs time, also the most educated of all of the cities pound for pound)
Nashville (also close to tier 2)
Jacksonville
Memphis
Tidewater/Hampton Roads
Richmond
Tier 4
Charleston (Gold star for charm and uniqueness)
Savannah (Gold star for charm uniqueness)
Oklahoma City
Birmingham
Tulsa
Winston-Salem
Little Rock
Huntsville
Forth worth should be grouped with Dallas, and Dallas is not really tier one if it doesn't include Ft. Worth.
DC is thoroughly Northern, and you can argue that Richmond and Hampton Roads are too.
How can you have Winston Salem without having Greensboro? And Huntsville shouldn't even Be on the list without having louisville, Greenville, Asheville and Chattanooga.
Metro tiers are based on objective data and growth trends of PSAs. Tier 1 is over 5M. Tier 2 is between 3 and 5M. Tier 3 is between 2 and 3 million. Tier 4 is between 1 and 2M.
Populations for now are projected based on 2015 PSA population estimates plus 1-1/2 years of annual growth based on the average 2010-15 growth rates. Variations of green indicate growth rates with the darker greens indicating those with the fastest growth rates and the lighter greens indicating slower growing metros. Metros that are basically stagnant are indicated by grey. I am determining stagnant to mean .25% growth rate or less per annum. Interestingly, the largest metros also tend to be the faster growing with the most rapid growth rates of any group are the ones between 2 and 3 million. By absolute numbers, the big boys keep piling on the largest numbers.
Florida has two fast growing upstarts on its west coast and are anomalies in terms of growth rate compared to the other tier 4 metros.
And this is all opinion especially since we didn't select any cities like 10 from each state or something to sort. We also didn't set any sort of criteria. Some seem to be doing it on population some on economic output some on global importance. I put Tampa up at the top because its a great metro of over 4 million people. I just can't see putting a metro of 4 million people in the same grouping as metros of around 2 million people. If I left in a Tier 1a thing I would've put Tampa there but I didn't see the need to have a sub tier for 1 city.
I think people often overlook just how big Tampa Bay Area is but Tampa Bay Area is over 4 million. New Orleans for example is just over 1 million. Orlando is just over 2 million as is Charlotte.
You should check your data again. tampa's msa population is 2.9 in 2015 and Charlotte's was 2.4 million. I agree that New orleans is only slightly over 1 million and is growing slowly. It can only compare as a tourist destination.
Forth worth should be grouped with Dallas, and Dallas is not really tier one if it doesn't include Ft. Worth.
DC is thoroughly Northern, and you can argue that Richmond and Hampton Roads are too.
There is no way Fort Worth should be in tier 2. Only someone from Dallas or Fort Worth would think that.
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