Which one of the BIG 4 in the South has the most potential to be a megacity

[HtownLove]

Originally Posted by scrantiX

Same trends until 2020

NYC 23,369,989
LA 19,922,636
Chicago 10,124,061
DC 10,024,091
The bay 8,419,090 (the bay)/9,213,476 (Stockton incl.)/9,768,619 (Stockton and Modesto incl.)
Dallas 8,291,977
Boston 7,979,070
Houston 7,452,073
Philadelphia 6,819,723
Miami 6,619,535
Atlanta 6,555,601
Detroit 5,100,000
Seattle 4,899,682
Phoenix 4,896,377
Minneapolis 4,012,462

NYC and LA are already megacities and its obvious that Chicago and DC are next in line then the Bay. The final members will be Dallas and Houston no doubt.

If your having Stockton and Modesto, can I have Beaumont and College Station? That would be about a plus 650K and passed Boston in your list

[scrantiX]

Originally Posted by HtownLove

If your having Stockton and Modesto, can I have Beaumont and College Station? That would be about a plus 650K and passed Boston in your list

Stockton actually has met the requirements and its the next frontier for bay area affordability on realestate. I personally would never consider living there but the people that do only care about their daily access into the bay. It's what Riverside and San Bernardino are to LA, except Stockton and Modesto are smaller and less developed for now. Modesto is still another 10 years away from making it into the bay's discussion but that's why I included three numbers for the bay from the start.

[KodeBlue]

Originally Posted by HtownLove

DC might not, but I said the DC Balt area will:


I think the in fill around these cities will push the region to 10M

That would disqualify DC then. Or make Baltimore a mega city

[tablemtn]

Geneva is one of the world's global cities, and it has a metro of well under a million people, so size IS NOT everything.

You're right that a city does not need to be a "mega"-city in order to be a "global" city. But "megacity" in its traditional sense has always meant a metro area of at least 10 million people. It's possible to have a megacity which is not a global city - Kinshasa in the DR Congo is close to 10 million, if not there already, but it is a rather parochial place without much presence on the "global" scene.

Another complicating factor is that American Census CSAs/MSAs are not direct measurements of urban area population. They are based on commuting patterns, among other things. So, a true "metro area" population estimate is usually the Census number minus a certain number of other areas (or in the case of Philadelphia, plus Trenton...). That's why the Los Angeles CSA comes out above 18 million, but a more realistic estimate would trim off Lancaster/Palmdale, Victorville, Palm Springs/Palm Desert/Indio, Oxnard/Ventura, and a few other places, and end up closer to 16 million.

Anyway, the Geneva-Annemasse (France) metro area has around 1.3 million people. Even among smaller global cities, there probably is a modern threshold of at least a million people or so before the city can support its global status.

[NDak15]

I remember years ago seeing article stating that Atlanta was one of the best places for college grads to move to. I'm not sure if it still is, but if it's doing well than maybe that one. Just a thought. I've only been to the airport.