Population required to be a "real city"? (metro, areas)

[mancat100]

My hometown of 25,000 people is officially a "city of the third class" according to the state of PA.

PA has one "city of the first class" which is Philadelphia.

They are both cities.

[dmk24]

400,000 city proper
1,500,000 metropolitan area

[nashvols]

Originally Posted by dmk24

400,000 city proper
1,500,000 metropolitan area

Is this an 'and/or'?

Otherwise Minneapolis, Cleveland, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, etc don't make the cut. And cities like New Orleans don't meet either metric.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by Caesarstl

Pedestrian-centric is hipster and recent??? Have you ever left the US???

Truth

[Mike1306]

City of Weeki Wachee, population about 8, I have heard of smaller cities though

[urbanmyth]

I can think of cities with less than 100,000 people that are more like "cities" than "cities" with 500,000 people.

[kgartm1185]

Town - Under 150,000
Small City - 151,000-350,000
Medium City - 351,000-800,000
Large City - 801,000-1,800,000
Huge City - 1,801,000-18,000,000
New York Sized City - 18,001,000-Above

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by bchris02

When it comes to small cities, there is sometimes a debate over what is a "real city" or simply a large town. What is your definition and what is the smallest a place can be (metro population) to be considered a real city?

Just to be safe I'm going to say 8.24 million people...

[gwillyfromphilly]

Originally Posted by Deezus

Just to be safe I'm going to say 8.24 million people...

Then only three US cities/metro areas would qualify.

[annie_himself]

Originally Posted by gwillyfromphilly

Then only three US cities/metro areas would qualify.

That's how half of CD feels.