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I'd consider pretty much any city over 1 million in MSA population to be a major city. Especially cities that were historically larger like New Orleans, Memphis, Louisville, Birmingham, Richmond, etc.
I would say Independent cities of over 1,000,000, For Example Providence, RI I would consider less major than Buffalo despite being 50% bigger. Buffalo is considered "the city" in a region of 2,000,000+ and exerts an influence over Rochester, Elmira, Erie etc. while Attleboro, MA doesn't feel like a Providence suburb.
I would say Independent cities of over 1,000,000, For Example Providence, RI I would consider less major than Buffalo despite being 50% bigger. Buffalo is considered "the city" in a region of 2,000,000+ and exerts an influence over Rochester, Elmira, Erie etc. while Attleboro, MA doesn't feel like a Providence suburb.
Major-ness based on what counts for residential presence of national-level elites, meaning the people you read about being in charge of things in the media, other than in the sports pages.
Major-ness based on what counts for residential presence of national-level elites, meaning the people you read about being in charge of things in the media, other than in the sports pages.
Smallest major: Boston.
Largest non-major: Phoenix.
Nah. By this logic (which I don't subscribe to), wouldn't Omaha be the smallest major?
I'd approach this in two tiers. BIG Cities, or Alphas, and Mid Size Cities, or what a majority of Americans would consider going to the "Big City" (museums, pro sports, etc.). Smallest city that seems to exhibit "Alpha" (not good or bad, but Alpha), characteristics to me would be Seattle. Largest city that doesn't would be Detroit. That's not a knock on Detroit as I might prefer living in it to Seattle. But something about the metro just feels calmer/not as fast paced by a significant margin than cities above it. I'd say the same way about Minneapolis (that it feels more midsize), but of course, that metros population is smaller than Detroit's. As per largest metro that doesn't feel midsized, I'd say it'd have to be Inland Empire, but that's too easy and it almost feels like an extension of sub/ex urban LA, so largest actual one like that might perhaps be Hampton Roads area? and Smallest one that exhibits characteristics and acts/feels like a midsize city (ones above it) would be IMO, Buffalo.
I'd say forget stats for a question like this. Anybody can look up numbers and draw a line. Seems this is an opinion question based on perception.
I'd say the largest major city I consider "small" is Indianapolis. I know its population is up there and it has tons of sports, etc, but it feels pretty small for a major city.
The non-major city that feels the biggest to me is Louisville. When you take I-65 south and cross the Ohio, there appears to be a major skyline along it that feels like a pretty massive city. Also, driving into Louisville feels like you are hitting a big place. I was shocked to see it had only 253,000 people in the city proper and 1.2M in the metro.
I would say Independent cities of over 1,000,000, For Example Providence, RI I would consider less major than Buffalo despite being 50% bigger. Buffalo is considered "the city" in a region of 2,000,000+ and exerts an influence over Rochester, Elmira, Erie etc. while Attleboro, MA doesn't feel like a Providence suburb.
As a resident of Erie, PA, I can honestly say no one in the Erie area, looks to Buffalo as "the city". Buffalo may be less than two hours away but I think everyone in Erie County (PA) can agree that it is it's own region. We may be at the center of the Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh triangle but we are our own city.
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