What do you think is the minimum size a typical city needs to be to have everything you need? (Home Depot, neighborhoods)

[Aelius]

At what point is a city usually large enough that you can go, say, a whole year or more without ever needing to drive to a larger city to access some product, service, amenity, etc.? When assessing population for the purposes of this question, count the entire contiguous urban population of a "city", not simply within its arbitrary legal boundary. Perhaps a rule of thumb might be: if someone unfamiliar with the area can drive through multiple adjacent "cities" without realizing they've technically changed "cities", it probably counts as one for this purpose. e.g., Fresno+Clovis, Buffalo+Cheektowaga+Tonawanda, Austin and its northern suburbs, etc.

Try to answer for yourself, or at least for a typical individual, rather than imagining every conceivable instance in which someone, somewhere might need to drive to a bigger city.

Bonus question: what are some examples of products/services/amenities that a city below that threshold might not have, and which might require driving to, say, a large metro area?

Some examples I can think of are:

* niche specialty boutique stores that just don't have enough of a market to be profitable in a mid-sized city. e.g., There are no Microcenter stores anywhere between St. Louis and Kansas City.
* certain rare medical specialists
* a nearby airport
* a national league sports team with a stadium
* Costco/Sam's Club
* Home Depot

[TheTimidBlueBars]

I think I'd just get bored living in a smaller city. Even in Seattle, after a couple years there I felt like I'd seen most of what I wanted to and was getting kind of antsy. But for the purpose of the thread, I'll think of what amenities I would actually need, if I were going to live somewhere for exactly a year and never leave during that time.

- Walmart
- One or two cafes with Wi-Fi (can be Starbucks)
- A few non-chain restaurants of different nationalities (Chinese, Indian, Mexican)
- A bank
- A basic auto repair shop
- Maybe a couple bars for some decent unstructured conversation

That's about it. I'm in my late 20s, single, no kids. All of this stuff can be found in pretty much any micropolitan area (10k-50k) these days. I "lived" in Aberdeen, WA (pop. 17k) for a week once when I needed to clear my head --- just rented a cheap motel, hung out around town, explored the neighborhoods, tried out the restaurants. Was relaxing. Didn't feel I was missing anything.

[Pavlov's Dog]

It depends so much on an individual's needs and preferences. Different cities of the exact same size and isolation can have radically different offers. A tiny metro area like San Luis Obispo or Bend would suit me fine. I can see myself in those towns and the surrounding nature for a year without getting bored or antsy. Put me in much larger Wichita or Dayton OH and I would probably feel trapped within a month.

[SteelCityRising]

I chose 100,000. My "must haves" include at least one Target (I hate Walmart), at least one Starbucks (I do prefer local coffeeshops but sometimes do crave a frappuccino), at least one Lowe's (I worked there for years and prefer it to Home Depot), at least two full-service grocery stores (for price competition), gas stations, pharmacies, medical offices, banks, florists, etc. Most metropolitan areas in this country with at least 100,000 people have at least one of all of the above. I don't personally need off-Broadway shows, headline concerts, minor-league or professional sports, or fancy museums to feel satisfied. I would be happiest in a place like Winchester, VA, for example, that is a small metropolitan area with a lot of amenities that is an easy day-trip or overnighter to larger cities nearby (DC, Baltimore, Pittsburgh). I would prefer at least one college or university in the metro area, too, for when I do get the itch to see a theater production or a choral concert or a track meet or something.

I currently live in Pittsburgh (~2,500,000 in the metro area), and it can feel overwhelming and stressful at times.

Come to think of it, I might be happiest living in the smallest metro area in the country that still has a Target. Does anyone know where that is? I am guessing it would be in the Upper Midwest since Target's HQ's is in Minneapolis, and there seems to be a better Target-to-Walmart ratio in that part of the country as a result. Then again Wheeling, WV is a pretty small metro area and still has both Starbucks and Target, so I might not even have to move that far away to get a breather from the rat race while still having what I want/need, and Wheeling also has minor-league sports and colleges.

[sub]

^Sturgeon Bay, WI has a Target and a Starbucks inside of it.

[FL_Expert]

A city the size of Asheville, NC or Greenville, SC would suffice. However, it would be really nice to have an ikea which you normally get with a 2-3m metro.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by sub

^Sturgeon Bay, WI has a Target and a Starbucks inside of it.

Thank you. Wow. That's impressive! All of Door County only has ~30,000 people, and the majority seem to live in/near Sturgeon Bay. The area is growing but is growing slowly, too, so it is unlikely to become expensive or congested anytime soon. I would imagine it is crowded during the summer months with tourists, but otherwise you could probably do your Christmas shopping or go out on a Friday night in March to a restaurant and not have to worry about waits/crowds. Seems like a good option.

[BuffaloHome]

I am happy as a lark in my little micropolitan area which is anchored by an urban area hovering around 50,000. So I voted for 50,000. It was 44,000 the last time that urban areas were defined so it will likely be over 50,000 whenever that's updated.

Anyway, I think it's right at that sweet spot where we have all the amenities I like but without the traffic, crime, and higher taxes & prices of larger areas. We have around 300 restaurants including a surprising number of ethnic (Halal, Hawaiian, Vietnamese, Thai, Indian, Venezuelan, Caribbean, Korean, Filipino, Greek, Japanese, homemade Mexican paletas, and Mexican and French bakeries, and others). We have all the retail I need: Sam's Club, Publix, Lowe's, Home Goods, Academy Sports, an Asian grocery store, a Cajun seafood market, all organic year-round farmers markets, and a new shopping center on the way with Target and Home Depot (and supposedly also a Costco but that might just be wishful thinking). Four Starbucks and a plethora of local coffee shops including a Cuban café, another one where the owner, a Guatemalan, left upstate NY and moved here with his coffee roasting business for the more favorable financial environment and roasts his own coffee beans from his family farm back in the mountains of western Guatemala, and another coffee shop that employs only people with disabilities. This is the kind of town where even though there are a half dozen or so coffee shops within one block of each other downtown, they all cooperate and support each other.

We also have a professional symphony, a performing arts center with over 200 performances a year including a marvelous outdoor pavilion with free concerts and Shakespeare plays, several craft beer breweries, a couple of wineries, and a (modest) bus system. We also have 10 gig internet which is almost unheard of in smaller towns. And we're only an hour from the Nashville airport.

I have absolutely no need to live in a larger city, and living in a smaller area would mean I probably wouldn't have some of the creature comforts I've come to expect.

[scorpio516]

Originally Posted by sub

^Sturgeon Bay, WI has a Target and a Starbucks inside of it.

Mt Pleasant, MI does too. 21,000 population. It's not in a MSA.

Because it's a college town, it's got a lot more amenities than most 20k cities

[BostonBornMassMade]

100,000

maybe 200,000 in more sparsely populated areas of the country. And thats only because of the airport and medical specialists.