What are comparable cities in 'feel' and 'size' to Little Rock? (North Little Rock: neighborhoods, live in)

[Tiger Beer]

What are comparable cities in 'feel' and 'size' to Little Rock?

The reason I'm asking is, is for one, I've never been to Little Rock. For two, I always had the impression that Little Rock is a somewhat decent size capital city.

But, I think I've read a reference here or there, that Little Rock is more comparable to say Shreveport or Mobile...in size and in feel.

I hope that's not insulting to anyone, just trying to get a feel for your city of Little Rock. What would you compare it to, and in what ways?

[Rock Climber]

I think the city core of Little Rock is comparable to Shreveport in size (number of buildings, "urban area", etc) only, but the metro is a lot larger with more wealth and amenities than Shreveport. Shreveport is a smaller metro than Northwest Arkansas. Little Rock's metro is approaching 800k people while Shreveport is around 450k.

There is a lot more wealth and redevelopment in downtown Little Rock than Shreveport, too. The central core city of Little Rock is around 200k people, but North Little Rock, which is a separate city, is just across the river from downtown and comprises another 60k or so people.

I think Little Rock seems larger than it is, due to it being the center of state govt and having large, well established suburbs as well as a thriving downtown area. It has a rather impressive skyline for a city its size, too.

I'd put Little Rock slightly south of Tulsa or Birmingham. Certainly its closer to those two than it is to Shreveport or Jackson, IMO.

[LordHelmit]

LR is pretty small. It doesn't even have 200k people yet. I live in the 6th largest city in North Carolina and it has more pops than LR. BUT. It does feel kind of big. Mostly because it's the capital...not much to do though, really. I'd also compare it to Birmingham and Tulsa, maybe Des Moines as well.

[ajsalim123]

Its a smaller Austin, Tx, Okc , or Memphis. It has one of the bigger downtowns, for its size, in America. Ive been all over America, more than once, as a truck driver, its better most cities, but it lacks extra entertainment, which hurts its appeal to most non outdoormen. Its has beautiful neighborhoods and suburbs, and the city is beautiful as a whole. Its very family oriented. Its liberal more than most people would think. It has all the shopping of a dallas or Memphis. Ive moved back to little Rock from ATL. I love the Food, and its becoming a foodie city, more so than Memphis. Its definitely a getaway city, more so than a vacation spot, unless your in to the outdoors. Its very Underrated more than it should be, because its compared to so many big cities that are within a 5-6 hour drive. Its an Outdoorsman City, because its near so many mountains, lakes, plains, swamps, wetlands, woods, cabins, lodges, resports, etc. Of all big and midsize cities in the middle of the U.S. it goes a different route more than you would think. Its Unique and not as laid back as others, but its been call the Southern Gem. . Its a great weekend getaway though.

[North Pulaski Player]

The Little Rock area is much closer in feel to Oklahoma City and Birmingham than it is to somewhere like Shreveport or Jackson. The Little Rock Metro is very fractured, so the population of Little Rock proper is very misleading. Little Rock proper is only 200k but the metropolitan area is over 800,000(which includes the totally separate city of North Little Rock). Little Rock is also the social and economic hub of the whole state due to its central location and with it being the capital city. I know that it is tempting to want to compare LR to places like Jackson, Mobile, or Shreveport due to the population of the cities on their own, but Little Rock is on a level beyond those places. Tulsa, OK has a larger population than Atlanta, so just think about that for a minute.......

[Lawrence74]

I would say Little Rock is comparable to a city of 300k because of Little Rock , north little rock, Jacksonville are all in the same county.

[JoninATX]

Little Rock is more comparable to cities that have similar population like, Albuquerque, Omaha, and Tulsa I would say. Also all 4 metropolitan areas including Little Rock are at or just shy of a million people.

[fpsbob]

I would also say Tulsa. I've been there several times in my car and it feels similar to Little Rock.

[bjrush]

For culture, Memphis or Jackson

For size, thats easily googleable

[Rock Climber]

Originally Posted by HessenGmB

LR seems a bit of no man's land in identifying the real cultural aspects IMHO.

It has deep south influences, but its not wholly deep south in outlook or culture? If that's what you mean, I agree with that. Most of Arkansas has that happening. Its a transitional state between the deep south and the west, IMO. As far as cultural influences go, Arkansas occupies the same cultural space that it occupies on a map - between W. Tennessee/Mississippi and Texas/Oklahoma.