Is Memphis a major city? (Paris, Louisville: live in, law, stores)

[golden eagles fan]

Memphis is a city of over 650,000, with a metro of over 1.3 million. With that in mind, would you consider Memphis a major city? I haven't seen a strict definition of a major city, but there's a decent-sized airport, a major pro sports franchise, a tourism base, conventions and a top-50 (or close to it) media market. At the same time, Memphis seems somewhat small-townish. What do you think?

[Salmonista]

I have lived in Washington DC and Seattle. By comparison, Memphis doesn't seem very "major" to me. Yes, we have an airport but it's hard to get anywhere without making a connection. We don't have the same retail/chain stores like other big cities do. The sprawl is what gets to me. The city limits are ridiculous - Memphis is over 300 square miles. Everything is so spread out here that it sometimes feels like long strings of strip malls rather than a coherent city.

[mattec]

I'd consider Memphis to be major. Its one of the largest cities in the country in area and top 25 in population. It also has global name recognition and the largest cargo airport in the country.

[BamaDave]

I live in the Birmingham area, and although metro Birmingham is just a little behind metro Memphis in population, Memphis just feels significantly bigger to me. Of course the city of Memphis has three times the population of the city of Birmingham, but Birmingham has a lot more independent suburbs where most people live.

[NewNashville]

Nope!

[MetropolitanTN]

I personally think so.

[trevorbirchett]

Originally Posted by NewNashville

Nope!

I don't see why not, but then again it doesn't help when you don't explain your reasoning. We're the 23rd largest city in the United States (ahead of Boston, Baltimore, and Atlanta, which are obviously considered major cities). Even counting metro-population, we're 42nd, ahead of New Orleans, Louisville, and Salt Lake City.

To me personally, anything over 350,000 people is a large, major city. Obviously we fit the bill.

[knucklehead_vol]

Who cares? Culture is what ithe is about.

[det2011sb]

A couple of points, when talking about city size one should not use the city limits population when discussing the "practical" population.

To put it another way, say I'm a Fortune 1000 company, and I'm looking to open a regional office. What metric more accurately describes the region's population the MSA or city limits size?

Thus, while Memphis has a larger city limits population than either Atlanta or Boston, no one in their right mind would consider Memphis to be a "larger" city than either of those cities

Now going back to your original question, "Is Memphis a major city?" It's a vague question. This is such a hard question that I don't know how to answer. So, I'm going to rephrase it, "What is Memphis' relative cultural, political, economic influence/mindset relative to other cities?"

Let's begin by comparing the population of Memphis to other similarly sized cities

In MSA population (this is the one that counts NOT CITY LIMITS), Memphis is below Greenville, SC (40), Oklahoma city (39), and Grand Rapid, MI (38). So, would one consider any of these "major" cities (rhetorical question).

Now, Memphis has a unique cultural heritage, a surprisingly larger corporate presence relative to its population, and a very strong presence in the healthcare industry. Thus, the city's cultural/economic/political influence may or may not be higher than its population relative to other cities.

So, interestingly enough there have been think tanks that have tried to grade cities. The most famous one is the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.

From Wikipedia:
"Alpha++ cities are London and New York City, which are vastly more integrated with the global economy than all other cities.
Alpha+ cities are the eight cities that complement London and New York City by filling advanced service niches for the global economy. Examples are Tokyo and Paris.
Alpha and Alpha- cities are the 13 and 22 cities, respectively, that link major economic regions into the world economy. Examples of Alpha cities are Chicago and Mumbai while examples of Alpha- are Seoul and Johannesburg.
Beta level cities are the 78 cities that link moderate economic regions into the world economy. Examples are Bangalore (Beta+), Ho Chi Minh City (Beta) and Guatemala City (Beta-).
Gamma level cities are the 59 cities that link smaller economic regions into the world economy. Examples are Zagreb (Gamma+), Glasgow (Gamma) and Nantes (Gamma-).
High Sufficiency level cities are the 41 cities that have a high degree of accountancy, advertising, banking/finance, and law services so as not to be dependent on world cities. Examples are Southampton, Edmonton and Belo Horizonte.
Sufficiency level cities are the 84 cities that have a sufficient degree of services so as not to be obviously dependent on world cities. Examples are Florence, Phnom Penh and Madison"

So, Memphis is a sufficiency city. Nashville is also a sufficiency city. Hartford (with similar population, but maybe because of financial importance) is a high sufficiency city. Milwaukee and Cincinnatti are amma cities

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/world2012t.html

[USERXXXX]

Originally Posted by golden eagles fan

Memphis is a city of over 650,000, with a metro of over 1.3 million. With that in mind, would you consider Memphis a major city? I haven't seen a strict definition of a major city, but there's a decent-sized airport, a major pro sports franchise, a tourism base, conventions and a top-50 (or close to it) media market. At the same time, Memphis seems somewhat small-townish. What do you think?

Used to be until 1950..