Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
City limit size makes your point completely invalid.
Both are growing probably equally as fast, pretty much. Raleigh might look bigger in percentage because it's smaller, Charlotte bigger in raw numbers because city limits. But pretty much, both are growing fast.
Yes, Charlotte's land area is huge and is more than twice the land area of Raleigh city. Charlotte is actually 51st out of the 52 largest metros in terms of density. Raleigh isn't far behind at 47.
US Urban Areas as defined by the US Census Bureau:
Charlotte: 1,249,442 - only 50% of its total Metro Pop. - (1,685 per mile^2)
Raleigh: 884,891 - 68% of its total Metro Pop. - (1,709 per mile^2)
Durham: 347,602 - 62% of its total Metro Pop. - (1,913 per mile^2)
Why Raleigh and Durham are not in the same metro deserves it's own thread.
US Urban Areas as defined by the US Census Bureau:
Charlotte: 1,249,442 - only 50% of its total Metro Pop. - (1,685 per mile^2)
Raleigh: 884,891 - 68% of its total Metro Pop. - (1,709 per mile^2)
Durham: 347,602 - 62% of its total Metro Pop. - (1,913 per mile^2)
Why Raleigh and Durham are not in the same metro deserves it's own thread.
All of these numbers are pointless when Meck is the only NC/SC county above 2,000 ppl/sq mile. Check the 2016 census estimates and you'll find that Meck is actually more dense than Fulton county GA. North Fulton's history and Dekalb's proximity to Atlanta has a lot to do with this, but that's another thread.
Last edited by urbancharlotte; 05-03-2017 at 04:30 PM..
All of these numbers are pointless when Meck is the only NC/SC county above 2,000 ppl/sq mile. Check the 2016 census estimates and you'll find that Meck is actually more dense than Fulton county GA. North Fulton's history and Dekalb's proximity to Atlanta has a lot to do with this, but that's another thread.
What is pointless about facts? Charlotte metro holds the 2nd spot in the being the least dense metro area out of all Metros over 1 million (51 total). Charlotte's population is only 50% urban which is probably dead last.
What is pointless about facts? Charlotte metro holds the 2nd spot in the being the least desnse metro area out of all Metros over 1 million. Charlotte's metro area is only 50% urban which is probably dead last.
I'm not sure who made you angry, but I was just addressing some of the things you've stated. Also, Charlotte's urbanized area is 1 of 4 urbanized areas in metro Charlotte (UA Charlotte, UA Concord, UA Gastonia, and UA Rock Hill). Back in 2010, the links below show what these 4 looked like....
As of 2017, those 4 urbanized areas combined for nearly 2.2 million of metro Charlotte's residents. Due to the fact that Gastonia, Concord, and Rock Hill were previously established urban clusters, they still have separate naming rights (eventhough they all have grown into a shared border with UA Charlotte). Both Triangle UAs combine for just under 1.5 million as of this year.
Also, UAs are formed by counting all adjacent census blocks with densities above 1,000 ppl/sq mile. Here's what this means in terms of Charlotte vs the Triangle. Simply put, Charlotte has more suburbs surrounding its urban clusters. The Triangle has more non-UA-qualifying rural land surrounding its urban clusters.
As a result, the low density suburbs causes Charlotte's UA to be less dense than Meck county itself (that's because Charlotte has tons of low density suburbs outside of Meck). The large swaths of rural land in Wake county aren't dense enough to qualify as part of the UA; therefore they are not calculated. I'm certain that you knew this before posting right?
Here's the bigger issue (and the reason why I called your post pointless in the first place). The vast majority of Sunbelt urbanized areas are anything but urban. That goes for Dallas, Houston, Austin, Charlotte, Orlando, Raleigh and on down the line. When it comes to urbanized sunbelt midsized cities, it's all about the center city neighborhoods. And that my friend is where Raleigh comes up short when compared to Charlotte. Why is that the case? Several reasons. Economics, business climate, polycentric metro, population, and several other factors is why this is the case.
Both metros are growing and both are now being considered NC's so called big cities. I think some people in Charlotte are guilty of thinking that the gap between Charlotte and the Triangle is larger than what it really is. However, some folks in the Triangle thinks the gap is smaller than what it really is (some don't even think there's a gap at all).
I'll leave you with this one little fact. Metro Charlotte has a 600,000-plus advantage over metro Raleigh/Durham combined. Name me a peer of Charlotte that has 600,000 more people in its metro. When you can do that, then we can have a conversation about Charlotte being a peer of Raleigh (which is 60% of the aforementioned smaller metro that has 600k fewer people).
Last edited by urbancharlotte; 05-03-2017 at 07:19 PM..
I'm not angry. You replied to my post saying the numbers were "pointless" and then gave some senseless reason as to why you think the numbers are pointless.
I could care less about Raleigh being a peer to Charlotte. What I do care about is false statistics. I also find it entertaining that some people on here talk about Charlotte like it's the southern version of NYC, when in reality it's one of the least dense large cities in the country. There's nothing wrong with that at all, but let's get real here.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
