Cities that are a lot bigger or smaller than you thought they were

[Flint1979]

Providence, RI metro population: 1.67 million
Rhode Island total population: 1.1 million

That's because the whole state is basically Metro Providence, plus a county in Massachusetts that has about 600,000 people.

[KCRoadFan]

Norfolk used to be the largest city in Virginia, but was overtaken by Virginia Beach in the 1980s.

What is usual about that is Norfolk is considered to be the principle city of Hampton Roads since it's the most urban and is the only one with a real downtown. Virginia Beach is more of a suburb yet it's bigger. While we are on Virginia cities another one which I thought would be bigger is Roanoke. It's just over 100,000 yet they even have a little bit of a skyline unlike other cities of it's similar size like Rockford or Green Bay. I think that having a freeway going through the middle of it also gives it a bigger feel. That is something Rockford doesn't have. Even Lexington KY which has 3 times the population(which I would think also would surprise some) does not have.

I suppose "downtown" Virginia Beach would be the boardwalk, right? That is, after all, where most of the shops and restaurants are...

[KCRoadFan]

Miami, the main city of the sprawling South Florida region, has a population of only 440,000 - less than half the population of the state's largest city of Jacksonville, which comes in at more than 950,000 and rapidly approaching a million.

I can't believe no one on this thread has mentioned Miami until now! Looking at the map of Florida, it just seems like Miami should be a lot bigger.

[Flint1979]

Miami, the main city of the sprawling South Florida region, has a population of only 440,000 - less than half the population of the state's largest city of Jacksonville, which comes in at more than 950,000 and rapidly approaching a million.

I can't believe no one on this thread has mentioned Miami until now! Looking at the map of Florida, it just seems like Miami should be a lot bigger.

The city only takes up 36 square miles, pretty small area but huge metro area.

[roadman65]

The county Miami is in is the most populated in the state, yet Jacksonville, that is coextensive with Duval County, is not the most populated.  Jacksonville is the most populous city in Florida, but keep in mind Miami- Dade County consists of many other cities besides Miami.

[vdeane]

Providence, RI metro population: 1.67 million
Rhode Island total population: 1.1 million

Similarly:

NYC metro population: 23.6 million
NY state population: 19.84 million

[Flint1979]

Pinellas County is the most densely populated county in Florida. They have the population that Jacksonville does in a much smaller area. Jacksonville doesn't feel like a real city either, maybe the developed part of it close to downtown might but after you get out of the developed area there's still like 15-20 miles of Jacksonville left where it's pretty much nothing. Like how exactly does this area feel like you are in a city? https://www.google.com/maps/@30.2639317,-81.8864179,3a,75y,310.94h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s_h6iN0EGgktZJ0ffifzA3Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

[Ted$8roadFan]

Providence, RI metro population: 1.67 million
Rhode Island total population: 1.1 million

That's because the whole state is basically Metro Providence, plus a county in Massachusetts that has about 600,000 people.

Bristol County, MA.

[Flint1979]

Providence, RI metro population: 1.67 million
Rhode Island total population: 1.1 million

That's because the whole state is basically Metro Providence, plus a county in Massachusetts that has about 600,000 people.

Bristol County, MA.

Yep and I just realized that Rhode Island is only about 250 square miles bigger than my home county in Michigan (Saginaw), which is an above average county in land area for Michigan but probably not even average for the US. It's about 800 square miles, I thought Rhode Island was bigger than 1,055 square miles wow is that a tiny state.

[SkyPesos]

Speaking of counties, I've thought that San Bernardino-Riverside's metro area population was much smaller than it actually is. Then I looked at the county borders, which both go all the way east to the Arizona border, and San Bernardino County north to Death Valley, for some reason.

[ZLoth]

The city of Dallas, TX... it's smaller than you would expect since some of the areas you are expecting to be part of Dallas are their own cities (Plano, Rockwall, Irving, Arlington, Richardson, Garland) that border the city of Dallas. On the other hand, while the City of Dallas is mostly in Dallas county, it does extend a little bit into Collin, Denton, Kaufman, and Rockwall counties.

[hotdogPi]

The city of Dallas, TX... it's smaller than you would expect since some of the areas you are expecting to be part of Dallas are their own cities (Plano, Rockwall, Irving, Arlington, Richardson, Garland) that border the city of Dallas. On the other hand, while the City of Dallas is mostly in Dallas county, it does extend a little bit into Collin, Denton, Kaufman, and Rockwall counties.

Not from here. In New England, cities don't extend into suburbs (except for former cities that merged into Boston, which applies to the southern half only), so we're used to being 8 miles outside the center and not being within city limits. I believe the same is true for New York (e.g. Albany has suburbs that are almost the size of Albany itself) except for New York City itself which is very well-known to have five boroughs that are all part of the city, and possibly New Jersey and Pennsylvania, but I'm less sure of the last two.

[Flint1979]

The city of Dallas, TX... it's smaller than you would expect since some of the areas you are expecting to be part of Dallas are their own cities (Plano, Rockwall, Irving, Arlington, Richardson, Garland) that border the city of Dallas. On the other hand, while the City of Dallas is mostly in Dallas county, it does extend a little bit into Collin, Denton, Kaufman, and Rockwall counties.

I've been to Dallas, it's about 350 square miles with a population of 1.3 million. Those other cities are what I would expect to be suburbs.

[Flint1979]

The city of Dallas, TX... it's smaller than you would expect since some of the areas you are expecting to be part of Dallas are their own cities (Plano, Rockwall, Irving, Arlington, Richardson, Garland) that border the city of Dallas. On the other hand, while the City of Dallas is mostly in Dallas county, it does extend a little bit into Collin, Denton, Kaufman, and Rockwall counties.

Not from here. In New England, cities don't extend into suburbs (except for former cities that merged into Boston, which applies to the southern half only), so we're used to being 8 miles outside the center and not being within city limits. I believe the same is true for New York (e.g. Albany has suburbs that are almost the size of Albany itself) except for New York City itself which is very well-known to have five boroughs that are all part of the city, and possibly New Jersey and Pennsylvania, but I'm less sure of the last two.

They don't anywhere else either. Like Detroit, you don't expect Warren, Southfield, Dearborn, even Hamtramck or Highland Park to be a part of Detroit because it's not. Detroit annexed the surrounding townships about 100 years ago and the suburbs developed around it due to the auto industry booming. I haven't seen any other city that extends into the suburbs maybe a city like Jacksonville, Florida might be like that.

[Flint1979]

Speaking of counties, I've thought that San Bernardino-Riverside's metro area population was much smaller than it actually is. Then I looked at the county borders, which both go all the way east to the Arizona border, and San Bernardino County north to Death Valley, for some reason.

San Bernardino County could be a state especially on the east coast.

[silverback1065]

Miami, the main city of the sprawling South Florida region, has a population of only 440,000 - less than half the population of the state's largest city of Jacksonville, which comes in at more than 950,000 and rapidly approaching a million.

I can't believe no one on this thread has mentioned Miami until now! Looking at the map of Florida, it just seems like Miami should be a lot bigger.

Jacksonville in my opinion always flies under the radar as a major city in Florida. Denver is a tiny city, the metro is mostly burbs. Indy should have stayed small like denver.

[MATraveler128]

For some reason, I've always thought Boston felt like a big city, but it's a lot smaller than it actually feels. I was surprised to see that El Paso is actually bigger than Boston population wise since it feels small as far as Texas cities go.

[SkyPesos]

Speaking of counties, I've thought that San Bernardino-Riverside's metro area population was much smaller than it actually is. Then I looked at the county borders, which both go all the way east to the Arizona border, and San Bernardino County north to Death Valley, for some reason.

San Bernardino County could be a state especially on the east coast.

Yep. It's larger than Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and all New England states except Maine by land area. And just a bit smaller than West Virginia.

[Flint1979]

Speaking of counties, I've thought that San Bernardino-Riverside's metro area population was much smaller than it actually is. Then I looked at the county borders, which both go all the way east to the Arizona border, and San Bernardino County north to Death Valley, for some reason.

San Bernardino County could be a state especially on the east coast.

Yep. It's larger than Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and all New England states except Maine by land area. And just a bit smaller than West Virginia.

Right I was thinking it's about the same size as West Virginia or South Carolina when I made my post. Off the top of my head I would assume it's bigger than Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut combined.

[Flint1979]

For some reason, I've always thought Boston felt like a big city, but it's a lot smaller than it actually feels. I was surprised to see that El Paso is actually bigger than Boston population wise since it feels small as far as Texas cities go.

Boston is a very compact city and everything was built in the 1800's it seems like or early 1900's. It covers a small land area of about 48 square miles, roughly the same size as San Francisco but larger than a city like Miami. It's the vast metro area that adds in all the population there. You think your in Boston when your really in Brookline or Cambridge. I always thought Boston covered a small area for being a major city.

[Flint1979]

Miami, the main city of the sprawling South Florida region, has a population of only 440,000 - less than half the population of the state's largest city of Jacksonville, which comes in at more than 950,000 and rapidly approaching a million.

I can't believe no one on this thread has mentioned Miami until now! Looking at the map of Florida, it just seems like Miami should be a lot bigger.

Jacksonville in my opinion always flies under the radar as a major city in Florida. Denver is a tiny city, the metro is mostly burbs. Indy should have stayed small like denver.

Denver is a pretty big city, it has over 700,000 people in a land area of 153 square miles which is larger than Detroit. I'm pretty sure most of that area is taken up by the airport though, the land the airport sits on is like 50 square miles so Denver is really around 100 square miles without the airport being factored in, still a pretty big city.

[skluth]

Speaking of counties, I've thought that San Bernardino-Riverside's metro area population was much smaller than it actually is. Then I looked at the county borders, which both go all the way east to the Arizona border, and San Bernardino County north to Death Valley, for some reason.

San Bernardino County could be a state especially on the east coast.

Yep. It's larger than Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and all New England states except Maine by land area. And just a bit smaller than West Virginia.

Counties in California are so big that the metro area can include large communities that might be their own metros if they were separate counties. I live in the Coachella Valley which has about 370K permanent residents (and another 250K part-time residents). This would make it larger than Merced, Marin, and several other counties. And few actually commute all the way to Riverside, the county seat, much less to LA itself; it really could be its own MSA though probably still part of the LA CSA. I seriously doubt the Coachella Valley would be part of the Riverside-San Bernardino MSA if it weren't already part of Riverside County. I don't know how connected the High Desert cities of Lancaster-Palmdale is to LA or Victorville-Hesperia is to San Bernardino, but those communities could conceiveably be their own metros also. Joshua Tree-Yucca Valley might, though it might be part of a larger Indio (the largest Coachella Valley city) MSA.

[roadman65]

Isn't San Bernardino County larger in area than the entire state of Rhode Island?

Also San Francisco is excluded in the normal formation of counties in CA as it's only the entire city within its borders. All suburbs of SF are in other counties.  The Bay Area includes several counties unlike LA having only a few due to sizes on CA counties there.

[skluth]

Isn't San Bernardino County larger in area than the entire state of Rhode Island?

Also San Francisco is excluded in the normal formation of counties in CA as it's only the entire city within its borders. All suburbs of SF are in other counties.  The Bay Area includes several counties unlike LA having only a few due to sizes on CA counties there.

San Bernardino County is larger than New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island combined. SB County is 20,105 sq mi.  RI is 1,545 sq mi.  Delaware is 2,489 sq mi. Connecticut is 5,543 sq mi. New Jersey is 8,723 sq mi. If SB county were a state it would be the 42nd largest in area as it's also larger than VT, MD, NH, HI, and MA. Even Riverside County (where I live) is larger at 7,303 sq mi than Connecticut and Rhode Island combined.

Both counties are also populous though much of their population is concentrated in a few areas. SB County has about 2.2 M which would make it the 37th largest in population. Riverside County is 2.4 million. The counties combined (which makes sense as collectively they make the Inland Empire) would be the 25th largest state in population and 41st in area. They don't change much in area rank since states get much bigger starting with West Virginia and South Carolina.

[dvferyance]

Norfolk used to be the largest city in Virginia, but was overtaken by Virginia Beach in the 1980s.

What is usual about that is Norfolk is considered to be the principle city of Hampton Roads since it's the most urban and is the only one with a real downtown. Virginia Beach is more of a suburb yet it's bigger. While we are on Virginia cities another one which I thought would be bigger is Roanoke. It's just over 100,000 yet they even have a little bit of a skyline unlike other cities of it's similar size like Rockford or Green Bay. I think that having a freeway going through the middle of it also gives it a bigger feel. That is something Rockford doesn't have. Even Lexington KY which has 3 times the population(which I would think also would surprise some) does not have.

I suppose "downtown" Virginia Beach would be the boardwalk, right? That is, after all, where most of the shops and restaurants are...

Virginia Beach Towne Center is the closest thing Virgina Beach has to a downtown. That is by the intersection of Virginia Beach Blvd and Independence Ave.