Most Isolated Major US City?

[webny99]

I got to thinking post-Thanksgiving how some cities/metro areas are highly accessible and drivable from a lot of the country while others require going well out of the way from just about anywhere.

What do you think is the most isolated major city in the contiguous 48 US states, considering factors like interstate access and proximity and accessibility to other major cities - both regionally and in other parts of the country?

For this exercise, I'm defining a major city as at least 500k metro population. I've listed what I think are the most logical candidates in the poll, but I'm open to other options, so if your answer isn't listed, please feel free to share your thoughts!

I came into this thinking it would be Boise, but after some deliberation El Paso gets my vote.

[NE2]

Brownsville TX

[JayhawkCO]

El Paso is the most isolated major city. Denver is the most isolated major, major city.

[PNWRoadgeek]

Bend OR has a metro population of 247,000. Yet, it has no Interstate access and is only served by US 97 and US 20. It is one of the biggest metro areas in the US to have no Interstates going through the metro, and it is surrounded by the Cascades to the west and harsh high desert to the north, east, and south. US 97 is almost a full freeway through Bend though.

[Rothman]

NYC is the most isolated largest city.

[Bobby5280]

I think Boise is pretty isolated. It's 339 miles from Salt Lake City, 430 miles from Portland and 504 miles from Seattle.

Denver isn't very isolated. Colorado Springs and Pueblo are to the South. Cheyenne is to the North and there is a lot of development along the I-25 corridor next to the Front Range.

El Paso seems somewhat isolated. It's 266 miles from Albuquerque and 320 miles from Tucson. Those are the nearest big cities. Although Las Cruces has grown a good bit.

[Roadgeekteen]

Las Vegas isn't on there but you would think it would be pretty high up there.

[Max Rockatansky]

Las Vegas isn't on there but you would think it would be pretty high up there.

Barstow, Pahrump, Mesquite, Kingman, Bullhead City, Boulder City and St. George are all close enough to blunt the isolated feel. 

[pderocco]

Salt Lake City doesn't feel isolated because it's in the middle of a chain of urban and suburban areas stretching for over a hundred miles. A while back, I drove US-89 from Spanish Fork to Logan, and it sure felt like one interminable suburb.

You can't really call El Paso "isolated" unless you ignore the much bigger city right across the river.

I don't think Spokane quite meets your 500K metro population standards. Boise does, and so does Denver, but I think Denver has more interesting places nearby that it's easy to live there without dying of boredom. Boise's less interesting, so I'd feel more isolated there than in Denver. So I vote Boise.

[Roadgeekteen]

Las Vegas isn't on there but you would think it would be pretty high up there.

Barstow, Pahrump, Mesquite, Kingman, Bullhead City, Boulder City and St. George are all close enough to blunt the isolated feel. 

Well for El Paso Las Cruces is bigger than all of those places and is nearby.

[hotdogPi]

You can't really call El Paso "isolated" unless you ignore the much bigger city right across the river.

I thought about mentioning that myself, but there's nothing past Ciudad Juárez, so the pair of cities as a unit is still isolated.

[Max Rockatansky]

Las Vegas isn't on there but you would think it would be pretty high up there.

Barstow, Pahrump, Mesquite, Kingman, Bullhead City, Boulder City and St. George are all close enough to blunt the isolated feel. 

Well for El Paso Las Cruces is bigger than all of those places and is nearby.

There isn't really much of a gap between the two areas.  Alamogordo and Tularosa Basin aren't exactly devoid of people. 

[Great Lakes Roads]

Boise for me.

[oscar]

You can't really call El Paso "isolated" unless you ignore the much bigger city right across the river.

I thought about mentioning that myself, but there's nothing past Ciudad Juárez, so the pair of cities as a unit is still isolated.

Similar to Laredo TX and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Combined metro area over 500K. Fairly distant from San Antonio and Monterrey, and the communities of the Rio Grande Valley.

[kernals12]

I'd say Las Vegas. Nevada has the distinction of being the only continental US state without a freeway connecting its two largest metro areas and Vegas and Phoenix are the biggest city pair not connected by an interstate, although Interstate 11 is planned to change that.

[Quillz]

Anchorage, AK

[kernals12]

Anchorage, AK

Anchorage is below 500,000

[DandyDan]

I voted for El Paso, simply because I've been there and it doesn't feel like it's close to anything. If you go to Carlsbad Caverns from El Paso, you have to remember to fuel up before you leave town.

I do have to wonder about Honolulu,  though.

[Rothman]

Contiguous is a vague term.

[webny99]

Contiguous is a vague term.

Ahem.

[webny99]

You can't really call El Paso "isolated" unless you ignore the much bigger city right across the river.

I thought about mentioning that myself, but there's nothing past Ciudad Juárez, so the pair of cities as a unit is still isolated.

Right: if you're considering both, then it's one metro, and it's very isolated in both countries. If you're considering the US only, El Paso is very isolated within the US.

I don't think Spokane quite meets your 500K metro population standards.

It's surprisingly around 600k, according to recent estimates.

[webny99]

Denver isn't very isolated. Colorado Springs and Pueblo are to the South. Cheyenne is to the North and there is a lot of development along the I-25 corridor next to the Front Range.

I somehow didn't realize Colorado Springs was well over 500k (metro) on its own, or I probably wouldn't have even put Denver on the list.

[Rothman]

Contiguous is a vague term.

Ahem.

https://media4.giphy.com/media/jXD7kFLwudbBC/giphy.gif?cid=6c09b952d7nwonqw34138rlw9u3ellb0yiha4d8owenkopmb&ep=v1_internal_gif_by_id&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g

[bing101]

Cheyenne, Wyoming has to be up there for most isolated US city in the United States within the mainland.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheyenne,_Wyoming

Yes there's the entire population of Wyoming can fit inside of cities like Sacramento, and Fresno.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresno,_California

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacramento,_California

[bing101]

NYC is the most isolated largest city.