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

[KCRoadFan]

When I took a trip to Oklahoma City for the first weekend in February, I thought its population was about 500,000, similar to that of my hometown of Kansas City - it turns out, OKC's population is almost 700,000.

On the other hand, recently I also thought that Pittsburgh was about the same size as KC - it's actually only about 300,000.

That makes me want to ask: what cities might there be around the country (or for that matter, the world) that you thought were bigger or smaller than they actually are, and how far off were your guesses?

[kphoger]

If you compare metro area to metro area, however, Pittsburgh is nearly 70% bigger than OKC.

[hotdogPi]

Naples, Florida is far smaller than I used to think it was. In fact, it's small enough that it doesn't even qualify for the "guess the city" thread.

[JayhawkCO]

I would guess my current locale of Aurora, CO would show up on a lot of people's lists. It's not well known nationally at all but has 386k as of 2020.

For me personally, I think Fort Worth is my answer. You think of it as Dallas' little sister, but it has almost a million people on its own.

For the small side, maybe St. Louis? Less than 300,000 people, but you think of it as a big city.

[kphoger]

For me...

When I drive to Mexico and cross at Ciudad Acuña, my route through the city is only about 2½ miles long from the border bridge to the southern outskirts.  So for a while, I thought the city must be fairly small, similar to Del Rio on the US side of the border.  But no, apparently it's just that my route goes the short way across, and it actually has a population of more than 200,000–about six times the size of Del Rio.

I met my wife online, and she lived in Branson, MO.  The first time I met her in person, I went down there from the Chicago area.  From one end of Branson to the other, it's about six miles of hotels and restaurants and theaters and gift shops and museums.  So I was surprised to learn later that it only had a population of about 7000 (twenty years ago).  I quickly learned that Branson is just a strange combination of visiting tourists and local rednecks, and the former far outnumber the latter.  Branson has grown since then, but the population is still well under 15,000.

[KCRoadFan]

I would guess my current locale of Aurora, CO would show up on a lot of people's lists. It's not well known nationally at all but has 386k as of 2020.

For me personally, I think Fort Worth is my answer. You think of it as Dallas' little sister, but it has almost a million people on its own.

For the small side, maybe St. Louis? Less than 300,000 people, but you think of it as a big city.

It doesn't surprise me that suburbs of major, well-known cities (as Aurora is for Denver) can seem smaller than they actually are. As for St. Louis, I always have thought of it as a major city, and its metro, I believe, is bigger than that of KC (2.8 million vs. 2.4 million) whereas KC is larger when it comes to the city proper (500K vs. 300K).

In addition, my impression is that places that primarily cater to the tourist trade (see Branson, above) can seem a lot bigger than they are - out of curiosity, I looked up the population of Orlando, Florida, and was somewhat surprised to learn that it, too, is only about 300,000.

[Max Rockatansky]

I've found that Fresno (population 542,107) seemingly is far larger than most people thought it was (largely because of the Fresno Road Meet).

[formulanone]

Naples, Florida is far smaller than I used to think it was. In fact, it's small enough that it doesn't even qualify for the "guess the city" thread.

I think Naples has that "spot on part of the map for balance" syndrome.

[kphoger]

I've found that Fresno (population 542,107) seemingly is far larger than most people thought it was (largely because of the Fresno Road Meet).

I, for one, would have guessed less than 400,000.

[oscar]

Hamilton, Ontario doesn't look that big for travelers on the Queen Elizabeth Way freeway between Toronto and Niagara Falls. But the QEW steers clear of the city center, so it's not obvious from there that more than half a million people live in Hamilton, nor why it would have its own Canadian Football League team.

[1995hoo]

The first time I passed through Columbus, Ohio, I thought it looked much bigger than I had pictured it being, even though I knew they have an NHL team, I knew Ohio State is located there, and I was aware of its beltway.

My wife was surprised to see what a big city Montreal is the first time I drove there with her. We arrived at night via Autoroute 15 and she first saw the city across the St. Lawrence and was astonished. She had pictured a small town.

I was somewhat surprised this week to realize how small downtown Phoenix is and how the area around downtown and the airport is quite compact. I had been there once before in 2015, but on that trip I only very briefly passed through downtown late at night in the car (I wasn't driving) and so didn't get a feel for it, whereas this week I was there for business and both stayed downtown and walked three-quarters of a mile each way to work both days. Traffic was generally lighter than I would have expected, too, other than on Sunday afternoon on AZ-51 when we hit a backup en route from my brother-in-law's house to the Stockyards steakhouse (but that was because I-10 was closed past the airport for roadwork).

I can't answer the part about how far off my "guesses" were because I never thought about the cities in terms of population.

[Ned Weasel]

I was a bit surprised when I learned Tallahassee, Florida is smaller than Overland Park, Kansas.

[formulanone]

I met my wife online, and she lived in Branson, MO.  The first time I met her in person, I went down there from the Chicago area.  From one end of Branson to the other, it's about six miles of hotels and restaurants and theaters and gift shops and museums.  So I was surprised to learn later that it only had a population of about 7000 (twenty years ago).  I quickly learned that Branson is just a strange combination of visiting tourists and local rednecks, and the former far outnumber the latter.  Branson has grown since then, but the population is still well under 15,000.

Pigeon Forge, Tennessee has a resident population of about 6500.

size: big
population: small
pancake restaurants: many
traffic: obnoxious

[Flint1979]

Naples, Florida is far smaller than I used to think it was. In fact, it's small enough that it doesn't even qualify for the "guess the city" thread.

Sometimes it's not just the city proper but there are probably around 400,000 people living around Naples.

[roadman65]

Hutchinson, KS is around 40k but if you are traveling on US 50 or K14-96 you would never know that cause all routes bypass the city center from a great distance. K-61 does go through some suburban and commercial areas of that city, but to the eye it looks like the average Central US small city like Limon, CO.


Had to throw that last one in there lol.

[bm7]

Before having driven through both of them, I thought that Birmingham, AL and Montgomery, AL were about the same size. The cities themselves do have a similar population, but Birmingham's metro area is almost 3 times larger.

[Buck87]

The first time I passed through Columbus, Ohio, I thought it looked much bigger than I had pictured it being, even though I knew they have an NHL team, I knew Ohio State is located there, and I was aware of its beltway.

On one hand, I could see where OSU's presence could make some people underestimate the size of Columbus, due to how many other major universities in the nation are located in cities in the 40-200k range. 

[NWI_Irish96]

Indianapolis is the 15th largest city but the 33rd largest metro area, so it is a lot larger than it seems.

[Flint1979]

When I was a kid going up to Newberry, Michigan I always thought it would be bigger than it is. It has a population of around 1,500 and a lot of towns in the U.P. are smaller and I realized that after going there.

Fun Fact: Newberry is located in McMillan Township which is by far the largest township in Michigan in land area. Almost as big as the city of Houston, Texas. McMillan Township is 589 square miles.

[Rothman]

Indianapolis is the 15th largest city but the 33rd largest metro area, so it is a lot larger than it seems.

That's what happens when your growth is just absorbing the suburbs.

[pianocello]

My favorite metric for comparing two cities (and IMO most accurate) is the urban area. Per the Census Bureau, it's basically the largest area of contiguous development surrounding a city center. Due to its nature, the boundaries change every census to reflect growth or shrinkage, and the maps should be coming out pretty soon for the 2020 census. The population figures have been published, at least.

Evansville is bigger than a lot of people think. People I've spoken to think it's a similar size to Owensboro or Terre Haute, in the 75K range. I think it's because it's so far off the beaten path from the rest of Indiana, and because it's 20 miles from the nearest "thru" Interstate in I-64. In reality, the urbanized area has around 200K, on par with Cedar Rapids, Fargo, or Green Bay.

[Flint1979]

Cities like Columbus, Ohio and Indianapolis are just a bunch of suburbs put together for the most part. Those cities almost never have a large Metro population outside of the city limits.

[Road Hog]

Cities like Columbus, Ohio and Indianapolis are just a bunch of suburbs put together for the most part. Those cities almost never have a large Metro population outside of the city limits.

That's the only way most Rust Belt or Ferrous Belt metros can grow. Look at Dallas, where the northern suburbs are beginning to tickle Oklahoma's underbelly.

[jgb191]

I was shocked as hell to learn that Flagstaff, Arizona hasn't even made it to six-figures.....yet that is.  I was expecting it to be one of the five largest cities in the state, but it's not even in the top ten!  If someone were to ask me to name a few cities in Arizona, Flagstaff is certainly one that comes to mind.  But then again its frigid climate, I sure as hell wouldn't want to live in that icebox.

I am also surprised that Detroit, which had at one time peaked almost 2 million people several decades ago, is outside the top twenty largest cities in the country.

I didn't know Virginia Beach (VA) and Long Beach (CA) are as large as they are.  I would have guessed Norfolk was the largest city in Virgina.

Another shocker:  Mesa (AZ) is larger than Atlanta (GA)

My home town Corpus Christi is larger than many pro-sport cities like Buffalo, Cinncinati, Newark, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Salt Lake, but I've already known that for many years now.

[roadman65]

Plant City, FL looks like a small city on US 92, but drive the former SR 39 through it and it seems bigger because the souther part is heavily commercialized.

Clermont, FL used to be small on US 27 as it had only a flashing beacon at Hooks Street, but drive SR 50 and it would be bigger due to its businesses and residential areas are along it. Now Lake County has developed so much around it, there is no open buffers of rural ness to separate it from Metro Orlando to the east, Groveland to the west, Haines City that is 40 miles to the south, and the Central Lake Bedroom Communities on US 27 north and west of the original city extend at least 7 more miles.


US 27 now is signalized from Lake Wales all the way to Ocala practically so Clermont is only a small part of linear development for over one hundred miles along the US highway that in 2003 had 65 mph segments between I-4 and Leesburg.