U. S. Metro Area Population "March Madness" quiz

[kurumi]

Based on their own data, the US Census is hosting a 64-city tournament: https://www.census.gov/dataviz/visualizations/057/

For each head-to-head "game" (such as Albany* vs. Buffalo) click on the metro area you think has the greater population. Each correct guess is one point; max is 63.

(I got 52; protip don't pick against Riverside early)

* famous for their steamed hams

[noelbotevera]

47...not terrible for a wee old youngster.

For state pops, I got a 55. Let's just say that I don't understand how Montana is smaller than Idaho.

[hotdogPi]

(I got 52; protip don't pick against Riverside early)

It's randomized.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

54 (on Metro Pop). Though I had a final four of NYC, LA, Philly, and Dallas.
---
57 (on state pop)

[Bruce]

56 for Metro Pop. 57 for State Pop.

[formulanone]

Got a 55...why did Baltimore keep busting my bracket? 

60 on the state pops, Florida had an easy run, Ohio was upset, Alabama didn't have a chance; West Virginia and Nebraska were the Cinderellas.

[abefroman329]

54.  If you don't know that the 4 largest metro populations are NYC, LA, Chicago, and Houston, and you don't know the answer, then err on the side of "which area has the most sprawl."

It would have helped if they'd specified with "Columbus" they were talking about; I assumed they meant Columbus, OH.

[english si]

Got 53 on metro areas, and 60 on states (which gives you 8 automatically).

Given it's April, and pre-draw 64-team knockout tournaments are not unique to College Basketball (eg major tennis tournaments), 'March Madness' seems odd to use as the generic term for these things.

[Verlanka]

I had 53 on metros, and 58 on states.

[webny99]

I had 53 on metros, and 58 on states.

Hey, that's exactly what I had as well.
For me, states was a lot easier than metros - I figured I could get 100%, but then Kansas/Connecticut threw me, and so did Louisiana/Oregon. I clicked through the states breezily, but the metros had me wringing my hands in frustration a few times.

54. If you don't know that the 4 largest metro populations are NYC, LA, Chicago, and Houston, and you don't know the answer, then err on the side of "which area has the most sprawl."

Yeah, definitely. Mentally add a few hundred k for anything in California and Texas, subtract a few hundred k for anything on the East Coast.

It would have helped if they'd specified with "Columbus" they were talking about; I assumed they meant Columbus, OH.

What reason do you have to think they weren't talking about Columbus, OH?

[abefroman329]

What reason do you have to think they weren't talking about Columbus, OH?

Because it was initially seeded with "Greenville," which I assumed was "Greenville, SC," and then I assumed "Columbus, GA," since that's the nearest Columbus I'm aware of to Greeneville, SC.

[webny99]

What reason do you have to think they weren't talking about Columbus, OH?

Because it was initially seeded with "Greenville," which I assumed was "Greenville, SC," and then I assumed "Columbus, GA," since that's the nearest Columbus I'm aware of to Greeneville, SC.

Right... and Columbus, GA would have been a wrong assumption because they were talking about Columbus, OH.

[paulthemapguy]

I got 53...should have gotten 56 since I don't know how to disambiguate metro areas that are conjoined?  How can I be expected to know where the Riverside area ends and the Los Angeles area begins?  Same with San Francisco and San Jose.  And if San Jose and San Francisco are separate areas, why not separate Oakland, too?

[US 89]

I scored a 50 on metros and 59 on states. Not bad, IMO. Riverside threw me off big time on the metros; who knew it was so damn big.

I got 53...should have gotten 56 since I don't know how to disambiguate metro areas that are conjoined?  How can I be expected to know where the Riverside area ends and the Los Angeles area begins?  Same with San Francisco and San Jose.  And if San Jose and San Francisco are separate areas, why not separate Oakland, too?

You have to memorize those county lines! 

[doorknob60]

I got 58 on both on my first try, definitely happy with that.

[Eth]

51 on metro areas, 58 on states. Biggest takeaway is that I apparently have no idea how big Baltimore is. On the states, I only missed one after the first round (Missouri vs. Arizona).

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

What reason do you have to think they weren't talking about Columbus, OH?

Because it was initially seeded with "Greenville," which I assumed was "Greenville, SC," and then I assumed "Columbus, GA," since that's the nearest Columbus I'm aware of to Greeneville, SC.

You're permanently uninvited to any and all Ohio Roadmeets.   

[kevinb1994]

What reason do you have to think they weren't talking about Columbus, OH?

Because it was initially seeded with "Greenville," which I assumed was "Greenville, SC," and then I assumed "Columbus, GA," since that's the nearest Columbus I'm aware of to Greeneville, SC.

You're permanently uninvited to any and all Ohio Roadmeets.   

 

[NWI_Irish96]

I know one of the guys who was part of the group that developed this, and I got to try a beta version.  I got 58, though it really should have been 59 as I knew Washington is bigger than Boston and misclicked.  I missed Portland>Jacksonville, Las Vegas>San Jose, Baltimore>Pittsburgh, and Orlando>Columbus

[Rothman]

I am getting mixed up due to metro area versus the cities themselves.  Philadelphia is the sixth largest city in the U.S., but Washington has a larger metro area, it seems, despite being a significantly smaller city.

[Rothman]

I am getting mixed up due to metro area versus the cities themselves.  Philadelphia is the sixth largest city in the U.S., but Washington has a larger metro area, it seems, despite being a significantly smaller city.

61 out of 63 on states; low 50s so far on metro areas.

[thspfc]

I got 54/63 on metro areas and 59/63 on states.

[vdeane]

It certainly illustrates how metro areas aren't always obvious.  I was wondering how Bridgeport (which isn't even a control city) beat not only Albany but other places, only to find out at the end when mousing over it that "Bridgeport" actually meant "all of southwestern Connecticut" (a lot of which I would have thought would have been lumped in with New York).  Similarly, "Riverside" had me wondering.  I would have thought what they meant would be counted as a suburb of LA; when I think "Riverside", I think of Riverside, IA, because that will be the future hometown of Captain Kirk.

[inkyatari]

50

[CtrlAltDel]

54.  If you don't know that the 4 largest metro populations are NYC, LA, Chicago, and Houston, and you don't know the answer, then err on the side of "which area has the most sprawl."

That's what I thought, but their data has Dallas over Houston.