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National Boards => General Highway Talk => Topic started by: Crown Victoria on March 06, 2021, 10:11:29 PM

Title: Reaching America's largest cities and metro areas from your state
Post by: Crown Victoria on March 06, 2021, 10:11:29 PM
We've figured out the number of states and number of counties directly reachable from each state. Why not see how we do with America's largest cities and metro areas?

Rules for this exercise:

1. An Interstate or US Highway that exists in your state must reach one of the 50 largest cities or metro areas by population (as of 2019) in the US.
2. The route in question must pass within city limits or defined MSA limits.
3. You may count eligible cities and metro areas within your state. Please list the total inside your state and the total reached outside your state.
4. You do not need to list the population of each city or metro area.
5. You may list duplicates as you wish (if more than one route from your state reaches a city or metro area), but be careful not to count duplicates more than once.
6. Please be sure to clearly indicate which list is which, ie. city or metro area. Also please provide the total number for each list in your post.

I'll start with Pennsylvania's cities:

Inside PA: Philadelphia
I-70: Denver, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Columbus (4)
I-76: none added
I-78: New York City (1)
I-79: none
I-80: San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, Omaha (4)
I-81: none
I-83: Baltimore (1)
I-84: none
I-86: none
I-90: Seattle, Chicago, Boston (3)
I-95: Miami, Jacksonville, Washington (3)
I-99: none
US 1: Raleigh (1)
US 6: none added
US 11: New Orleans (1)
US 13: Virginia Beach (1)
US 15: none
US 19: Atlanta (1)
US 20: none added
US 22: none
US 30: Portland (1)
US 40: none added
US 62: El Paso, Oklahoma City (2)

None of PA's 3-digit Interstate or US Routes add to this list. The largest city not directly reachable from PA is Los Angeles.  Total: 24  (23 out, 1 in)

And PA's metro areas:

Inside PA: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York City (Pike County, PA is part of the New York City MSA) (3)
I-70: Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Columbus, Baltimore (6)
I-76: none added
I-78: none added, but reaches the core of the NYC MSA
I-79: none added
I-80: San Francisco, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Chicago (4)
I-81: none added
I-83: none added
I-84: Hartford (1)
I-86: none added
I-90: Seattle, Cleveland, Bufalo, Boston (4)
I-95: Miami, Jacksonville, Raleigh, Richmond, Washington, Providence (6)
I-99: none added
US 1: none added
US 6: none added
US 11: New Orleans, Birmingham (2)
US 13: Virginia Beach (1)
US 15: none added
US 19: Tampa, Atlanta (2)
US 20: none added
US 22: Cincinnati (1)
US 30: Portland (1)
US 40: none added
US 62: Oklahoma City (1)

Pennsylvania's 3-digit Interstates and US Routes do not add to this list. Total: 32 (29 completely outside, 3 at least partly inside). The largest not directly reachable from PA is Los Angeles.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: OCGuy81 on March 06, 2021, 10:35:20 PM
I'll take a shot at Oregon.

In Oregon: Portland

I-5: Seattle, Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego
I-84: Salt Lake City
I-82: None
US 30: Philadelphia
US 26: None
US 20: Chicago, Cleveland, Boston
US 101: San Francisco
US 199: None
US 97: None
US 197: None
US 395: Reno
US 95: Las Vegas

12 out, 1 in
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: ftballfan on March 06, 2021, 11:36:24 PM
In Michigan: Detroit

I-69: Indianapolis
I-75: Atlanta, Miami
I-94: Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis
I-96: None
US 2: None
US 8: None
US 10: None
US 12: Chicago, Minneapolis
US 23: Atlanta, Columbus, Jacksonville
US 24: Colorado Springs, Kansas City
US 31: Indianapolis, Louisville, Nashville
US 41: Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, Milwaukee, Nashville, Tampa
US 45: Chicago, Milwaukee
US 127: None
US 131: None
US 141: None
US 223: None

13 out, 1 in
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: TheHighwayMan3561 on March 07, 2021, 12:11:09 AM
Minnesota
I-35: Kansas City, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio
I-94: Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit
I-90: Seattle, Boston
US 52: Indianapolis
US 59: Houston
US 61: Memphis, New Orleans
US 75: Omaha, Tulsa
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: SkyPesos on March 07, 2021, 12:35:14 AM
I'll do both 50 largest city proper and metro areas for Ohio, since there's a lot of cities in the Midwest that aren't top 50 in population and have a metro area in the top 30.

City Proper
In State: Columbus (1)
I-90: Seattle, Chicago, Boston (3)
I-80: San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, Omaha (7)
I-77: Charlotte (8)
I-76: Philadelphia (9)
I-75: Tampa, Atlanta, Detroit (12)
I-71: Louisville (13)
I-70: Denver, Kansas City, Indianapolis (16)
US 23: Jacksonville (17)
US 30: Portland (18)
US 40: Baltimore (19)
US 50: DC (20)
US 52: Minneapolis (21)
US 62: El Paso, Oklahoma City (23)

Total: 22 out, 1 in

Metro Areas
In State: Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland (3)
I-90: Seattle, Chicago, Buffalo, Boston (7)
I-80: San Francisco, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, NYC (11)
I-77: Charlotte (12)
I-76: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia (14)
I-75: Miami, Tampa, Atlanta, Detroit (18)
I-71: Louisville (19)
I-70: Denver, Kansas City, St Louis, Indianapolis, Baltimore (24)
US 6: Hartford, Providence (26)
US 23: Jacksonville (27)
US 27: Orlando (28)
US 30: Portland (29)
US 33: Richmond (30)
US 50: DC (31)
US 52: Minneapolis (32)
US 62: Oklahoma City (33)

Total: 30 out, 3 in


Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: Scott5114 on March 07, 2021, 02:49:22 AM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on March 07, 2021, 12:11:09 AM
Minnesota
I-35: Kansas City, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio
US 75: Tulsa

(cough)
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: Scott5114 on March 07, 2021, 02:52:25 AM
For everyone's reference, the top 50 cities according to Wikipedia are:
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: ran4sh on March 07, 2021, 03:56:32 AM
From Georgia:

Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: Scott5114 on March 07, 2021, 04:08:09 AM
Oklahoma
In state: Oklahoma City (25), Tulsa (47) - 2 cities

I-35: San Antonio (7), Austin (11), Dallas (9), Fort Worth (13), Kansas City (38), Minneapolis (46) - 6 cities
I-40: Albuquerque (32), Memphis (28), Nashville (23), Raleigh (41) - 4 cities
I-44: none (St Louis doesn't make the cut apparently)
US 54: El Paso (22) - 1 city
US 59: Houston (4) - 1 city
US 60: Phoenix (5), Mesa (35) Louisville (31), Virginia Beach (44) - 4 cities
US 62: Columbus (14) - 1 city
US 66: Los Angeles (2), Chicago (3) - 2 cities if you count it
US 75: Omaha (40) - 1 city
US 287: Arlington (49) - 1 city

2 in state + 19 out of state = 21. If you count US 66, then that gets you 21 out of state and 23 total.

It's frustrating how many routes we have that end up in North Carolina, but they all go to Raleigh rather than Charlotte!
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: hotdogPi on March 07, 2021, 08:25:50 AM
Florida is the only state to hit both of the top two, and it even reaches all of the first seven. (NYC's routes all go N-S except for the short I-78.)
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: webny99 on March 07, 2021, 11:38:24 AM
This is just my opinion, but I'd prefer to use metro areas instead of cities. This would reduce the bias towards the South and West, where cities tend to have artificially inflated population figures as they annex all of their suburbs. Similarly, there's no reason why "cities" that are actually suburbs like Mesa, AZ or Arlington, TX should be on the list.

Rank   Metropolitan statistical area   
1   New York City-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA MSA
2   Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA MSA   
3   Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI MSA   
4   Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX MSA   
5   Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX MSA   
6   Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA   
7   Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL MSA   
8   Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA   
9   Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA MSA   
10   Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ MSA   
11   Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH MSA   
12   San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA MSA   
13   Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA MSA   
14   Detroit—Warren—Dearborn, MI MSA   
15   Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA MSA   
16   Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI MSA   
17   San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA MSA      
18   Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL MSA   
19   Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO MSA   
20   St. Louis, MO-IL MSA   
21   Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD MSA   
22   Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC MSA   
23   Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL MSA   
24   San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX MSA   
25   Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA MSA   
26   Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA MSA   
27   Pittsburgh, PA MSA   
28   Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV MSA   
29   Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX MSA      
30   Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN MSA   
31   Kansas City, MO-KS MSA   
32   Columbus, OH MSA   
33   Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN MSA   
34   Cleveland-Elyria, OH MSA   
35   San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA MSA   
36   Nashville-Davidson—Murfreesboro—Franklin, TN MSA   
37   Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA   
38   Providence-Warwick, RI-MA MSA   
39   Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI MSA   
40   Jacksonville, FL MSA   
41   Oklahoma City, OK MSA   
42   Raleigh-Cary, NC MSA   
43   Memphis, TN-MS-AR MSA
44   Richmond, VA MSA   
45   New Orleans-Metairie, LA MSA
46   Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN MSA
47   Salt Lake City, UT MSA
48   Hartford-East Hartford-Middletown, CT MSA
49   Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY MSA   
50   Birmingham-Hoover, AL MSA   


Summary of changes:

Cities removed from the list:
Albuquerque, Arlington (TX), Colorado Springs, El Paso, Fort Worth, Fresno, Long Beach, Mesa, Oakland, Omaha, Tucson, Tulsa

Metro areas added to the list:
Birmingham, Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Hartford, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Providence, Richmond, Riverside-San Bernardino, Salt Lake City, St. Louis

Cities 51-55 (bold indicates inclusion on metro area list): Wichita, Bakersfield, Cleveland, Aurora (CO), Anahiem (CA)
Metro areas 51-55 (bold indicates inclusion on city list): Grand Rapids, Rochester (NY), Tucson, Fresno, Tulsa

Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: skluth on March 07, 2021, 12:05:52 PM
Quote from: 1 on March 07, 2021, 08:25:50 AM
Florida is the only state to hit both of the top two, and it even reaches all of the first seven. (NYC's routes all go N-S except for the short I-78.)

I agree that metro area is a better comparison since many cities in the NE and Midwest are bypassed by the major interstates as webny99 stated (hello, Pittsburgh).  If you use metro areas, California goes to both #1 New York and #3 Chicago via I-80. #2 LA is already in the state.

I'm still looking for an interstate that connects Florida to Chicago, the number #3 city in both population and metro population.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: Crown Victoria on March 07, 2021, 12:07:21 PM
Quote from: webny99 on March 07, 2021, 11:38:24 AM
This is just my opinion, but I'd prefer to use metro areas instead of cities. This would reduce the bias towards the South and West, where cities tend to have artificially inflated population figures as they annex all of their suburbs. Similarly, there's no reason why "cities" that are actually suburbs like Mesa, AZ or Arlington, TX should be on the list.

Rank   Metropolitan statistical area   
1   New York City-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA MSA
2   Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA MSA   
3   Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI MSA   
4   Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX MSA   
5   Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX MSA   
6   Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA   
7   Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL MSA   
8   Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA   
9   Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA MSA   
10   Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ MSA   
11   Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH MSA   
12   San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA MSA   
13   Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA MSA   
14   Detroit—Warren—Dearborn, MI MSA   
15   Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA MSA   
16   Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI MSA   
17   San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA MSA      
18   Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL MSA   
19   Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO MSA   
20   St. Louis, MO-IL MSA   
21   Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD MSA   
22   Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC MSA   
23   Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL MSA   
24   San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX MSA   
25   Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA MSA   
26   Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA MSA   
27   Pittsburgh, PA MSA   
28   Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV MSA   
29   Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX MSA      
30   Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN MSA   
31   Kansas City, MO-KS MSA   
32   Columbus, OH MSA   
33   Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN MSA   
34   Cleveland-Elyria, OH MSA   
35   San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA MSA   
36   Nashville-Davidson—Murfreesboro—Franklin, TN MSA   
37   Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA   
38   Providence-Warwick, RI-MA MSA   
39   Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI MSA   
40   Jacksonville, FL MSA   
41   Oklahoma City, OK MSA   
42   Raleigh-Cary, NC MSA   
43   Memphis, TN-MS-AR MSA
44   Richmond, VA MSA   
45   New Orleans-Metairie, LA MSA
46   Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN MSA
47   Salt Lake City, UT MSA
48   Hartford-East Hartford-Middletown, CT MSA
49   Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY MSA   
50   Birmingham-Hoover, AL MSA   


Summary of changes:

Cities removed from the list:
Albuquerque, Arlington (TX), Colorado Springs, El Paso, Fort Worth, Fresno, Long Beach, Mesa, Oakland, Omaha, Tucson, Tulsa

Metro areas added to the list:
Birmingham, Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Hartford, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Providence, Richmond, Riverside-San Bernardino, Salt Lake City, St. Louis

Cities 51-55 (bold indicates inclusion on metro area list): Wichita, Bakersfield, Cleveland, Aurora (CO), Anahiem (CA)
Metro areas 51-55 (bold indicates inclusion on city list): Grand Rapids, Rochester (NY), Tucson, Fresno, Tulsa

That's all fine and good, but the thread was started for cities themselves. Besides, it might be interesting to see whether said bias toward the South and West plays out when considering the exercise in this thread.

Perhaps it would be reasonable to start another thread for America's largest metro areas, then compare the differences between the two.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: hotdogPi on March 07, 2021, 12:07:37 PM
Quote from: skluth on March 07, 2021, 12:05:52 PM
I'm still looking for an interstate that connects Florida to Chicago, the number #3 city in both population and metro population.

It's not an Interstate. US 41.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: Crown Victoria on March 07, 2021, 12:08:10 PM
Quote from: skluth on March 07, 2021, 12:05:52 PM
Quote from: 1 on March 07, 2021, 08:25:50 AM
Florida is the only state to hit both of the top two, and it even reaches all of the first seven. (NYC's routes all go N-S except for the short I-78.)

I agree that metro area is a better comparison since many cities in the NE and Midwest are bypassed by the major interstates as webny99 stated (hello, Pittsburgh).  If you use metro areas, California goes to both #1 New York and #3 Chicago via I-80. #2 LA is already in the state.

I'm still looking for an interstate that connects Florida to Chicago, the number #3 city in both population and metro population.

US routes are allowed. That means US 41 gets you from Chicago to Florida.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: TheHighwayMan3561 on March 07, 2021, 12:14:42 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on March 07, 2021, 02:49:22 AM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on March 07, 2021, 12:11:09 AM
Minnesota
I-35: Kansas City, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio
US 75: Tulsa

(cough)

Sorry. I only skimmed the list and my perception of OKC was always that it was a smallish sort of place comparatively.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: webny99 on March 07, 2021, 01:38:41 PM
Quote from: Crown Victoria on March 07, 2021, 12:07:21 PM
Quote from: webny99 on March 07, 2021, 11:38:24 AM
This is just my opinion, but I'd prefer to use metro areas instead of cities. This would reduce the bias towards the South and West, where cities tend to have artificially inflated population figures as they annex all of their suburbs. Similarly, there's no reason why "cities" that are actually suburbs like Mesa, AZ or Arlington, TX should be on the list.

...

Summary of changes:

Cities removed from the list:
Albuquerque, Arlington (TX), Colorado Springs, El Paso, Fort Worth, Fresno, Long Beach, Mesa, Oakland, Omaha, Tucson, Tulsa

Metro areas added to the list:
Birmingham, Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Hartford, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Providence, Richmond, Riverside-San Bernardino, Salt Lake City, St. Louis

That's all fine and good, but the thread was started for cities themselves. Besides, it might be interesting to see whether said bias toward the South and West plays out when considering the exercise in this thread.

Perhaps it would be reasonable to start another thread for America's largest metro areas, then compare the differences between the two.

I wasn't trying to change the thread, more just pointing out how the list would change if it was metros instead of cities and giving everyone a chance to see both lists.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: Scott5114 on March 07, 2021, 01:56:22 PM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on March 07, 2021, 12:14:42 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on March 07, 2021, 02:49:22 AM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on March 07, 2021, 12:11:09 AM
Minnesota
I-35: Kansas City, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio
US 75: Tulsa

(cough)

Sorry. I only skimmed the list and my perception of OKC was always that it was a smallish sort of place comparatively.

Tulsa's always been OKC's little brother–but Tulsa seems to get more attention from out-of-staters, possibly because its culture puts more emphasis on the arts than OKC's (making it "cooler"), or possibly because its name seems more exotic, leading it to be used in works of fiction more often than OKC when someone in the writer's room needs a city in Oklahoma. (The arc on Friends where Chandler gets a job in Tulsa comes to mind; there's no reason that they couldn't have used OKC for that.)

Quote from: webny99 on March 07, 2021, 11:38:24 AM
This is just my opinion, but I'd prefer to use metro areas instead of cities. This would reduce the bias towards the South and West, where cities tend to have artificially inflated population figures as they annex all of their suburbs. Similarly, there's no reason why "cities" that are actually suburbs like Mesa, AZ or Arlington, TX should be on the list.

Yeah, having Mesa and Arlington on the list instead of St Louis is weird. But...a lot of MSAs are defined hilariously loosely. The Oklahoma City MSA includes all of Canadian and Grady counties, meaning US-81 and US-281 "serve" the OKC MSA. That's silly; in no way would you say either of those highways serves "Oklahoma City". Yet because Tuttle, which is clearly an OKC exurb, falls in Grady County, that county is added to the MSA.

Having Arlington on the list is kind of fun anyway because it's surprisingly hard to get if you don't live in an I-20 state.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: ran4sh on March 07, 2021, 02:14:34 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on March 07, 2021, 01:56:22 PM

Quote from: webny99 on March 07, 2021, 11:38:24 AM
This is just my opinion, but I'd prefer to use metro areas instead of cities. This would reduce the bias towards the South and West, where cities tend to have artificially inflated population figures as they annex all of their suburbs. Similarly, there's no reason why "cities" that are actually suburbs like Mesa, AZ or Arlington, TX should be on the list.

Yeah, having Mesa and Arlington on the list instead of St Louis is weird. But...a lot of MSAs are defined hilariously loosely. The Oklahoma City MSA includes all of Canadian and Grady counties, meaning US-81 and US-281 "serve" the OKC MSA. That's silly; in no way would you say either of those highways serves "Oklahoma City". Yet because Tuttle, which is clearly an OKC exurb, falls in Grady County, that county is added to the MSA.

Having Arlington on the list is kind of fun anyway because it's surprisingly hard to get if you don't live in an I-20 state.

Well that would be why the Census Bureau defines Urbanized Areas (and Urban Clusters) in addition to MSAs and CSAs. Urban boundaries don't have to follow county lines and they usually don't. Although that fact makes it slightly more inconvenient to answer questions like the OP, since the information about whether highway X enters urban area Y is not as readily available.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: webny99 on March 07, 2021, 02:18:50 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on March 07, 2021, 01:56:22 PM
Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on March 07, 2021, 12:14:42 PM
Sorry. I only skimmed the list and my perception of OKC was always that it was a smallish sort of place comparatively.

Tulsa's always been OKC's little brother–but Tulsa seems to get more attention from out-of-staters, possibly because its culture puts more emphasis on the arts than OKC's (making it "cooler"), or possibly because its name seems more exotic, leading it to be used in works of fiction more often than OKC when someone in the writer's room needs a city in Oklahoma.

Whoa, Tulsa more well-known than OKC to the extent that people might think Tulsa is bigger? That is stunning to me. Oklahoma is one of maybe five or ten states where I would have expected people to be able to name the largest city without so much as a blink, and get it right just by default (unlike, say, Kansas, where guessing KC over Wichita would be forgivable).


Quote from: Scott5114 on March 07, 2021, 01:56:22 PM
Quote from: webny99 on March 07, 2021, 11:38:24 AM
This is just my opinion, but I'd prefer to use metro areas instead of cities. This would reduce the bias towards the South and West, where cities tend to have artificially inflated population figures as they annex all of their suburbs. Similarly, there's no reason why "cities" that are actually suburbs like Mesa, AZ or Arlington, TX should be on the list.

Yeah, having Mesa and Arlington on the list instead of St Louis is weird. But...a lot of MSAs are defined hilariously loosely. The Oklahoma City MSA includes all of Canadian and Grady counties, meaning US-81 and US-281 "serve" the OKC MSA. That's silly; in no way would you say either of those highways serves "Oklahoma City". Yet because Tuttle, which is clearly an OKC exurb, falls in Grady County, that county is added to the MSA.

See, I don't have a problem with that, because at least all states (except Alaska) use counties, so there's some consistency from one area to the next: the MSA population is going to be slightly overstated almost everywhere (including here in the Rochester MSA, where including Orleans County is a big stretch; there's not even an obvious suburb to justify it).

In the case of a county like Grady, I have to imagine much of its population is centered in the suburban areas like Tuttle anyways, so including the entire county doesn't massively shift the population figures. Sure, it looks a bit expansive on the map, but if those areas are sparsely populated, it doesn't matter much.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: Scott5114 on March 07, 2021, 02:29:12 PM
Quote from: webny99 on March 07, 2021, 02:18:50 PM
In the case of a county like Grady, I have to imagine much of its population is centered in the suburban areas like Tuttle anyways, so including the entire county doesn't massively shift the population figures. Sure, it looks a bit expansive on the map, but if those areas are sparsely populated, it doesn't matter much.

Chickasha (county seat, dead center in the middle of the county) has 10,000 more people than Tuttle does. It's 32 miles via toll road from Chickasha to I-240 in OKC. I'm sure there are a few people that make that commute, but I've always considered Chickasha to be its own thing. It's certainly a big enough town that there are places to work there without commuting.

When you get to southern Grady County, there are places like Rush Springs that are absolutely not connected to OKC–they're in Chickasha's orbit, or Duncan-Marlow's, or even Lawton's, possibly.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: hobsini2 on March 07, 2021, 03:45:16 PM
(using Metro Areas rougly)
Illinois:
In State: Chicago
I-24: Nashville
I-39: none
I-55: Chicago, St Louis, Memphis, New Orleans
I-57: Chicago
I-64: St Louis, Louisville, Richmond, Norfolk/Virginia Beach
I-70: Denver, Kansas City, St Louis, Indianapolis, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Baltimore
I-72: none
I-74: Indianapolis, Cincinnati
I-80: San Francisco, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Chicago, Cleveland, New York City/Newark
I-88: Chicago
I-90: Seattle, Chicago, Cleveland, Buffalo, Boston
I-94: Minneapolis/St Paul, Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit
US 6: Denver, Chicago, Cleveland, Providence, Boston
US 12: Minneapolis/St Paul, Chicago, Detroit
US 14: Chicago
US 20: Chicago, Cleveland, Buffalo, Boston
US 24: Kansas City, Detroit
US 30: Portland OR, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia
US 34: Chicago
US 36: Denver, Indianapolis
US 40: Salt Lake City, Kansas City, St Louis, Indianapolis, Columbus, Baltimore
US 41: Milwaukee, Nashville, Atlanta, Tampa, Miami
US 45: Milwaukee
US 50: Sacramento, Kansas City, St Louis, Cincinnati, Washington DC
US 51: Memphis, New Orleans
US 52: Minneapolis/St Paul, Indianapolis, Cincinnati
US 54: Kansas City
US 60: Phoenix, Louisville, Richmond, Norfolk
US 62: Columbus, Buffalo
US 67: Dallas/Ft Worth, St Louis
US 136: Indianapolis
US 150: Louisville

Former US Routes in Illinois:
US 32: Denver, Cleveland, Providence, Boston
US 61: New Orleans, Memphis, St Louis, Minneapolis
US 66: Chicago, St Louis, Oklahoma City, Riverside, Los Angeles
US 124: none
US 151: none
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: webny99 on March 07, 2021, 06:19:48 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on March 07, 2021, 02:29:12 PM
Quote from: webny99 on March 07, 2021, 02:18:50 PM
In the case of a county like Grady, I have to imagine much of its population is centered in the suburban areas like Tuttle anyways, so including the entire county doesn't massively shift the population figures. Sure, it looks a bit expansive on the map, but if those areas are sparsely populated, it doesn't matter much.

Chickasha (county seat, dead center in the middle of the county) has 10,000 more people than Tuttle does. It's 32 miles via toll road from Chickasha to I-240 in OKC. I'm sure there are a few people that make that commute, but I've always considered Chickasha to be its own thing. It's certainly a big enough town that there are places to work there without commuting.

When you get to southern Grady County, there are places like Rush Springs that are absolutely not connected to OKC–they're in Chickasha's orbit, or Duncan-Marlow's, or even Lawton's, possibly.

That's fair. My point wasn't that most of Grady County is suburban - clearly that's not the case - it was more that the county's total population of ~53,000 isn't enough to dramatically shift OKC's place in the MSA rankings in one direction or another. Take out Grady County, and OKC falls exactly one spot in the rankings - behind #42 Raleigh but still ahead of #43 Memphis.

That's nothing compared to the discrepancies caused by the city annexation issue, which causes monstrous shifts, such as El Paso going from the #22 city to the #69 metro, and Jacksonville going from the #12 city to the #40 metro.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: I-55 on March 07, 2021, 08:38:59 PM
Indiana:

Within: Indianapolis

Not repeating any:
I-64:    Virginia Beach, VA
I-65:    Louisville, KY    Nashville, TN
I-69:   
I-70:    Columbus, OH    Denver, CO    Kansas City, MO    Baltimore, MD (if it makes it it's by ~50 feet)
I-74:   
I-80:    Omaha, NE    San Francisco, CA    Sacramento, CA    Oakland, CA
I-90:    Chicago, IL    Seattle, WA    Boston, MA   
I-94:    Milwaukee, WI    Minneapolis, MN    Detroit, MI

I-275:


US-6:       
US-12:   
US-20:   
US-24:    Colorado Springs, CO
US-27:    Miami, FL
US-30:    Portland, OR    Philadelphia, PA
US-31:   
US-33:   
US-35:
US-36:   
US-40:    Baltimore, MD (if I-70 doesn't get in)
US-41:    Tampa, FL    Atlanta, GA   
US-50:    Washington, DC   
US-52:   


US-131
US-136
US-150
US-224
US-231
US-421

25 out of 50
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: hbelkins on March 07, 2021, 09:43:39 PM
Louisville is bigger than Cincinnati? Cincy's not on the top 50 list? Both of those surprise me. I wonder how much of Louisville's population was gained with the city merged with Jefferson County.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: SkyPesos on March 07, 2021, 10:21:27 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on March 07, 2021, 09:43:39 PM
Louisville is bigger than Cincinnati? Cincy's not on the top 50 list? Both of those surprise me. I wonder how much of Louisville's population was gained with the city merged with Jefferson County.
Lexington's city proper population is larger than Cincinnati's too (323k vs 304k with 2019 estimates). And from the 2000 census (before the county merge), Louisville had a population of 256k.

You can see the large difference between city proper and metro population placement for a lot of Midwest/Northeast cities. Examples (2019 estimates):
St Louis: City proper population rank: 65, Metro population rank: 20
Pittsburgh: City proper population rank: 66, Metro population rank: 27
Cincinnati: City proper population rank: 64, Metro population rank: 30
Cleveland: City proper population rank: 53, Metro population rank: 34
Providence: City proper population rank: 143, Metro population rank: 38
Hartford: City proper population rank: 230, Metro population rank: 48
Buffalo: City proper population rank: 86, Metro population rank: 49
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: dkblake on March 07, 2021, 10:40:15 PM
Vermont by cities: Boston (I-93)

Vermont by metros: Boston and Hartford (I-91/US 5), since the NYC MSA does not include CT. I'd consider the end of US 7 to be in the colloquially defined NYC metro area, though.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: epzik8 on March 08, 2021, 07:10:33 AM
I-70: Baltimore (barely), Columbus, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Denver
I-95: Miami, Jacksonville, Washington DC (barely), Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City
I-295: Washington DC
I-495: Washington DC (barely)

US 1: Miami, Jacksonville, Raleigh, Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, Boston
US 13: Philadelphia
US 29: Atlanta, Charlotte, Washington DC
US 40: Baltimore, Columbus, Kansas City, Denver
US 50: Washington DC, Sacramento
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: JayhawkCO on March 08, 2021, 10:42:02 AM
Colorado:

Using Top 50 Cities:
I-25: Albuquerque
I-70: Kansas City, Indianapolis, Columbus, Baltimore
I-76: None
US6: Omaha
US24: Kansas City
US34: None
US36: Indianapolis
US40: Kansas City, Indianapolis, Columbus, Baltimore
US50: Kansas City, Washington
US84: None
US85: El Paso, Albuquerque
US87: San Antonio
US138: None
US160: None
US285: None
US385: None
US400: None
US491: None
US550: None

10/50

Using Top 50 Metro Areas:
I-25: None
I-70: Kansas City, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Baltimore
I-76: None
US6: Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Hartford, Providence, Boston
US24: Kansas City, Detroit
US34: Chicago
US36: Indianapolis, Columbus
US40: Kansas City, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Philadelphia
US50: Kansas City, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Washington
US84: None
US85: None
US87: San Antonio
US138: None
US160: None
US285: None
US385: None
US400: None
US491: None
US550: None

18/50

Chris
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: SkyPesos on March 08, 2021, 11:46:49 AM
Quote from: jayhawkco on March 08, 2021, 10:42:02 AM
US40: Philadelphia
Sometimes, I forget that Wilmington is part of the Philadelphia metro area.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: JayhawkCO on March 08, 2021, 12:07:00 PM
Quote from: SkyPesos on March 08, 2021, 11:46:49 AM
Quote from: jayhawkco on March 08, 2021, 10:42:02 AM
US40: Philadelphia
Sometimes, I forget that Wilmington is part of the Philadelphia metro area.

Yeah.  Had to do some cross-referencing.  Wilmington is part of Philadelphia but Provo isn't part of Salt Lake nor is Dayton part of Cincinnati. 

Chris
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: SkyPesos on March 08, 2021, 12:14:15 PM
Quote from: jayhawkco on March 08, 2021, 12:07:00 PM
Quote from: SkyPesos on March 08, 2021, 11:46:49 AM
Quote from: jayhawkco on March 08, 2021, 10:42:02 AM
US40: Philadelphia
Sometimes, I forget that Wilmington is part of the Philadelphia metro area.

Yeah.  Had to do some cross-referencing.  Wilmington is part of Philadelphia but Provo isn't part of Salt Lake nor is Dayton part of Cincinnati. 

Chris
I had to check myself on some of those too. Besides Provo and SLC, some combinations I thought were a single metro but really aren't are DC/Baltimore, Raleigh/Durham, Greensboro/Winston-Salem, San Francisco/San Jose, Los Angeles/Inland Empire, Cleveland/Akron. Most of those I listed are a single combined statistical area though.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: SkyPesos on March 09, 2021, 09:37:17 AM
Quote from: Crown Victoria on March 09, 2021, 09:31:36 AM
I have added a new thread: Reaching America's largest metro areas from your state https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=28727.0

Let's continue adding to both threads and see what we come up with! Please remember to post cities here, and metro areas in the other thread. I will try to keep running counts posted in both threads.
can't we do both in this thread and specify whether it's for a city or metro, like what some of us are doing here?
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: Crown Victoria on March 09, 2021, 09:44:55 AM
Totals so far (cities):
Indiana: 25 (24-1)
Pennsylvania: 24 (23-1)
Ohio: 23 (22-1)
Georgia: 21 (20-1)
Oklahoma: 21 (19-2)
Minnesota: 17 (16-1)
Maryland: 15 (14-1)
Michigan: 14 (13-1)
Oregon: 13 (12-1)
Colorado: 12 (10-2)


Vermont: 1 (1-0)

Totals so far (metro areas):

Ohio: 33 (30-3)
Pennsylvania: 32 (29-3)
Colorado: 18 (17-1)
Vermont: 2 (2-0)


Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities and metro areas from your state
Post by: Crown Victoria on March 09, 2021, 09:51:15 AM
Quote from: SkyPesos on March 09, 2021, 09:37:17 AM
Quote from: Crown Victoria on March 09, 2021, 09:31:36 AM
I have added a new thread: Reaching America's largest metro areas from your state https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=28727.0

Let's continue adding to both threads and see what we come up with! Please remember to post cities here, and metro areas in the other thread. I will try to keep running counts posted in both threads.
can't we do both in this thread and specify whether it's for a city or metro, like what some of us are doing here?

How about this...I changed the title of this thread. We can do both here as long as everyone tries to do both lists, and specifies which is which.

Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: US 89 on March 09, 2021, 10:10:23 AM
Quote from: SkyPesos on March 08, 2021, 12:14:15 PM
Quote from: jayhawkco on March 08, 2021, 12:07:00 PM
Quote from: SkyPesos on March 08, 2021, 11:46:49 AM
Quote from: jayhawkco on March 08, 2021, 10:42:02 AM
US40: Philadelphia
Sometimes, I forget that Wilmington is part of the Philadelphia metro area.

Yeah.  Had to do some cross-referencing.  Wilmington is part of Philadelphia but Provo isn't part of Salt Lake nor is Dayton part of Cincinnati. 

Chris
I had to check myself on some of those too. Besides Provo and SLC, some combinations I thought were a single metro but really aren't are DC/Baltimore, Raleigh/Durham, Greensboro/Winston-Salem, San Francisco/San Jose, Los Angeles/Inland Empire, Cleveland/Akron. Most of those I listed are a single combined statistical area though.

Yeah, the Census Bureau's inconsistency about what gets counted as one metro and what doesn't is really annoying. Because city proper isn't such a great measurement (some cities have annexed a lot of their suburbs, others have not), metro area should be a way to normalize those differences...but that doesn't work when some areas are held to different seemingly arbitrary standards. Seattle-Tacoma gets to be one metro but San Francisco-San Jose and Salt Lake City-Ogden-Provo don't? I don't get it. And some MSAs are a lot bigger area-wise than they should be in my opinion - as far as I'm concerned Heard County, GA has no business being in the Atlanta metropolitan area.

CSAs can work for this, but in a lot of cases they tend to be too big. Pahrump and Kingman, Arizona shouldn't figure into calculating the size of the Las Vegas metro, for example. 

In my opinion the concept of one MSA with several "metropolitan divisions" that they use to split Seattle-Tacoma should be more widespread for some of these multi-core urban areas.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: JayhawkCO on March 09, 2021, 10:28:32 AM
Quote from: US 89 on March 09, 2021, 10:10:23 AM
Quote from: SkyPesos on March 08, 2021, 12:14:15 PM
Quote from: jayhawkco on March 08, 2021, 12:07:00 PM
Quote from: SkyPesos on March 08, 2021, 11:46:49 AM
Quote from: jayhawkco on March 08, 2021, 10:42:02 AM
US40: Philadelphia
Sometimes, I forget that Wilmington is part of the Philadelphia metro area.

Yeah.  Had to do some cross-referencing.  Wilmington is part of Philadelphia but Provo isn't part of Salt Lake nor is Dayton part of Cincinnati. 

Chris
I had to check myself on some of those too. Besides Provo and SLC, some combinations I thought were a single metro but really aren't are DC/Baltimore, Raleigh/Durham, Greensboro/Winston-Salem, San Francisco/San Jose, Los Angeles/Inland Empire, Cleveland/Akron. Most of those I listed are a single combined statistical area though.

Yeah, the Census Bureau's inconsistency about what gets counted as one metro and what doesn't is really annoying. Because city proper isn't such a great measurement (some cities have annexed a lot of their suburbs, others have not), metro area should be a way to normalize those differences...but that doesn't work when some areas are held to different seemingly arbitrary standards. Seattle-Tacoma gets to be one metro but San Francisco-San Jose and Salt Lake City-Ogden-Provo don't? I don't get it. And some MSAs are a lot bigger area-wise than they should be in my opinion - as far as I'm concerned Heard County, GA has no business being in the Atlanta metropolitan area.

CSAs can work for this, but in a lot of cases they tend to be too big. Pahrump and Kingman, Arizona shouldn't figure into calculating the size of the Las Vegas metro, for example. 

In my opinion the concept of one MSA with several "metropolitan divisions" that they use to split Seattle-Tacoma should be more widespread for some of these multi-core urban areas.

I agree with everything you said.  I think using whole counties as the default for boundaries is crazy.  To your point, the whole of Mohave County, AZ shouldn't be "Vegas".  If you live just over the Hoover Dam, then that's a different story.  For Colorado, the southernmost cities in Weld County should be part of the Denver metro (and so should Boulder as an aside), but gets included with Greeley even though if you live in town like Erie you're probably 20-25 miles closer to Denver.

Chris
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities and metro areas from your state
Post by: NWI_Irish96 on March 09, 2021, 10:37:54 AM
Someone already did Indiana for cities, so here it is for metro areas

Rank   Metropolitan statistical area   
1   New York City-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA MSA  I-80 does not reach NYC but does reach the Metro area
3   Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI MSA  Part of the metro area is within the state
5   Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX MSA  *will be connected if I-69 ever is*
6   Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA   US 50
7   Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL MSA    US 27/US 41
8   Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA  US 30
9   Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA MSA   US 41
11   Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH MSA  I-90
12   San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA MSA  I-80
14   Detroit—Warren—Dearborn, MI MSA  I-94/US 12/US 24
15   Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA MSA  I-90
16   Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI MSA  I-94/US 12/US 52
18   Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL MSA  US 41
19   Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO MSA  I-70/US 6/US 40
20   St. Louis, MO-IL MSA    I-64/I-70/US 40/US 50
21   Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD MSA   I-70/US 40
22   Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC MSA  US 52 does not enter Charlotte but does enter the metro area
23   Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL MSA   US 27 does not enter Orlando but does enter the metro area
25   Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA MSA   US 30
26   Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA MSA  I-80/US 50
27   Pittsburgh, PA MSA   US 30 (plus I-70 enters metro area but not Pittsburgh)   
30   Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN MSA  part of the metro area is within the state
31   Kansas City, MO-KS MSA  I-70/US 24/US 40/US 50
32   Columbus, OH MSA  I-70/US 33/US 40
33   Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, IN MSA within the state   
34   Cleveland-Elyria, OH MSA   I-90/US 6/US 20 (plus I-80 enters metro area but not Cleveland)
36   Nashville-Davidson—Murfreesboro—Franklin, TN MSA  I-65/US 31/US 41
37   Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC MSA  I-64
38   Providence-Warwick, RI-MA MSA    US 6
39   Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI MSA  I-94/US 41
44   Richmond, VA MSA  I-64
46   Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN MSA  part of the metro area is within the state
47   Salt Lake City, UT MSA   I-80/US 40
48   Hartford-East Hartford-Middletown, CT MSA  US 6
49   Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY MSA  i-90 does not enter Buffalo but enters metro area
50   Birmingham-Hoover, AL MSA  I-65/US 31

So 36 right now with one more on the way.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities and metro areas from your state
Post by: US 89 on March 09, 2021, 10:39:41 AM
Using whole counties more or less works in the county-dense eastern and midwestern US, but the whole concept falls flat on its face in the West where counties are much bigger.

My favorite example of this is comparing Wendover, Utah (in the Salt Lake City MSA) to North Salt Lake (not in the Salt Lake City MSA). Wendover is 120 miles from Salt Lake and almost 100 miles from any sort of other population in Utah, but it's in the huge Tooele County. North Salt Lake is right in the middle of the Wasatch Front urban corridor and even borders Salt Lake City ... but it happens to be in Davis County and so it gets counted in the Ogden metro instead.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities and metro areas from your state
Post by: NWI_Irish96 on March 09, 2021, 10:54:57 AM
Quote from: jayhawkco on March 09, 2021, 10:28:32 AM
Quote from: US 89 on March 09, 2021, 10:10:23 AM
Quote from: SkyPesos on March 08, 2021, 12:14:15 PM
Quote from: jayhawkco on March 08, 2021, 12:07:00 PM
Quote from: SkyPesos on March 08, 2021, 11:46:49 AM
Quote from: jayhawkco on March 08, 2021, 10:42:02 AM
US40: Philadelphia
Sometimes, I forget that Wilmington is part of the Philadelphia metro area.

Yeah.  Had to do some cross-referencing.  Wilmington is part of Philadelphia but Provo isn't part of Salt Lake nor is Dayton part of Cincinnati. 

Chris
I had to check myself on some of those too. Besides Provo and SLC, some combinations I thought were a single metro but really aren't are DC/Baltimore, Raleigh/Durham, Greensboro/Winston-Salem, San Francisco/San Jose, Los Angeles/Inland Empire, Cleveland/Akron. Most of those I listed are a single combined statistical area though.

Yeah, the Census Bureau's inconsistency about what gets counted as one metro and what doesn't is really annoying. Because city proper isn't such a great measurement (some cities have annexed a lot of their suburbs, others have not), metro area should be a way to normalize those differences...but that doesn't work when some areas are held to different seemingly arbitrary standards. Seattle-Tacoma gets to be one metro but San Francisco-San Jose and Salt Lake City-Ogden-Provo don't? I don't get it. And some MSAs are a lot bigger area-wise than they should be in my opinion - as far as I'm concerned Heard County, GA has no business being in the Atlanta metropolitan area.

CSAs can work for this, but in a lot of cases they tend to be too big. Pahrump and Kingman, Arizona shouldn't figure into calculating the size of the Las Vegas metro, for example. 

In my opinion the concept of one MSA with several "metropolitan divisions" that they use to split Seattle-Tacoma should be more widespread for some of these multi-core urban areas.

I agree with everything you said.  I think using whole counties as the default for boundaries is crazy.  To your point, the whole of Mohave County, AZ shouldn't be "Vegas".  If you live just over the Hoover Dam, then that's a different story.  For Colorado, the southernmost cities in Weld County should be part of the Denver metro (and so should Boulder as an aside), but gets included with Greeley even though if you live in town like Erie you're probably 20-25 miles closer to Denver.

Chris

So, as a Census employee let me clear a couple things up.

First, OMB defines the metro areas, not us, though they are obviously using our data to do it

Secondly, a big part of what determines whether a smaller city gets its own metro area or gets included with a nearby city is the percentage of people who commute to the larger city for work. Provo having BYU probably means a lot more people work locally and fewer commute to Salt Lake than you might normally find in similarly situated cities. Now, with the increase in remote work, I wonder if the commuting factor might be reduced or possibly eliminated in the not-too-distant future

Thirdly, entire counties need to be counted the same way because there is not enough consistency in how states subdivide their counties to be able to split them, and I think there are some states that don't subdivide their counties so for people who live outside of a municipality there isn't any smaller area for which we tabulate data.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities and metro areas from your state
Post by: hotdogPi on March 09, 2021, 11:00:59 AM
As a census employee, I have a question for you: why are the cities in Massachusetts that are generally referred to as towns called "X Town", such as "Amesbury Town", "Barnstable Town", "Methuen Town", and a few others? Nobody uses that wording (not even in official settings or legal documents); they're just called Amesbury, Barnstable, and Methuen, even if people think of them as towns instead of cities.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities from your state
Post by: webny99 on March 09, 2021, 11:08:16 AM
Quote from: US 89 on March 09, 2021, 10:39:41 AM
Using whole counties more or less works in the county-dense eastern and midwestern US, but the whole concept falls flat on its face in the West where counties are much bigger.

My favorite example of this is comparing Wendover, Utah (in the Salt Lake City MSA) to North Salt Lake (not in the Salt Lake City MSA). Wendover is 120 miles from Salt Lake and almost 100 miles from any sort of other population in Utah, but it's in the huge Tooele County. North Salt Lake is right in the middle of the Wasatch Front urban corridor and even borders Salt Lake City ... but it happens to be in Davis County and so it gets counted in the Ogden metro instead.

It falls on its face from a geographic standpoint, because you end up with large areas of countryside that aren't particularly close to the metro area. But from a population standpoint, those areas tend to be so sparsely populated that it doesn't matter. Case in point: the total population of Tooele County is ~58,000 (that's as of 2010, so let's say 70,000 just to be safe). Subtract that from the total SLC metro population, and it hardly budges in the rankings, falling just one spot (below #48 Hartford, but still ahead of #49 Buffalo).

I made a very similar point about the OKC metro area upthread (quote below):

Quote from: webny99 on March 07, 2021, 06:19:48 PM
My point wasn't that most of Grady County is suburban - clearly that's not the case - it was more that the county's total population of ~53,000 isn't enough to dramatically shift OKC's place in the MSA rankings in one direction or another. Take out Grady County, and OKC falls exactly one spot in the rankings - behind #42 Raleigh but still ahead of #43 Memphis.

That's nothing compared to the discrepancies caused by the city annexation issue, which causes monstrous shifts, such as El Paso going from the #22 city to the #69 metro, and Jacksonville going from the #12 city to the #40 metro.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities and metro areas from your state
Post by: NWI_Irish96 on March 09, 2021, 11:08:36 AM
Quote from: 1 on March 09, 2021, 11:00:59 AM
As a census employee, I have a question for you: why are the cities in Massachusetts that are generally referred to as towns called "X Town", such as "Amesbury Town", "Barnstable Town", "Methuen Town", and a few others? Nobody uses that wording (not even in official settings or legal documents); they're just called Amesbury, Barnstable, and Methuen, even if people think of them as towns instead of cities.

Because there are a lot of places with two different levels of geography carrying the same name, in all of our data products, every level of geography below the state level carries a label, such as county, parrish, township, city, town, village. In your area this may not be an issue, but I need to know if I'm looking at data for Elkhart County or Elkhart City, for example, even though nobody calls it Elkhart City.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities and metro areas from your state
Post by: hotdogPi on March 09, 2021, 11:19:10 AM
In this list (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metropolitan_statistical_areas), #213 is listed as "Barnstable Town". None of the others do except for "Boise City", ID (#78).

The cities in Massachusetts I'm referring to are a specific set of 14, plus Amesbury (changed in 2011): look here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_municipalities_in_Massachusetts), and they're the ones with citation #4: the ones that are actually cities but are commonly referred to as towns. These erroneous names have made it into other sources, such as the game locatestreet (which no longer exists), where you have to guess which of four locations a specific street view location is in, and these 15 out of 351 have "Town" appended.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities and metro areas from your state
Post by: TheStranger on March 09, 2021, 11:21:28 AM
California based on its interstate and US routes.  I listed a city once by the lowest-numbered route that reaches it.

BY CITIES

Inside California: Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno, Sacramento, Long Beach, Oakland

I-5: Seattle, Portland
I-10: Phoenix, Tucson, El Paso, San Antonio, Houston, New Orleans, Jacksonville
I-15: Las Vegas
I-40:  Albuquerque, Oklahoma City, Memphis, Nashville, Raleigh
I-80: Omaha

US 6: Denver
US 50: Kansas City, Washington

(US 40: Indianapolis, Columbus, Baltimore)
(US 66: Tulsa)
(US 60: Louisville)
(US 80: Fort Worth, Arlington, Dallas)

TOTAL: 8 in-state, 19 out-of-state currently (total of 27),  formerly an additional 8 out-of-state

---

BY METRO AREAS (Top 50)

Inside California: Los Angeles/Long Beach/Orange County, Inland Empire, SF/Oakland/East Bay, Sacramento, San Jose/South Bay

I-5: Portland, Seattle
I-10: Phoenix, San Antonio, Houston, New Orleans, Jacksonville
I-15: Las Vegas, Salt Lake City
I-40: Oklahoma City, Memphis, Nashville, Raleigh
I-80: Omaha, Chicago, Cleveland, New York City

US 6: Denver, Hartford, Providence
US 50: Kansas City, St. Louis, Cinncinnati, Washington

(US 40: Indianapolis, Columbus, Baltimore)
(US 60: Louisville, Richmond, Virginia Beach)
(US 80: Dallas-Fort Worth)

TOTAL: 5 in-state, 24 out-of-state currently (total of 29),  formerly an additional 7 out-of-state
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities and metro areas from your state
Post by: NWI_Irish96 on March 09, 2021, 11:24:55 AM
Quote from: 1 on March 09, 2021, 11:19:10 AM
In this list (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metropolitan_statistical_areas), #213 is listed as "Barnstable Town". None of the others do except for "Boise City", ID (#78).

The cities in Massachusetts I'm referring to are a specific set of 14, plus Amesbury (changed in 2011): look here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_municipalities_in_Massachusetts), and they're the ones with citation #4: the ones that are actually cities but are commonly referred to as towns. These erroneous names have made it into other sources, such as the game locatestreet (which no longer exists), where you have to guess which of four locations a specific street view location is in, and these 15 out of 351 have "Town" appended.

Again, that is an OMB list and not Census, so I can't speak to why only those two are listed like that. If you are browsing census data, every municipality will have city/town/village after it.

As to the Massachusetts issue, your state's website explains it this way: There are fourteen communities that have applied for, and been granted, city forms of government, though they wish to be known as "The Town of" .
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities and metro areas from your state
Post by: ran4sh on March 09, 2021, 11:58:45 AM
Reaching America's largest metro areas from Georgia:

1. I-95 & US 1 - New York City
2. N/A - Los Angeles
3. US 41 - Chicago
4. I-20, US 80, etc - Dallas/Ft Worth
5. N/A - Houston
6. I-95, US 1, 29, etc - Washington
7. I-95, US 1, 41, etc - Miami
8. I-95, US 1, etc - Philadelphia
9. Atlanta - In-state
10. N/A - Phoenix
11. I-95, US 1, etc - Boston
12. N/A - San Francisco/Oakland
13. N/A - Riverside/Inland Empire
14. I-75 - Detroit
15. N/A - Seattle
16. N/A - Minneapolis
17. N/A - San Diego (but formerly US 80)
18. I-75, US 19, 41, etc - Tampa/St Petersburg
19. N/A - Denver
20. N/A - St Louis (I-24 does not reach the MSA)
21. I-95, US 1, etc - Baltimore
22. I-85 & US 29 - Charlotte
23. US 17, 441 - Orlando
24. N/A - San Antonio
25. N/A - Portland
26. N/A - Sacramento
27. US 19 - Pittsburgh
28. N/A - Las Vegas
29. N/A - Austin
30. I-75, US 27 - Cincinnati
31. N/A - Kansas City
32. US 23 - Columbus
33. N/A - Indianapolis
34. N/A - Cleveland
35. N/A - San Jose
36. I-24, US 41 - Nashville
37. US 17 - Norfolk/Hampton Roads MSA
38. I-95, US 1 - Providence
39. US 41 - Milwaukee
40. I-95, US 1, 17, 23, etc - Jacksonville
41. N/A - Oklahoma City
42. US 1 - Raleigh
43. US 78 - Memphis
44. I-85, I-95, US 1, 301 - Richmond
45. US 11 - New Orleand
46. N/A - Louisville
47. N/A - Salt Lake City
48. N/A - Hartford
49. N/A - Buffalo
50. I-20, US 78, etc - Birmingham
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities and metro areas from your state
Post by: SkyPesos on March 09, 2021, 12:20:03 PM
I like the above format with doing them by city/metro instead of highway, so here's the metro areas list for Missouri

1) NYC - None
2) LA - None, US 60, 66 formerly
3) Chicago - I-55 (1)
4) Dallas - I-35, US 67 (2)
5) Houston - US 59 (3)
6) DC - US 50 (4)
7) Miami - None
8) Philadelphia - US 40 (5)
9) Atlanta - None
10) Phoenix - US 60 (6)
11) Boston - None
12) San Francisco - None, US 40, 50 formerly
13) Riverside - None, US 60, 66 formerly
14) Detroit - US 24 (7)
15) Seattle - None
16) Minneapolis - I-35, US 61 (8)
17) San Diego - None
18) Tampa - None
19) Denver - I-70, US 36, US 40 (9)
20) St Louis - In State
21) Baltimore - US 40 (10)
22) Charlotte - None
23) Orlando - None
24) San Antonio - I-35 (11)
25) Portland - None
26) Sacramento - US 50 (12)
27) Pittsburgh - I-70, US 40 (13)
28) Las Vegas - None
29) Austin - I-35 (14)
30) Cincinnati - US 50 (15)
31) Kansas City - In State
32) Columbus - I-70, US 40, US 62 (16)
33) Indianapolis - I-70, US 36, US 40 (17)
34) Cleveland - None
35) San Jose - None
36) Nashville - None
37) Hampton Roads - I-64, US 60 (18)
38) Providence - None
39) Milwaukee - None
40) Jacksonville - None
41) Oklahoma City - I-35, I-44, US 62 (19)
42) Raleigh - None
43) Memphis - I-55, US 61 (20)
44) Richmond - I-64, US 60 (21)
45) New Orleans - I-55, US 61 (22)
46) Louisville - I-64, US 60 (23)
47) Salt Lake City - N/A (US 40 ends just east of the metro area)
48) Hartford - None
49) Buffalo - US 62 (24)
50) Birmingham - None

Total: 26 (24 out of state, 2 in state), 29 with former connections
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities and metro areas from your state
Post by: dkblake on March 09, 2021, 08:52:48 PM
Quote from: TheStranger on March 09, 2021, 11:21:28 AM
US 6: Denver, Hartford, Providence

US 6 also goes through the Boston MSA, which extends down to Plymouth County.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities and metro areas from your state
Post by: Crown Victoria on March 10, 2021, 09:50:11 AM
Updated rankings...

Totals so far (cities):
California: 27 (19+8)
Indiana: 25 (24+1)
Pennsylvania: 24 (23+1)
Ohio: 23 (22+1)
Georgia: 21 (20+1)
Oklahoma: 21 (19+2)
Minnesota: 17 (16+1)
Maryland: 15 (14+1)
Michigan: 14 (13+1)
Oregon: 13 (12+1)
Colorado: 12 (10+2)


Vermont: 1 (1+0)

Totals so far (metro areas):

Indiana: 36 (32+4)
Illinois: 35 (33+2)
Ohio: 33 (30+3)
Pennsylvania: 32 (29+3)
California: 29 (24+5)
Missouri: 26 (24+2)
Georgia: 26 (25+1)
Colorado: 18 (17+1)
Wisconsin: 15 (12+3)
Vermont: 2 (2+0)

*Numbers listed are total number (metros wholly outside given state + metros at least partly inside given state).
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities and metro areas from your state
Post by: roadman65 on March 10, 2021, 10:22:03 AM
New York: I-4, I-95 Ditto for Richmond, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Boston.
Chicago: US 98, I-75, I-24, I-65, and I-94.
LA along with New Orleans, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso,  and Phoenix: US 98, I-75, and I-10.
San Francisco Bay Area: US 98, I-75, I-24, I-57, I-64, I-70, I-29, and then I-80.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities and metro areas from your state
Post by: hotdogPi on March 10, 2021, 10:29:20 AM
Quote from: roadman65 on March 10, 2021, 10:22:03 AM
New York: I-4, I-95 Ditto for Richmond, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Boston.
Chicago: US 98, I-75, I-24, I-65, and I-94.
LA along with New Orleans, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso,  and Phoenix: US 98, I-75, and I-10.
San Francisco Bay Area: US 98, I-75, I-24, I-57, I-64, I-70, I-29, and then I-80.

This thread is about reaching a city or metro area from a single route. For example, US 41 connects Florida to Chicago, despite not being the fastest way. You can also begin from anywhere in the state.
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities and metro areas from your state
Post by: Henry on March 11, 2021, 10:48:16 AM
For my current home state of WA...

Within: Seattle

I-5: Portland, Los Angeles, San Diego
I-82:
I-90: Chicago, Cleveland, Buffalo, Boston
US 2:
US 95: Las Vegas
US 97:
US 101: San Francisco, Los Angeles
US 197:
US 395:
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities and metro areas from your state
Post by: ftballfan on March 12, 2021, 08:54:13 PM
Quote from: ftballfan on March 06, 2021, 11:36:24 PM
In Michigan: Detroit

I-69: Indianapolis
I-75: Atlanta, Miami
I-94: Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis
I-96: None
US 2: None
US 8: None
US 10: None
US 12: Chicago, Minneapolis
US 23: Atlanta, Columbus, Jacksonville
US 24: Colorado Springs, Kansas City
US 31: Indianapolis, Louisville, Nashville
US 41: Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, Milwaukee, Nashville, Tampa
US 45: Chicago, Milwaukee
US 127: None
US 131: None
US 141: None
US 223: None

13 out, 1 in
Michigan (for metro areas)

Within: Detroit (Grand Rapids will likely enter the top 50 with the 2020 census)

I-69: Indianapolis, Memphis (discontinuous)
I-75: Atlanta, Cincinnati, Miami, Tampa
I-94: Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St. Paul
I-96: none additional
US 2: none
US 8: Minneapolis/St. Paul
US 10: Minneapolis/St. Paul
US 12: Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul
US 23: Atlanta, Columbus, Jacksonville
US 24: Kansas City
US 31: Birmingham, Indianapolis, Louisville, Nashville
US 41: Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, Milwaukee, Nashville, Tampa
US 45: Chicago, Milwaukee
US 127: Cincinnati
US 131: none
US 141: none
US 223: none
Title: Re: Reaching America's largest cities and metro areas from your state
Post by: Crown Victoria on March 15, 2021, 09:51:02 AM
Updated rankings...

Totals so far (cities):
California: 27 (19+8)
Indiana: 25 (24+1)
Pennsylvania: 24 (23+1)
Ohio: 23 (22+1)
Georgia: 21 (20+1)
Oklahoma: 21 (19+2)
Minnesota: 17 (16+1)
Maryland: 15 (14+1)
Michigan: 14 (13+1)
Oregon: 13 (12+1)
Colorado: 12 (10+2)


Vermont: 1 (1+0)

Totals so far (metro areas):

Indiana: 36 (32+4)
Illinois: 35 (33+2)
Ohio: 33 (30+3)
Pennsylvania: 32 (29+3)
California: 29 (24+5)
Missouri: 26 (24+2)
Georgia: 26 (25+1)
Colorado: 18 (17+1)
Wisconsin: 15 (12+3)
Michigan: 15 (14+1)
Washington: 9 (8+1)
Vermont: 2 (2+0)

*Numbers listed are total number (metros wholly outside given state + metros at least partly inside given state).

So far, Indiana is maintaining its reputation as the "Crossroads of America" with the most metro areas and the second-most cities directly linked to.