What's the closest major city to where you live that you have never been to?

[clong]

I believe using 100k as the standard that Baton Rouge, LA would be my answer.

[COLORADOrk]

I live near Denver. I have never been to Oklahoma City.

[JayhawkCO]

I live near Denver. I have never been to Oklahoma City.

Also near Denver.  I'm pretty sure my answer is Fort Worth.  Been to Dallas, but not the west side of the metro.

Chris

[TheGrassGuy]

Boston

[Tom958]

From Lawrenceville, GA, near Atlanta: Myrtle Beach, 357 miles. If that doesn't count, Fayetteville NC, 376; Orlando, 461; then Cincinnati and Tampa, both 476. Not too bad How embarassing.

[Buck87]

going by the 100k standard mine would be Lansing, MI

[Roadgeekteen]

montreal

[DTComposer]

>500K: Mesa (been to Phoenix FWIW)
--(if we're not counting suburbs/etc. in larger metro areas, then Tucson)

>100K: Visalia (driven through, didn't stop)

The closest major metro (>1.5 million) I haven't been to would be Denver.

[Big John]

Grand rapids MI (as the crow flies)

[frankenroad]

For me, living in Cincinnati, it's Nashville.   I have driven through on 65 but as far as I'm concerned that doesn't count.

[TheCatalyst31]

100k: Rochester, MN
250k: Toledo, OH (unless you count driving by on the Ohio Turnpike)
500k: Detroit (unless you count the airport, which I don't since it's in Romulus)

[ran4sh]

Major city defined as:

A city that can be used in the dateline of an AP article without specifying its state: New Orleans
(List of such cities from http://www.gatehousenewsroom.com/2015/08/05/ap-stylebook-datelines-cities-that-stand-alone/ )

A city with multiple pro sports teams in NFL/MLB/NBA/NHL/MLS: Nashville

Defined by urbanized area population (2010 Census population figures):
500k: Nashville
250k: Nashville
100k: Rock Hill SC

[hotdogPi]

A city that can be used in the dateline of an AP article without specifying its state: New Orleans
(List of such cities from http://www.gatehousenewsroom.com/2015/08/05/ap-stylebook-datelines-cities-that-stand-alone/ )

This is a list of well-known cities, which favors the Rust Belt over the Sun Belt more than it should.

[NWI_Irish96]

A city that can be used in the dateline of an AP article without specifying its state: New Orleans
(List of such cities from http://www.gatehousenewsroom.com/2015/08/05/ap-stylebook-datelines-cities-that-stand-alone/ )

This is a list of well-known cities, which favors the Rust Belt over the Sun Belt more than it should.

It's not just about city size, though, it's also about uniqueness. Indianapolis and Oklahoma City make that list over larger cities like San Jose, Jacksonville or Columbus because there's never going to be confusion about which state those cities are in.

[DTComposer]

A city that can be used in the dateline of an AP article without specifying its state: New Orleans
(List of such cities from http://www.gatehousenewsroom.com/2015/08/05/ap-stylebook-datelines-cities-that-stand-alone/ )

This is a list of well-known cities, which favors the Rust Belt over the Sun Belt more than it should.

While this list is a holdover from days when the Rust Belt had a much greater percentage of the nation's population, it's not that skewed: 12 cities on the list of 30 are in the Sun Belt vs 10 in the Rust Belt. This list does still represent 14 of the 20 largest cities and 20 of the 25 largest metro areas in the country.

[kkt]

They went to the trouble of making a web page for the AP Style cities that don't need a state, and didn't put the international cities that don't need countries on it as well?  Nuts.  Try this one.  It does pop up annoying requests to join a mailing list, but you don't have to join to see the list of cities:

https://coschedule.com/blog/ap-style-cheat-sheet/#cities

[Bitmapped]

For me in northern West Virginia, it would be Rochester, NY (350 miles by car).

[roadman65]

Jackson, MS.

[FrCorySticha]

I live in a region of the US without a lot of cities over 100K, so it's not hard to visit them at some point. However, it looks like Boise, ID, is the closest major city that I've not visited.

[CoreySamson]

Using the 100k standard, I get this:

100k: The Woodlands
250k: Corpus Christi
500k: Dallas

[Flint1979]

I live in Grand Rapids, MI.  If 100,000 is the criteria then I believe the closest city I haven't been to would be Peoria, IL, which bare qualifies.  Looks to be about 250 miles away.

Exactly.
For cities above 100k Peoria would be my closest.

And I can't see any reason I would be there.

I've been to Peoria twice just driving through and both times I had to use I-474 instead of I-74 due to construction at the Illinois River on I-74.

[achilles765]

I've never been to Dallas even though I live in Houston.

Frankly I don't think you're missing anything. I've never been too impressed by Dallas.
I live in Houston too and I've never been to Austin.

[BigRTM]

I live in Tampa. If you mean major cities/metro areas it would be...


Nashville, TN


The other closer ones, I have been to.


Orlando
Jacksonville
Miami
Atlanta
Charlotte
New Orleans

[SectorZ]

For me, the closest technical city is Hallowell, Maine.

For a large city, Montreal I would guess. I've also never been in NYC outside of I-95 thru it.

[dkblake]

I'm in VT...if we're going by cities that I've only driven through, then I think Columbus and Virginia Beach. For cities I've never gone to at all, then probably Wilmington or Chattanooga. It helps to have lived a number of places in the greater northeast before moving further north and east...