Reaching America's largest cities and metro areas from your state

[Crown Victoria]

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.

[OCGuy81]

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

[ftballfan]

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

[TheHighwayMan3561]

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

[SkyPesos]

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

[Scott5114]

Minnesota
I-35: Kansas City, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio
US 75: Tulsa

(cough)

[Scott5114]

For everyone's reference, the top 50 cities according to Wikipedia are:

• New York City
• Los Angeles
• Chicago
• Houston
• Phoenix
• Philadelphia
• San Antonio
• San Diego
• Dallas
• San Jose
• Austin
• Jacksonville FL
• Fort Worth
• Columbus OH
• Charlotte
• San Francisco
• Indianapolis
• Seattle
• Denver
• Washington DC
• Boston
• El Paso
• Nashville
• Detroit
• Oklahoma City
• Portland OR
• Las Vegas
• Memphis
• Louisville
• Baltimore
• Milwaukee
• Albuquerque
• Tucson
• Fresno
• Mesa
• Sacramento
• Atlanta
• Kansas City MO
• Colorado Springs
• Omaha
• Raleigh
• Miami
• Long Beach
• Virginia Beach
• Oakland
• Minneapolis
• Tulsa
• Tampa
• Arlington TX
• New Orleans

[ran4sh]

From Georgia:

• I-95 & US 1 - New York City
• N/A - Los Angeles
• US 41 - Chicago
• Houston
• Phoenix
• I-95 & US 1 - Philadelphia
• San Antonio
• N/A - San Diego (but formerly US 80)
• I-20 - Dallas
• N/A - San Jose
• Austin
• I-95, US 1, 17, 23, etc - Jacksonville FL
• I-20 - Fort Worth
• US 23 - Columbus OH
• I-85 & US 29 - Charlotte
• N/A - San Francisco
• N/A - Indianapolis
• N/A - Seattle
• N/A - Denver
• I-95, US 1, US 29 - Washington DC
• I-95 & US 1 - Boston
• N/A - El Paso
• I-24, US 41, etc - Nashville
• I-75 - Detroit
• N/A - Oklahoma City
• N/A - Portland OR
• N/A - Las Vegas
• US 78 - Memphis
• Louisville
• I-95, US 1, etc - Baltimore
• US 41 - Milwaukee
• Albuquerque
• N/A - Tucson
• N/A - Fresno
• N/A - Mesa
• N/A - Sacramento
• Atlanta - In-state
• N/A - Kansas City MO
• N/A - Colorado Springs
• N/A - Omaha
• US 1 - Raleigh
• I-95, US 1, US 41, etc - Miami
• N/A - Long Beach
• N/A - Virginia Beach (US 17 enters the metro area)
• N/A - Oakland
• N/A - Minneapolis
• N/A - Tulsa
• I-75, US 19, US 41, etc - Tampa
• I-20 - Arlington TX
• US 11 - New Orleans

[Scott5114]

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!

[hotdogPi]

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.)

[webny99]

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

[skluth]

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.

[Crown Victoria]

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.

[hotdogPi]

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.

[Crown Victoria]

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.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

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.

[webny99]

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.

[Scott5114]

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.)

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.

[ran4sh]

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.

[webny99]

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).

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.

[Scott5114]

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.

[hobsini2]

(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

[webny99]

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.

[I-55]

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

[hbelkins]

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.