Why Do Some Cities Seem Bigger

(or Smaller) Than They Really Are?


Or: How Can Mesa, Arizona, Be Bigger Than

Miami, Cleveland, St. Louis, and Cincinnati?


1. Older cities often seem bigger than they are. In 1950, Detroit, Baltimore, Cleveland, and St. Louis were (respectively) the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th largest cities in the country. (Today they're 18th, 21st, 45th, and 58th.) Their downtowns were built in the days when downtowns were really important - when downtowns were the undisputed center of a city's employment and retail activity. Many of their large, older buildings are still standing; as a result, these downtowns still give the appearance of being part of a very large city.

Also, many older cities in the East and Midwest became surrounded by suburbs quite early in their history; they were locked into their boundaries and unable to expand. Newer cities in the South and West (Houston, Phoenix, etc.) had plenty of open land around them and were able to grow freely.


2. Cities with big metropolitan areas may seem bigger than they are. Cities with large metropolitan areas are serving a larger population - even if that population is not necessarily in the city limits.

For example, Miami is the 44nd largest city (399,000) but has the 8th largest metropolitan area (5.5 million), while Tucson is the 33rd largest city (520,000), but with just the 52nd largest metropolitan area (980,000). The Miami area has NBA basketball, Major League baseball, and NFL football; Tucson has none of those. Miami seems much bigger than Tucson.


3. Cities that grew in unusual ways may seem smaller than they are. Several cities made dramatic jumps in population in recent decades when they consolidated with their surrounding county, or parts of the county. The downtowns of these cities - including Anchorage, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, Louisville, Nashville, and Virginia Beach - are smaller than those of many other cities with comparable populations.

The city of Columbus, Ohio, is a real oddity, in a positive way. It managed to grow consistently over the past 60 years by annexing surrounding land - while other Ohio cities got smaller. Today, Cincinnati and Cleveland look bigger than Columbus (if you're considering their downtowns), but Columbus has about as many people as Cincinnati and Cleveland combined.