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When Is "Top Ten" Not "Top Ten"?

Well, well, well. San Antonio has surpassed Dallas as the 8th largest city in the nation. Excuse me while I gag...

You see, San Antonio has been, is, and always will be insanely jealous of cities that truly earn the title "metropolis." S.A. will do what it can to make itself seem bigger, fancier, more important, or classier -- as most communities of any size often do. The problem is, S.A. is not a true "metropolis" in the sense most people think, and it certainly is not in a league with Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, San Francisco, and other such places. You see:

"At around 1.7 million in population, the San Antonio metropolitan area remains far smaller than that of the Dallas-Fort Worth region, which stands at about 5.6 million and is climbing heartily."

If you're still wondering how S.A. can be bigger than Dallas, and yet be nearly 4 million people "smaller" than D/FW, it's all due to city limits.

You see, San Antonio city limits DO contain 1,214,725 residents. Dallas city limits contain 1,208,318 residents. Therefore, S.A. has more people. But wait: if you gauge population according to Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA), then the Dallas metroplex contains 5.6 million people, whereas S.A. only has 1.7 million people. The reason is that the "metro" area surrounding Dallas includes Fort Worth and many large suburbs, but San Antonio has no such adjacent/bordering suburbs and communities.

And really, when most people think of "big cities," they are thinking of Chicago, D/FW, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and others of similar size, shape, composition, etc.

So where does San Antonio rank in terms of MSA? Number 29. Behind Sacramento, Cleveland, and other technically "smaller" cities.

Even if San Antonio continues to grow, it will eventually be overtaken by its nearest rival, geographically.

And in case you're curious, here are the top 10 metro areas in America:

2003 Metropolitan Statistical Areas Ranked by Total Population (2002, 2003) -- Largest 10 MSAs Source: Proximity (http://proximityone.com)
Rank	Code	Metropolitan Statistical Area Name	Population 4/1/2000	Population 7/1/2002	Percent Change 4/1/00-7/1/02	Population 7/1/2003	Percent Change 4/1/00-7/1/03
1	35620	New York-Newark-Edison, NY-NJ-PA MSA	18,323,002	18,603,110	1.53	18,640,775	1.73
2	31100	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA MSA	12,365,627	12,745,084	3.07	12,829,272	3.75
3	16980	Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI MSA	9,098,316	9,286,207	2.07	9,333,511	2.59
4	37980	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD MSA	5,687,147	5,751,803	1.14	5,772,947	1.51
5	19100	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX MSA	5,161,544	5,484,061	6.25	5,589,670	8.29
6	33100	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach, FL MSA	5,007,564	5,232,107	4.48	5,288,796	5.62
7	47900	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA	4,796,183	5,026,217	4.80	5,090,435	6.14
8	26420	Houston-Baytown-Sugar Land, TX MSA	4,715,407	4,986,399	5.75	5,075,733	7.64
9	12060	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA MSA	4,247,981	4,529,256	6.62	4,610,032	8.52
10	19820	Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI MSA	4,452,557	4,484,140	0.71	4,483,853	0.70
See Ranking for all 362 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (2002 population)

Posted at June 26, 2004 10:47 AM | TrackBack