Second-largest Cities
Feb 18, 2009
Mark Dominus posted an article today about states’ second-largest cities and their relationship to the largest city. For cities he used Metropolitan Statistical Areas, though, which I felt made the results a little weird. In particular, many MSAs, especially those for large cities in the small eastern states, cross state lines, and it seemed weird to me to count those as belonging to a single state.
Because of that, I re-ran the analysis using the Census Bureau data for incorporated places instead. The table of results is below; I’ve left in the Census markers for what kind of entity is being considered. In particular, “balance” means that the named entity includes some smaller incorporated places inside it and those are being excluded from the population (ie, the population listed is the larger entity minus the smaller entities).
Under this definition, New York does in fact have the largest ratio between the largest and second-largest cities. Illinois, which previously occupied that spot, has dropped to second place; its previously-second-largest city of Peoria has been replaced with Aurora, which is near Chicago and thus was counted as part of it in the original analysis. Rhode Island, rather than having one city and thus no quotient, now has multiple cities and gets to have a quotient fairly close to the middle of 2.03. Hawaii, however, does not have any incorporated cities, and the only place included in the list is the City and County of Honolulu (as a Census-designated Place), so there is still an item with no quotient. As Mark did, I’ve placed it at the top and bottom of the list.
I haven’t really looked at much of the rest of the list, but it shuffled quite a bit. Pennsylvania, for instance, is now close to the top instead of being buried in the middle; it appears that about a quarter of Philidelphia’s MSA population is within Philly, whereas only 13% of Pittsburgh’s is in the city proper.
Here’s the full set of data:
| State | Largest city and its Population | Second-largest city and its population | Quotient | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | Honolulu (CDP) | 375,571 | — | |||
| New York | New York (city) | 8,274,527 | Buffalo (city) | 272,632 | 30 | .35 |
| Illinois | Chicago (city) | 2,836,658 | Aurora (city) | 170,855 | 16 | .60 |
| Maryland | Baltimore (city) | 637,455 | Frederick (city) | 59,220 | 10 | .76 |
| Alaska | Anchorage (municipality) | 279,671 | Fairbanks (city) | 34,540 | 8 | .10 |
| New Mexico | Albuquerque (city) | 518,271 | Las Cruces (city) | 89,722 | 5 | .78 |
| Michigan | Detroit (city) | 916,952 | Grand Rapids (city) | 193,627 | 4 | .74 |
| Pennsylvania | Philadelphia (city) | 1,449,634 | Pittsburgh (city) | 311,218 | 4 | .66 |
| Oregon | Portland (city) | 550,396 | Salem (city) | 151,913 | 3 | .62 |
| Massachusetts | Boston (city) | 599,351 | Worcester (city) | 173,966 | 3 | .45 |
| Indiana | Indianapolis (city, balance) | 795,458 | Fort Wayne (city) | 251,247 | 3 | .17 |
| California | Los Angeles (city) | 3,834,340 | San Diego (city) | 1,266,731 | 3 | .03 |
| Washington | Seattle (city) | 594,210 | Spokane (city) | 200,975 | 2 | .96 |
| Arizona | Phoenix (city) | 1,552,259 | Tucson (city) | 525,529 | 2 | .95 |
| Georgia | Atlanta (city) | 519,145 | Augusta-Richmond County (consolidated government, balance) | 192,142 | 2 | .70 |
| Mississippi | Jackson (city) | 175,710 | Gulfport (city) | 66,271 | 2 | .65 |
| Wisconsin | Milwaukee (city) | 602,191 | Madison (city) | 228,775 | 2 | .63 |
| Idaho | Boise City (city) | 202,832 | Nampa (city) | 79,249 | 2 | .56 |
| South Dakota | Sioux Falls (city) | 151,505 | Rapid City (city) | 63,997 | 2 | .37 |
| Nevada | Las Vegas (city) | 558,880 | Henderson (city) | 249,386 | 2 | .24 |
| Arkansas | Little Rock (city) | 187,452 | Fort Smith (city) | 84,375 | 2 | .22 |
| Vermont | Burlington (city) | 38,531 | South Burlington (city) | 17,445 | 2 | .21 |
| Kansas | Wichita (city) | 361,420 | Overland Park (city) | 169,403 | 2 | .13 |
| Delaware | Wilmington (city) | 72,868 | Dover (city) | 35,811 | 2 | .03 |
| Rhode Island | Providence (city) | 172,459 | Warwick (city) | 85,097 | 2 | .03 |
| Kentucky | Louisville/Jefferson County (metro government, balance) | 557,789 | Lexington-Fayette (urban county) | 279,044 | 1 | .00 |
| Florida | Jacksonville (city) | 805,605 | Miami (city) | 409,719 | 1 | .97 |
| Virginia | Virginia Beach (city) | 434,743 | Norfolk (city) | 235,747 | 1 | .84 |
| North Carolina | Charlotte (city) | 671,588 | Raleigh (city) | 375,806 | 1 | .79 |
| Maine | Portland (city) | 62,825 | Lewiston (city) | 35,234 | 1 | .78 |
| Ohio | Columbus (city) | 747,755 | Cleveland (city) | 438,042 | 1 | .71 |
| Nebraska | Omaha (city) | 424,482 | Lincoln (city) | 248,744 | 1 | .71 |
| Texas | Houston (city) | 2,208,180 | San Antonio (city) | 1,328,984 | 1 | .66 |
| Colorado | Denver (city) | 588,349 | Colorado Springs (city) | 376,427 | 1 | .56 |
| Iowa | Des Moines (city) | 196,998 | Cedar Rapids (city) | 126,396 | 1 | .56 |
| North Dakota | Fargo (city) | 92,660 | Bismarck (city) | 59,503 | 1 | .56 |
| Montana | Billings (city) | 101,876 | Missoula (city) | 67,165 | 1 | .52 |
| Utah | Salt Lake City (city) | 180,651 | West Valley City (city) | 122,374 | 1 | .48 |
| Oklahoma | Oklahoma City (city) | 547,274 | Tulsa (city) | 384,037 | 1 | .43 |
| Minnesota | Minneapolis (city) | 377,392 | St. Paul (city) | 277,251 | 1 | .36 |
| Missouri | Kansas City (city) | 450,375 | St. Louis (city) | 350,759 | 1 | .28 |
| New Hampshire | Manchester (city) | 108,874 | Nashua (city) | 86,837 | 1 | .25 |
| New Jersey | Newark (city) | 280,135 | Jersey City (city) | 242,389 | 1 | .16 |
| Tennessee | Memphis (city) | 674,028 | Nashville-Davidson (metropolitan government, balance) | 590,807 | 1 | .14 |
| South Carolina | Columbia (city) | 124,818 | Charleston (city) | 110,015 | 1 | .13 |
| Alabama | Birmingham (city) | 229,800 | Montgomery (city) | 204,086 | 1 | .13 |
| Connecticut | Bridgeport (city) | 136,695 | Hartford (city) | 124,563 | 1 | .10 |
| Louisiana | New Orleans (city) | 239,124 | Baton Rouge (city) | 227,071 | 1 | .05 |
| Wyoming | Cheyenne (city) | 55,641 | Casper (city) | 53,003 | 1 | .05 |
| West Virginia | Charleston (city) | 50,478 | Huntington (city) | 48,982 | 1 | .03 |
| Hawaii | Honolulu (CDP) | 375,571 | — </table> | |||