# How long has NYC been the biggest American city? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 30, 2016, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-nyc-been-the-biggest-american-city/770119 "2016-10-30T14:55:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-nyc-been-the-biggest-american-city/770119/21 "2016-10-31T04:30:03Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > Why is either one ridiculous? šŸ˜• Both are places where large numbers of people commute\* to the center city to work, and for both examples thereā€™s a continuous belt of suburban development, with no rural area, in between. > > \*In the modern sense, but also in the original sense of using a **commuted** monthly train ticket. šŸ†’ I donā€™t know Chicago, but I know people who live in Baltimore who commute to DC. Long Island and NYC (ignoring the boroughs which are actually on Long Island) seems to have a much greater apartheid for want of a better word than DC and Maryland/Virginia cities. Although, Long Island is miles upon miles of endless suburban sprawl. Which raises another point, in the modern era, Metropolitan Area is more or less a better standard than city. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-nyc-been-the-biggest-american-city/770119/22 "2016-10-31T05:29:10Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > Why is either one ridiculous? šŸ˜• Yeah, Naperville is 20 miles from the city limits and has commuter train service (and isnā€™t even the terminus). > [@buddha\_david](#): > > Whereas the Columbus Metropolitan Area is only #3 in Ohio, behind Cincinnati and Cleveland. Although if the Census Bureauā€™s estimates prove to be correct, it will probably be #2 in 2020. ---
**Author:** ![Clark\_Cello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Clark\_Cello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clark_Cello)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-nyc-been-the-biggest-american-city/770119/23 "2016-10-31T14:46:43Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Nope, not even close - [Metropolitan statistical area - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas) I think a lot of people would include the Riverside-San Bernadino-Ontario MSA as part of ā€œMetropolitan LAā€, which would bring it somewhat close to NYC, though still, to your point, over 3 million behind. > [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > Iā€™m not familiar enough with NYC or LA to comment, but they apparently include Naperville with Chicago and Baltimore with DC, which is ridiculous. > > If the NYC metro area has to stretch the definition like that to include far off areas and LA has less of a stretch, there may be more tight definitions that push LA in front. Naperville should definitely be part of Chicago, nothing ridiculous at all about it. The entire area from Chicago to Naperville is contguous suburbs, and, as others have said, a huge number of people commute to Chicago (There are several express trains every day that go from Naperville to Chicago with no stops). Naperville is completely in the Chicago economic sphere. Baltimore and DC are not combined. DC is #6, Baltimore is #21. I think you may have been confused by the last column, which has Combined Statistical Area (CSA) in cases where multiple MSAs can be combined into one CSA. But they are still independent MSAs. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-nyc-been-the-biggest-american-city/770119/24 "2016-10-31T15:25:20Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Correct me, but depending on how you count, the LA Metropolitan Area might be larger today? Itā€™s difficult to consistently define a Metropolitan Area. Both cities could claim wider and wider areas that belong to their metro areas. Itā€™s clear that including areas beyond their borders they are both huge population centers. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-nyc-been-the-biggest-american-city/770119/25 "2016-10-31T15:59:08Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > Iā€™m not familiar enough with NYC or LA to comment, but they apparently include Naperville with Chicago and Baltimore with DC, which is ridiculous. Naperville is definitely metro Chicago, or what we call ā€œChicagolandā€ around here. Itā€™s a suburb of Chicago. How can it _not_ be considered metro Chicago? šŸ˜• ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-nyc-been-the-biggest-american-city/770119/26 "2016-10-31T16:07:47Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > but they apparently include Naperville with Chicago and Baltimore with DC, which is ridiculous. I used to live in Baltimore. I live in PA now and commute down to Owings Mills (a suburb of Baltimore) every day. Baltimore and DC have kinda grown into each other. It is all one big metropolitan area, though Baltimore and DC both still have distinct cultures and each has a beltway around it which kinda defines the city boundaries (sorta). Areas in the middle like Laurel and Glen Burnie are suburbs for both DC and Baltimore. Heck, the prices of housing are so bad in DC that there are some folks who live next to me in southern PA that commute all the way to DC in the morning. Each city has its own culture and area but thereā€™s no real gap between them. Itā€™s all one big city type area. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-nyc-been-the-biggest-american-city/770119/27 "2016-10-31T16:53:32Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > I used to live in Baltimore. I live in PA now and commute down to Owings Mills (a suburb of Baltimore) every day. > > Baltimore and DC have kinda grown into each other. It is all one big metropolitan area, though Baltimore and DC both still have distinct cultures and each has a beltway around it which kinda defines the city boundaries (sorta). Areas in the middle like Laurel and Glen Burnie are suburbs for both DC and Baltimore. Heck, the prices of housing are so bad in DC that there are some folks who live next to me in southern PA that commute all the way to DC in the morning. > > Each city has its own culture and area but thereā€™s no real gap between them. Itā€™s all one big city type area. Iā€™ll agree with that when you can take a Metrobus or Metrorail from one to the other. Not inconceivable ten years down the line, but last time I checked, DC Metrobuses didnā€™t go much closer than Laurel or Burtonsville, and Metrorail didnā€™t go past Greenbelt. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-nyc-been-the-biggest-american-city/770119/28 "2016-10-31T16:57:12Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > Iā€™ll agree with that when you can take a Metrobus or Metrorail from one to the other. Not inconceivable ten years down the line, but last time I checked, DC Metrobuses didnā€™t go much closer than Laurel or Burtonsville, and Metrorail didnā€™t go past Greenbelt. The MARC localā€™s not good enough for you? ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-nyc-been-the-biggest-american-city/770119/29 "2016-10-31T17:59:43Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > In 1776, Philadelphia was the largest US city, followed by New York, Boston, Charleston, and Newport. Heh. Newport didnā€™t keep up, did it? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2016, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-nyc-been-the-biggest-american-city/770119/30 "2016-10-31T18:08:12Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > Heh. Newport didnā€™t keep up, did it? Well, itā€™s still the best city, so thereā€™s that! JM, Newport Native. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-has-nyc-been-the-biggest-american-city/770119.md?page=1)