# Largest U.S. City You Never Heard Of **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 27, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-u-s-city-you-never-heard-of/530682 "2010-02-27T20:55:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_With_The_Golden_Gun)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-u-s-city-you-never-heard-of/530682/21 "2010-02-27T22:49:18Z")
I’d never heard of Riverside, CA. So #61 here. ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-u-s-city-you-never-heard-of/530682/22 "2010-02-27T22:50:43Z")
#71 Henderson Nevada ---
**Author:** ![Proudest\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/proudest_monkey/32/13257_2.png) [@Proudest\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Proudest_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-u-s-city-you-never-heard-of/530682/23 "2010-02-27T23:02:54Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > #58, Aurora, Colorado Me too. Then Henderson, Nevada. (#71), and Chandler, Arizona (#76). All bigger than the biggest burg in my state (Maine). ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-u-s-city-you-never-heard-of/530682/24 "2010-02-27T23:11:07Z")
> [@KlondikeGeoff](#): > > Well, the City of Phoenix is already larger than Los Angeles, with more than 400 square miles. In area, that is. It is the 5th largest in population. That doesn’t mean much, though. A lot of cities, especially in the west and southwest, have large areas that are sparsely populated. In California (San Diego is 372 sm.) this resulted from the Spanish land grants of huge expanses for cattle raising, and subsequent lack of any motivation to divide the places up by separate incorporation. If L.A. wanted to call all of its surrounding incorporations (Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Glendale, Burbank, etc.) its own “boroughs” as New York does, it would have close to the same population. [QUOTE=TheFifthYear] Santa Ana..maybe there’s more to it than just an outpost of LA. Hard to say. [/QUOTE] It’s 30 miles from L.A., and there are about eight incorporated cities in between the two. It’s also in an entirely different county. That’s hardly an “outpost.” The notion that Orange County is somehow simply an extension of Los Angeles County (let alone the city of L.A.) is pretty bankrupt by now, especially to anyone who has spent time in either of the two. Is New Jersey just an “outpost” of New York? ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-u-s-city-you-never-heard-of/530682/25 "2010-02-27T23:18:31Z")
> [@](#): > > Is New Jersey just an “outpost” of New York? More like the outhouse. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-u-s-city-you-never-heard-of/530682/26 "2010-02-27T23:20:24Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > That doesn’t mean much, though. A lot of cities, especially in the west and southwest, have large areas that are sparsely populated. Here in the O K C, we have farmland, ranchland, and forest inside city limits. Very large area, only about half a million pop. > [@](#): > > Is New Jersey just an “outpost” of New York? Depends. What exit? ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-u-s-city-you-never-heard-of/530682/27 "2010-02-27T23:30:54Z")
> [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > #71 Henderson Nevada Actually, greater metropolitan Las Vegas includes three cities on that list; of course Las Vegas, but also North Las Vegas and Henderson (not including unincorporated Clark county filling in the gaps). If you ever come to visit and fly over Las Vegas when approaching the airport, you would never know where one of those three cities on the list ends and the other starts. To be honest, most locals couldn’t tell you for sure where Henderson or Las Vegas or North Las Vegas starts and ends. We live two blocks from the Henderson city limits but I would bet you my neighbors have no idea where the official city limits are! I had to go down to #137 to find Overland Park, Kansas - otherwise, I had pretty much heard of all the rest. It helps that I have family in Arizona and have been there, so knew a lot of those places. ---
**Author:** ![zoog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7ea924/32.png) [@zoog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoog)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-u-s-city-you-never-heard-of/530682/28 "2010-02-27T23:39:34Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > #90 Garland, TX. This one for me as well. I was amazed at how large some of those cities are. Virginia Beach is bigger than Miami? Omaha is bigger than St. Louis? Really? ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-u-s-city-you-never-heard-of/530682/29 "2010-02-28T00:10:13Z")
I think I have heard of Mesa, Arizona, but yeah, that (#39) was first one to jump out at me. I don’t recall (#58) Aurora, Colorado. I think I have heard of (#71) Henderson, Nevada. Chandler, Arizona (#76) is new to me. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-u-s-city-you-never-heard-of/530682/30 "2010-02-28T00:15:38Z")
Aurora, CO for me too. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-u-s-city-you-never-heard-of/530682/31 "2010-02-28T00:15:39Z")
I have heard of every city up to #89 Chula Vista, but to be fair I had no idea Aurora, Colorado, was so big, I was picturing a smaller resort town. Garland Texas I had also not heard of, nor North Las Vegas, but then it is 115 and 117 before I have never heard of these places. Still on the whole not too bad for a Canuck ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-u-s-city-you-never-heard-of/530682/32 "2010-02-28T00:43:19Z")
I had to go down all the way to #147, Cape Coral, Florida, before I ran into a city I’d never heard of. After that, it’s Pembroke Pines, FL (#160), then Elk Grove, CA. In fact, scrolling down the list, there are fewer than ten cities that I can honestly say I’ve never heard of. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-u-s-city-you-never-heard-of/530682/33 "2010-02-28T00:48:32Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > I got #117, Moreno Valley, California, before I said “bwuh?” Apparently it’s a suburb of Riverside which has grown to be larger than Little Rock, Arkansas. Go figure. Me too. I can’t say I _know_ anything about a lot of the cities higher on the list, but at least I’ve heard of them. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-u-s-city-you-never-heard-of/530682/34 "2010-02-28T00:59:47Z")
> [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](#): > > I have heard of every city up to #89 Chula Vista, but to be fair I had no idea Aurora, Colorado, was so big, I was picturing a smaller resort town. Garland Texas I had also not heard of, nor North Las Vegas, but then it is 115 and 117 before I have never heard of these places. > > Still on the whole not too bad for a Canuck Aurora is not a resort town. Picture an endless sea of tract housing and condo complexes. It is the eastern part of the Denver Metro Area. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-u-s-city-you-never-heard-of/530682/35 "2010-02-28T01:08:47Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > Same here. > > Edit: And after looking at the pictures of the top cities, I had no freakin’ idea you could easily see mountains and _snow_ in LA! I guess I’ve always seen pictures of LA taken either towards the ocean, or looking along the coastline. Many people who have never been there are somehow under the impression that L.A. is very flat. Parts of it are, but overall the topography is very rugged, with high mountains. In winter there can be lots of snow at the higher elevations, though it’s extremely rare that any of it reaches the areas where most people live, of course. I went to college there and in winter we often drove up to the mountains to play in the snow – it took about an hour. To answer the question of the thread, for me it’s #90: Garland, Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-u-s-city-you-never-heard-of/530682/36 "2010-02-28T01:15:15Z")
I looked earlier, and I’ve heard of all of them. Am I totally weird? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-u-s-city-you-never-heard-of/530682/37 "2010-02-28T01:50:23Z")
Back in the 40s & 50s, Orange County, CA was a series of small towns separated by 5-10 miles of farm fields. As was Los Angeles County, although it was a bit more developed. By the 80s, the towns had spread out over the farms until they all touched and now much of Southern California is one continuous mongo-urb almost from Oxnard to the Mexican border. The point being that while places like Santa Ana and La Canada had a separate existence as separate cities with separate identities at one time, now they’re little more than arbitrary administrative boundaries. The color of the cop cars changes and that’s about all that makes them different from the houses & shops on the other side of the street in the adjacent town. Phoenix & its constituents, such as Mesa, Glendale, Peoria, and Chandler, is similar. So it’s not surprising that people who aren’t locals have never heard of an unremarkable and undifferentiated 70 year old suburban town like Santa Ana even if it does have 300K+ residents now. The last time it really had a meaningfully separate existence was the middle 1960s. Me? I’ve spent time & stayed the night many times in #s 1 through 35 and most of the rest down to about #55. After that it 's sorta 50/50 whether I’ve slept there or lived nearby. The first one I \*think \*I’ve never heard of is #144: Grand Prairie TX. The first one I \*know \*I’ve never heard of is #179: Warren, MI. Of the last ten, #264-273, I’ve heard of 8, and stayed longer than overnight in 4. Apparently I’ve gotten around the major US cities and suburbs fairly thoroughly. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-u-s-city-you-never-heard-of/530682/38 "2010-02-28T01:59:54Z")
Late add … Upon checking, I find I’ve driven through #144 Grand Prairie TX a bunch of times & may have slept there a few times. Just another undifferentiated urb-chunk, but this time connected to Greater Dallas Fort Worth rather than Greater LA or Greater Phoenix. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-u-s-city-you-never-heard-of/530682/39 "2010-02-28T02:06:05Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > Same here. And me, although I’d heard of several past that. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-u-s-city-you-never-heard-of/530682/40 "2010-02-28T02:39:25Z")
I got gotten at #50, Arlington, TX. Which is kind of embarrassing, really, as I’m pretty good with U.S. geography. The list was very interesting though. Omaha is huge! It’s bigger than St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cincinnatti, Cleveland, Miami, Minneapolis and on and on. I had no idea. I was also really surprised at how small certain cities were. Savannah is unexpectedly tiny, as is Charleston. I would have thought that Springfield, IL was a lot bigger. And Kansas City, KS, too. I knew that Kansas City, MO is a lot bigger than KC, KS, but I didn’t know it was THAT much bigger. Wild. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-u-s-city-you-never-heard-of/530682.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-u-s-city-you-never-heard-of/530682.md?page=3)