Anybody know? And by another municipality, I mean incorporated town, village, city, etc.
In my home state, the best bet so far seems to be Janesville, population 60,000.
Does Honolulu count? It covers the entire island of Oahu, so it presumably doesn’t border on any other cities, and has 900,000 people.
I’d not be inclined to count Honolulu. I’m not sure where the city limits are precisely, but if one uses the borders of the Honolulu district, that abuts it up against Halawa Heights and Foster Village in the Ewa district.
And if the city limits of Honolulu are different from the limits of the Honolulu district, then there are tons of named enclaves within the Honolulu district, which I suspect would be municipalities in their own right. Waikiki, Manoa, St. Louis Heights, to name but a few.
Boise, Idaho is fairly lonely and has some 180,000 plus denizens.
Sandy Hook, Kentucky definitly has no neighbors but only boasts some 1,200 folks.
Remember that “municipality” can have a varying meaning depending on the state. For example, in North Carolina a “township” is purely a tax-map and deed area which never thought of having a government of its own, while in New York and New England the “town” (with the same general meaning – a space-filling area) is a local government, and often more significant than the villages that may be contained within it. The “Town of Hempstead” on Long Island has a greater population than several states.
I think we’d need a political atlas and the information of which states a “town” may be a municipality in, to resolve this.
Juneau, AK.?
Many suburbs are not incorporated. For instance, when I last lived in the Spokane area, only one of it’s suburbs (Millwood) was incorporated and it wasn’t immediately adjacent to the Spokane city limits. There are other suburbs, but none were incorporated, and the OP specifically says incorporated places. So Spokane at 195,000 might be an answer, if things haven’t changed since I moved away. I’d be surprised if it’s the largest, though
Hawaii is a special case when it comes to incorporated cities. It has either none or just one. The one (if you allow it) is the City and County of Honolulu, which is composed of the entire island of Oahu plus some uninhabited islands off to the northwest of the main island group. It looks like you don’t want to allow it, which is defensible.
Boise seems to be adjacent to a town called Garden City. I can’t say for sure, as mapquest’s maps and my road atlas don’t show city limits.
Anchorage, Alaska? The Municipality of Anchorage doesn’t abut any other city, AFAIK.
Hm. Spenard was once a separate city, but got absorbed by Anchorage. I wonder what to do about those sorts of cases.
Maybe Rochester, New York. It’s surrounded by towns that have their own local government, but they’re technically considered unincorporated under New York state law. If New York towns were considered “incorporated,” Hempstead would be considered the state’s second largest municipality, not Buffalo.
Well, since Irondequoit calls itself a town, has a police department, schools, and a population of over 50,000 and is right next to Rochester, I’d have to say Rochester doesn’t quite meet the spirit of my requirements.
Bainbridge Island, WA (pop. 20,000), since it’s an island, doesn’t abut anything directly. The bridge that connects it to the Kitsap Peninsula puts it close to Poulsbo and an Indian reservation (Suquamish?), but not really within walking distance.
Fairfax, VA (pop. 21,500) is surrounded by lots of inincorporated entities like Oakton, but its proper borders don’t touch any other incorporated city or town. It’s not an island of human habitation surrounded by desolate wasteland, but it meets the letter of the OP.
Las Vegas?
Abuts Henderson, so nope.
Missoula?
Jacksonville, FL? Note that it comprises the entirety of Duval County. From this map (zoom out and switch to hybrid view), looks like it might work.
Not an answer to the OP, but the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (pop. of about 690,000) doesn’t abut any other cities or towns.
Nope. Jacksonville / Duval County borders Orange Park in Clay County and Ponte Vedra in St Johns County.
I found a place that has maps of city limits: the US Census web site. It also has boundaries for unincorporated places known as CDPs (Census Designated Places).
Based on that, I can say for certain that Spokane is indeed not bordered by another incorporated place, but it is bordered by several CDPs. Whether this violates the spirit of the question is something Qadgop will have to decide.
Boise does abut Garden City, so it’s right out.
Las Vegas doesn’t seem to actually border Henderson as far as I can tell. However, North Las Vegas is an incorporated city and is adjacent.
Missoula has a couple CDPs adjacent, but no incorporated town. But it’s only 57,000 population.
So far, it seems to be either Spokane or Anchorage, depending on whether you accept the latter.
Under the assumptions in the OP, what is the “answer”?
Why?