# What is the largest city in your country, that you have not been to? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 9, 2014, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-your-country-that-you-have-not-been-to/695191 "2014-08-09T22:17:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-your-country-that-you-have-not-been-to/695191/101 "2014-08-12T01:36:33Z")
Using this list: [List of United States cities by population - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population) 27 - OKC ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-your-country-that-you-have-not-been-to/695191/102 "2014-08-12T01:43:18Z")
Been to New York City and Chicago, but to Los Angeles. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-your-country-that-you-have-not-been-to/695191/103 "2014-08-12T02:25:35Z")
Houston! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-your-country-that-you-have-not-been-to/695191/104 "2014-08-12T03:32:28Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Houston is so Anytown, USA it’s almost scary. Other than the belt buckles you could be anyplace in the country (except, say, Honolulu). Looks like someone’s never been to the Southwest. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-your-country-that-you-have-not-been-to/695191/105 "2014-08-12T04:50:04Z")
Brisbane for me too. I’d be interested in going there, I’m not avoiding the place. ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-your-country-that-you-have-not-been-to/695191/106 "2014-08-12T11:30:52Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > While making disparaging comments on cities can – as mentioned upthread – be potentially risky: I think most Britons would be of the opinion that as regards Birkenhead, you’re not missing a great deal. Generally reckoned one of the country’s less interesting or appealing cities. This due in part, I think, to Birkenhead’s having long been overshadowed by its bigger, better-known, and more glamorous counterpart Liverpool, just on the other side of the Mersey estuary (Liverpudlians have traditionally dubbed Birkenhead, “The One-Eyed City”). Birkenhead has for long been characterised thus, by an acute inferiority complex: its inhabitants reckoned as tending to be surly and unwelcoming to outsiders, and fiercely proud of their town, on the principle of “no man loves his city because it is great; but because it is his”. As a bit of an aside, I’ve recently read Tim Moore’s book [‘You are awful (but I like you)’](http://www.amazon.co.uk/You-Are-Awful-But-Like/dp/0099546930) where he travels around many of the worst , poorest and least privileged places in the UK, staying only at the worst rated hotels on Trip Advisor and eating only the least appetising local delicacies. A form of self-torture, some would (rightly) say, but funny nonetheless. I would mention that he didn’t make it to Birkenhead in the book, so it can’t be too bad a place, in comparison to others at least. As another random aside, I’ve also been to the smallest city in the UK - St. David’s in Wales, with a staggering population of 1600. It was just like being in New York… ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-your-country-that-you-have-not-been-to/695191/107 "2014-08-12T11:58:55Z")
> [@MG1692](#): > > Sydney #1 > Melbourne #2 > Brisbane #3 > Newcastle #7 > Canberra #8 > Wollongong #10 > Geelong #12 Going on this list, mine goes to #17- Ballarat. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-your-country-that-you-have-not-been-to/695191/108 "2014-08-12T12:03:20Z")
Mesa, Arizona, [#38 in Wikipedia’s list](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population). ---
**Author:** ![Kiber](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kiber/32/317_2.png) [@Kiber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiber)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-your-country-that-you-have-not-been-to/695191/109 "2014-08-12T13:15:17Z")
Based on cities alone - #10 San Jose Based on metro area - #16 Seattle ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-your-country-that-you-have-not-been-to/695191/110 "2014-08-12T18:05:18Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Houston is so Anytown, USA it’s almost scary. Other than the belt buckles you could be anyplace in the country (except, say, Honolulu). I’m having a hard time fathoming the meaning of this. If you’re saying Houston is like every other place in America then why are you singling out Houston? Aren’t you just saying that all American cities and towns (except Honolulu) are the same? ---
**Author:** ![J-P\_L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/j-p_l/32/3156_2.png) [@J-P\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J-P_L)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-your-country-that-you-have-not-been-to/695191/111 "2014-08-12T19:06:05Z")
I’ve lived in Ottawa most of my life. I’ve been to Toronto, Montreal & Quebec City. I’ve never been to the western provinces so I guess it would be Vancouver. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-your-country-that-you-have-not-been-to/695191/112 "2014-08-12T19:11:12Z")
East Coast - Albany,NY West Coast - Fresno,CA (been down I-5 numerous times, but never cut over to Fresno) ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-your-country-that-you-have-not-been-to/695191/113 "2014-08-13T11:22:17Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > While making disparaging comments on cities can – as mentioned upthread – be potentially risky: I think most Britons would be of the opinion that as regards Birkenhead, you’re not missing a great deal. Generally reckoned one of the country’s less interesting or appealing cities. This due in part, I think, to Birkenhead’s having long been overshadowed by its bigger, better-known, and more glamorous counterpart Liverpool, just on the other side of the Mersey estuary (Liverpudlians have traditionally dubbed Birkenhead, “The One-Eyed City”). Birkenhead has for long been characterised thus, by an acute inferiority complex: its inhabitants reckoned as tending to be surly and unwelcoming to outsiders, and fiercely proud of their town, on the principle of “no man loves his city because it is great; but because it is his”. > [@Aro](#): > > As a bit of an aside, I’ve recently read Tim Moore’s book [‘You are awful (but I like you)’](http://www.amazon.co.uk/You-Are-Awful-But-Like/dp/0099546930) where he travels around many of the worst , poorest and least privileged places in the UK, staying only at the worst rated hotels on Trip Advisor and eating only the least appetising local delicacies. A form of self-torture, some would (rightly) say, but funny nonetheless. I would mention that he didn’t make it to Birkenhead in the book, so it can’t be too bad a place, in comparison to others at least. Seemingly numerous places more ghastly than Birkenhead – well… This has made me keen to get hold of this book by Tim Moore, of which I’d never heard before ! > [@](#): > > As another random aside, I’ve also been to the smallest city in the UK - St. David’s in Wales, with a staggering population of 1600. It was just like being in New York… Ah, yes, the British oddity by which a community’s having a cathedral (of the appropriate branch of Christianity), entitles it to be classed as a city. This rule has become somewhat blurred over the past century-plus; but St. David’s, with its cathedral, officially ranks at the present day, as a city. The same applies to its cathedral-endowed counterpart in North Wales, St. Asaph – with approximately twice the population of St. David’s. Another comical British cathedral-city feature involves the communities of Bath, and Wells, in the county of Somerset. Both have been classed as cities, since very far back: haven’t got population figures to hand – but while the former is of a size to fit the general secular definition of a small city (and has Bath Abbey, which at one time was a diocesan cathedral); the latter, which has a true, indubitable catheral, is a tiny country town some fifteen miles from Bath. The diocese is presided over by the Bishop of Bath and Wells. Hence the rhyme: The people of Wells Have a cathedral all to theirsel’s; But of their bishop they have to give half To Bahf. ---
**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-your-country-that-you-have-not-been-to/695191/114 "2014-08-13T12:07:51Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > Mine would be Houston (the fourth largest). I don’t think I’ve visited there, either. Dallas, Austin, San Antonio…but not Houston. A friend was there for a convention. She went outside three times. The first, to get a breath of fresh air and she immediately broke out in a sweat. The second time to test if it would happen again, the third to demonstrate it to a friend. Other than that, I imagine Seattle would be somewhere on the list, and we’ll be there next year or the one following for an Alaska trip. Been through the Denver airport, driven north of Denver, south of it, never actually in it. ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-your-country-that-you-have-not-been-to/695191/115 "2014-08-13T20:28:43Z")
I’ve changed planes at LAX, so if that counts than the largest city I have not visited is San Antonio (7th largest). If not, I’ve never visited LA (2nd largest). ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-your-country-that-you-have-not-been-to/695191/116 "2014-08-13T21:12:58Z")
New Zealand: #13 Invercargill, pop. 49,000. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-your-country-that-you-have-not-been-to/695191/117 "2014-08-13T21:30:50Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > NYC, the biggest city in the country. Of the 10 biggest cities in the US I think I’ve only been to 2-3 Ditto. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-your-country-that-you-have-not-been-to/695191/118 "2014-08-13T22:42:38Z")
Phoenix for me too. I have never even been very close to it. I am really weak on the the Southwest in general. I have been to Las Vegas and I go to the Colorado Springs, Colorado area several times a year but I have never been to West Texas, New Mexico, Arizona or Utah at all. ---
**Author:** ![Orionizer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orionizer/32/4442_2.png) [@Orionizer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orionizer)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-your-country-that-you-have-not-been-to/695191/119 "2014-08-14T17:16:22Z")
Los Angeles, CA ---
**Author:** ![Arabella\_Flynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8491ac/32.png) [@Arabella\_Flynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arabella_Flynn)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-your-country-that-you-have-not-been-to/695191/120 "2014-08-15T02:50:59Z")
Houston. I’ve never been anywhere in Texas, in fact. If you count cities where I’ve changed airplanes, then you have to get down to Indianapolis to find a non-Texas city I’ve never been in. I question the practicality of Wikipedia’s list, though. I used to live in Phoenix, and almost no one can tell you where the actual city boundaries are. When doing general population counts, they always count the entire metropolitan area together, mainly because there are no borders between the towns in it, but a very sharp dropoff into barren desert once you hit the edge. Residents will tell you that “Phoenix” is pretty much the same as “El Valle del Sol” or “Phoenix Metro”, and has flowed outwards to about thirty miles across at the widest now. In common parlance, it also includes Mesa (#35), Chandler (#79), Glendale (#87), Gilbert (#92), Scottsdale (#95), Tempe (#143), and Peoria (#149). According to a quick Google, the population is up to 4.3 million – roughly the same as Greater Boston. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-your-country-that-you-have-not-been-to/695191.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-city-in-your-country-that-you-have-not-been-to/695191.md?page=7)