NeoPatrick - Dallas-FW Metroplex is larger than Houston-Galveston.

Yes. That sort of thing was exactly my point --"Some cities have huge suburbs which are separate cities, therefore not counted into the total population." I'm not sure who "doesn't understand the difference between a city and a metropolitan."

Neo - I wrote my prevoius response while you were typing. I was mainly referring to phieaglefan and a few others who posted before about Dallas vs San Antonio.

Ok, but no problem and no offense intended. I meant my "yes" comment to refer to the one you had just made to me. The Dallas-Ft. Worth was a good example of what I (and others) had talked about.

Yes, I realize that Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex is bigger than San Antonio metro and even Houston metro, but I was only comparing cities.

What I was saying was that, even excluding the metro areas, I find it hard to believe that San Antonio has overtaken Dallas. I find the Dallas downtown to seem to be much bigger than San Antonio. Houston is definitely bigger than Dallas per se, but Dallas has Ft. Worth, Arlington, Carrollton, Addison, Grand Prairie, Irving, etc... Houston has Houston, Galveston, Pasadena, and that's about it. San Antonio only has San Antonio.

I think Phoenix is similar to San Antonio in that Phoenix is just Phoenix, with not much outside of it except desert.

Exactly. That's why Phoenix is the 5th most populous city in the country, even though its metropolitan is only 13th.

It's intersting that New Orleans can have a heavy dew, and prayer vigals break out all over . . the 4th largest city in the US takes a direct hit by a hugh huricane, and the only comments are suprise that it is the 4th largest city.

Amazing . . .

Yes, but it smells like #1

There are a couple of nice maps of MSAs and CSAs here:
http://tinyurl.com/4tpqky

Houston #4 doesn't surprise me. Yokohama being #2 in Japan does surprise me. Have known both facts for some time now, but the second one still surprises.

Yokohama is just a part of the Tokyo (city of 8.7 million) metro area (something like 20 million) but by itself it is the second largest city in the country at 3.6 million.

I too was only referring to the cities of San Antonio and Dallas and not the the Metroplex. I live in one and we go to the other at least once every 3 months and used to live there as well. Dallas plain and simple is far more the city, with city amenities than San Antonio, which is like a big ole country town! LOL Look at things like symphony and theater alone. San Antonio's offerings can't hold a candle to Dallas'. Dining options. My gosh...no comparison! Market...shopping in general! I'm not talking anything in Arlington, not including Ft Worth, not even including Richardson (LOL, whatever that might have), I'm talking Dallas only.

Patrick it seems impossible that Cape Coral could be #2. Does it even have a downtown?? If so, I've missed it.

Sure it has a downtown -- it's one long strip mall. But trust me, you didn't miss much!

You did note I said "by area", right? Cape Coral extends for miles and miles.

I wish that there were rules about incorporations of towns. I don't think it's right that a city of 600 square miles can be compared to a city of 50 square miles. Well, you know what they say about statistics.

Very interesting post. I was aware that Houston was way up there, still some surprised over a few of the fast growing places in the US.

How is the SMSA determined? Is there a formula or is it kinda hit and miss.

I remember seeing somewhere that Tokyo's metro population is something like 35 million. Hard to imagine.

http://www.census.gov/population/www...boutmetro.html

I think everyone by now understands the difference between a municipality and a metropolitan area. Since people can travel all over the metro, the metro is the real city. Many metros in the top 10 nevertheless have a small municipal jurisdiction in the center.

So it's meaningless to say that San Antonio is the 10th largest "city" when it is just the 10th largest city government. It is a mid-sized metro with a large municipality embedded within it.

Similarly, Dallas-Fort Worth is the 4th largest metro in the United States, but it has smaller municipalities embedded within it.