UAs >200K within 200 (driving) miles of your city.
 

A pretty straightforward little exercise here to count up the number of Urban Areas with at least 200,000 people that are within a 200 mile driving distance from your city.

why 200K within 200 miles? 200K seems like a round enough arbitray cut-off for where a place starts to feel like it has some actual weight of its own and 200 miles driving distance (~3 hours) seems like a nice round upper limit for easy weekend getaways (people obviously drive further for weekend getways, but beyond 200 miles, the "time in the car" really starts to eat away at the "being there" time for a short little weekend escape).

parameters:

1. any UA with at least 200,000 as of census 2020 is fair game. if there's a nearby UA that qualifies on distance with like 196,000 people, you can round that up a touch. but don't get silly with the rounding.

2. driving distance is from center of UA to center of other UA, as determined by google maps. so for eaxmple, if you type in "St. Louis, MO" to "Evansville, IN", it spits back 167 miles driving distance, so it counts. typing in "St. Louis, MO" to "Springfield, MO" spits back 216 miles, so it does not count. like with population, if there's a qualifying UA that's only a handful of miles beyond the 200 mile threshold, say like 205 miles or something, you can go ahead and round that down a touch, but again, don't get silly with it.

3. some major metro areas (especially the cali ones) get chopped up into all kinds of smaller UAs by the CB, despite their contiguoisity with each other. you may count them all, and also denote their contiguosity with the main UA if you like. determining the driving distance to these might be a bit nebulous because of their lack of a true "center", but if they're contiguous, it won't matter much anyway.



anyway, here's the list for chicago, ranked by distance:

Round Lake Beach UA: 261,835 | 58 miles (contiguous with the Chicago UA)
Rockford UA: 276,443 | 89 miles
Milwaukee UA: 1,306,795 | 92 miles
South Bend UA: 278,921 | 96 miles
Madison UA: 450,305 | 147 miles
Kalamazoo UA: 204,562 | 147 miles
Fort Wayne UA: 335,934 | 162 miles
Peoria UA: 259,781 | 166 miles
Davenport UA: 285,211 | 176 miles
Grand Rapids UA: 605,666 | 179 miles
Indianapolis UA: 1,699,881 | 185 miles
Appleton UA: 230,967 | 195 miles
Green Bay UA: 224,156 | 207 miles

I counted 20 within 200 miles of driving to NYC:

1. Albany-Schenectady, NY - 593,142
2. Allentown-Bethlehem, PA - 621,703
3. Atlantic City-Ocean City-Villas, NJ - 294,921
4. Baltimore, MD - 2,212,038
5. Bel Air-Aberdeen, MD - 214,647
6. Bridgeport-Stamford, CT - 916,408
7. Harrisburg, PA - 490,859
8. Hartford, CT - 977,158
9. Lancaster-Manheim, PA - 394,530
10. New Haven, CT - 561,456
11. Philadelphia, PA - 5,696,125
12. Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY - 314,766
13. Providence, RI - 1,285,806
14. Reading, PA - 276,278
15. Scranton, PA - 366,713
16. Springfield, MA - 442,145
17. Trenton, NJ - 370,422
18. Waterbury, CT - 199,317
19. Worcester, MA - 482,085
20. York, PA - 238,549

Total w/o NY UA: 16,949,068
Total w/ NY UA: 36,375,517

And about 17 from Detroit:

1. Akron, OH - 541,879
2. Ann Arbor, MI - 317,689
3. Canton, OH** - 295,319
4. Cleveland, OH - 1,712,178
5. Columbus, OH - 1,567,254
6. Dayton, OH** - 674,046
7. Flint, MI - 298,964
8. Grand Rapids, MI - 605,666
9. Hamilton, ON*** - 785,184
10. Kalamazoo, MI - 204,562
11. Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, ON*** - 575,847
12. Lansing, MI - 318,300
13. London, ON*** - 543,551
14. Lorain-Elyria, OH - 199,067
15. South Bend, IN* - 278,921
16. Toledo, OH - 497,952
17. Windsor, ON*** - 422,630

Total w/o Detroit UA: 9,839,009
Total w/ Detroit UA: 13,615,889

*Driving route <200 miles, but fastest route slightly over 200 miles.
**Slightly over 200 mile radius
***Based on Canadian metropolitan area designations

Toronto:

Barrie ON 68 miles
Buffalo NY 99 miles
Hamilton ON 48 miles
Kitchener ON 66 miles
London ON 120 miles
Rochester NY 168 miles
St. Catharines ON 69 miles


Oshawa is its own CMA, but it's part of the GTA so I didn't include it.

easy.

Boise:

zero

:cheers:

I think for Seattle, it's just Portland and Vancouver, BC.

Delete.

Buffalo:

St. Catherines ON 33 miles
Hamilton ON 65 miles
Rochester NY 75 miles
Toronto ON 99 miles
Kitchener ON 105 miles
London ON 142 miles
Barrie ON 151 miles
Syracuse NY 152 miles
Cleveland OH 189 miles
Pittsburgh PA 205 miles (shortest route, not preferred route)
Akron OH 207 miles (shortest route, not preferred route)

Buffalo, Rochester, and St. Catharines are a lot closer as the crow flies.

Hamilton:

1. St Catherines
2. Kitchener / Waterloo
2. Toronto
4. London
5. Barrie
6. Buffalo
7. Rochester
8. Windsor
9. Detroit

honorable mentions:

1. Syracuse (210 miles)
2. Flint (210 miles)
3. Erie (197,000 people in UA)


Hamilton excels more at the 4-5 hour drive mark, which draws in most of Michigan, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Ottawa, etc. The 7-8 hour mark gets you to a huge chunk of major US/Canadian cities - Chicago, entire US eastern Seaboard like Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, Washington, the three major Ohio cities, Indianapolis, Louisville, etc.. Much better for long-weekend road trips than a regular weekend road trip. I try to do at least one or two long-weekend road trips to a major US city every summer - last year was Chicago.. still have to figure out this year.

Akron: UA population 541,879 A part of 4 contiguous Urban Areas (Cleveland-Akron-Canton-Lorain/Elyria)

Cleveland 1,712,178| Borders
Canton 295,319| Borders
Youngstown 320,901| 50 Miles
Pittsburgh 1,745,039| 110 Miles
Columbus 1,567,254| 126 Miles
Toledo 497,952|137 Miles
Ann Arbor 317,689| 190 Miles
Detroit 3,776,890| 191 Miles
Dayton 674,046| 195 Miles
Windsor 306,519| 195 Miles

Close, but no Cigar, distance or population:

Lorain-Elyria 199,067| 51 Miles
Erie 187,820| 125 Miles
Buffalo 948,864| 207 Miles
Fort Wayne 335,934| 211 Miles
Cincinnati 1,686,744| 232 Miles

Windsor, Ontario is 195 miles away and an urban area well above the 200,000 cut off.

Same for Salt Lake City and Denver

For Columbus I count 17 cities from six states and one province.

Dayton (674,046) - 71 miles
Cincinnati (1,686,744) - 108 miles
Lorain (199,067) - 123 miles
Akron (541,879) - 125 miles
Canton (295,319) - 127 miles
Huntington (200,157) - 133 miles
Toledo (497,952) - 141 miles
Cleveland (1,712,178) - 142 miles
Fort Wayne (335,934) - 155 miles
Youngstown (320,901) - 172 miles
Indianapolis (1,699,881) - 175 miles
Pittsburgh (1,745,039) - 185 miles
Ann Arbor (317,689) - 189 miles
Lexington (315,631) - 189 miles
Detroit (3,776,890) - 202 miles
Windsor (306,519) - 205 miles
Louisville (974,397) - 207 miles

San Diego, CA
There are thirteen urban areas greater than 200k within 200 miles of San Diego. They are listed below, ordered by distance from Downtown San Diego. Three are in Mexico. For reference, San Diego's population is approximately 3.1 million

Urban Area | Population | Distance

1) Tijuana, BC, MX | ~2.1 million | 20 miles
2) Temecula-Murrieta-Menifee | ~530k | 60 miles
3) Mission Viejo-Lake Forest-Laguna Niguel | ~650k | 75 miles
4) Ensenada, BC, MX | ~440k | 80 miles
5) Riverside-San Bernardino | ~2.2 million | 100 miles
6) Mexicali, BC, MX | ~1.1 million | 120 miles
7) Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim | ~12.2 million | 120 miles
8) Indio-Palm Desert-Palm Springs | ~360k | 130 miles
9)Victorville-Hesperia-Apple Valley | ~355k | 145 miles
10)Santa Clarita | ~280k | 150 miles
11)Thousand Oaks | ~210k | 160 miles
12)Palmdale-Lancaster | ~360k | 175 miles
13)Oxnard-Ventura | ~375k | 185 miles

Total population of UAs within 200 miles = just over 24 million

Austin UA - 1.8 million

Houston UA - 5.9 million, 165 miles

Dallas UA - 5.7 million, 195 miles

San Antonio UA - 2 million, 80 miles

The Woodlands UA - 402K, 142 miles

Killeen UA - 257K, 68 miles

College Station UA - 206K, 107 miles


Close, but no cigar:

McKinney UA - 500K, 227 miles

Denton UA - 429K, 234 miles

Corpus Christi UA - 339K, 217 miles

Laredo UA - 251K, 235 miles

Waco UA - 193K, 102 miles

Galveston UA - 192K, 219 miles

Not true. Denver:

Colorado Springs - 765,000 - 70 miles
Fort Collins/Loveland - 367,000 - 70 miles

Also not true for Salt Lake City, with Provo and Ogden at 588k and 608k and immediately adjacent.

That’s not true for either city. SLC has Provo and Ogden UAs within 200 miles that are both well over 200,000.

Apparently, Seattle also has Bremerton and Olympia.

Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim: 12,237,376 - ground zero.
Riverside–San Bernardino: 2,276,703 - contiguous.
Mission Viejo–Lake Forest–Laguna Niguel: 646,843 - contiguous.
Santa Clarita: 278,031 - Contiguous.
Thousand Oaks: 213,986 - Contiguous.
Temecula–Murrieta–Menifee: 528,991 - 26 miles from Riverside to Menifee.
Victorville–Hesperia–Apple Valley: 355,816 - 35 miles from San Bernardino to Hesperia.
Oxnard–Ventura: 376,117 - 37 miles from Van Nuys to Oxnard.
Palmdale–Lancaster: 359,559 - 48 miles from Van Nuys to Palmdale.
Indio–Palm Desert–Palm Springs: 361,075 - 54 miles from Riverside to Palm Springs.
Santa Barbara: 202,197 - 82 miles from Van Nuys to Santa Barbara.
San Diego: 3,070,300 - 95 miles from Anaheim to San Diego.
Bakersfield: 570,235 - 98 miles from Van Nuys to Bakersfield.
Tijuana: 2,157,853 - 112 miles from Anaheim to Tijuana.

Total population of all the UAs with 200,000 or more residents within 200 miles of the Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim UA: 11,615,716

Total population of all the UAs listed, including the Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim: 23,853,092