When does a metro become midsized or large?

[Dariusb]

At what point population wise in your opinion does a metro become midsized or large?

[Steely Dan]

Because I think county mash-ups are dumb, I'll use Urban Areas and say:

Medium UA: >500,000

Large UA: >2,000,000

X-Large UA: >5,000,000

[SFBruin]

This gets asked every once in a while, but I would say:

- Megacity: >10M
- Large: 4M - 10M
- Medium: 1M - 4M
- Small: <1M

[Metro-One]

For me I feel major changes happen at around:

500 000
2 000 000
5 000 000
10 000 000.

Of course there are other factors at play that make a city feel bigger or smaller.

The above it the most basic and generalized markers for me.

[BnaBreaker]

Obviously completely subjective, but the way my brain kind of processes it is more or less as follows:

Any metro under a million: Small

One to five million: Medium

Over five million: Large

Over ten million: Huge?

I know a lot of sources like to consider anything over a million to be a "large" metro, but it just doesn't feel right to put, say, Tulsa in the same group as a New York, or even as a Denver or Seattle... although upon further review I guess my arbitrary categories above do just that. lol... but you know what I mean.

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by BnaBreaker

Obviously completely subjective, but the way my brain kind of processes it is more or less as follows:

Any metro under a million: Small

One to five million: Medium

Over five million: Large

Over ten million: Huge?

I know a lot of sources like to consider anything over a million to be a "large" metro, but it just doesn't feel right to put, say, Tulsa in the same group as a New York, or even as a Denver or Seattle... although upon further review I guess my arbitrary categories above do just that. lol... but you know what I mean.

Sounds accurate to me., if Chicago is over 10. Can't remember.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by LA21st

Sounds accurate to me., if Chicago is over 10. Can't remember.

The CSA was like 13,000 short of 10M in the 2020 census. MSA at 9.6 million.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

The CSA was like 13,000 short of 10M in the 2020 census. MSA at 9.6 million.

And both measures include ~8 billion square miles of corn fields.

Not that it moves the needle a ton, because farmland doesn't have a lot of people to begin with, but going by the far more meaningful UA definition, Chicagoland was at 8.6M in 2010.

We still don't have 2020 UA figures yet, but perhaps Chicagoland inched up to 8.7 - 8.8M on that score?

[isaidso]

Depends on the country. For Canada, a mid-sized metro is roughly 500,000+ while a large metro is 1 million+. For a country like China, the goal posts move.

[iheartthed]

This is U.S. centric but:

Midsized: 1m ~ 3m
Large/Major: 3m - 8m
Big/Mega: 8m+

Other countries vary. For instance, Barcelona is roughly the same size as Detroit on paper, and it is just a sneeze away from being the largest city in Spain. Yet, it feels like a city several times the size of Detroit.

[xzmattzx]

In the US (and Canada), I consider basically any metro area with one of the four major leagues to be a large metro. Green Bay is a notable exception.

[Steely Dan]

^ the Packers still being located in little old green bay is such a fun and silly anachronism.

At 328K people, Green Bay is the 158th largest MSA in the nation.

The next smallest MSA in the nation with a major league team is Buffalo, the 49th largest MSA.


Up until 1994, the Packers actually played 2 or 3 of their "home" games every season down in Milwaukee's county stadium. They still honor the former season ticket holders of those Milwaukee games with the "gold package" which gives them 1 preseason and 2 regular season games a year up at lambeau.

My father in law, a rabid suburban Milwaukee packers fan, still has his 4 gold package seats nearly 3 decades later. He fully intends to pass them down to his daughters in his will.

[Buckeye Native 001]

Early NFL teams had some odd locations, including Portsmouth, Ohio, of all places. The Packers remaining in Green Bay is a fun little carryover from the earliest days of the NFL.

[Steely Dan]

^ the Bears franchise actually began life in 1920 as the Decatur Staleys. They moved up to Chicago a year later in 1921, and then renamed themselves da Bears in 1922, taking a cue from the MLB cubs, as both teams played at wrigley field at the time.

[SFBruin]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Not that it moves the needle a ton, because farmland doesn't have a lot of people to begin with, but going by the far more meaningful UA definition, Chicagoland was at 8.6M in 2010.

I tried to do my own research on Metropolitan area sizes a while back and I came up with just under 9.2 million for the Chicago metropolitan area.

Do with that what you will.

[Innsertnamehere]

To me it’s as follows:

500k-2 million - small city
2-5 million - large
5+ - xl

There are some suv-gradiations within that as well. Anything under 2 million I find generally lacks substantial pedestrian traffic at all times in the core, often doesn’t have rapid transit, etc, at least in the American context. 2+ million and you are looking at a substantial, busy core, typically rapid transit, and a wide variety of neighborhoods and services. 5+ and it just gets to another level.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

To me it’s as follows:

500k-2 million - small city
2-5 million - large
5+ - xl

There are some suv-gradiations within that as well. Anything under 2 million I find generally lacks substantial pedestrian traffic at all times in the core, often doesn’t have rapid transit, etc, at least in the American context. 2+ million and you are looking at a substantial, busy core, typically rapid transit, and a wide variety of neighborhoods and services. 5+ and it just gets to another level.

What would you classify sub 500k?

[Razor]

500-1.5 =small metro.
1.5 - 4.0 =medium metro.
4-10 = Large metro.
Over 10=megacity.

And yes I agree with others who stated that the goal posts changer per country.
Take Dublin, Amsterdam, and Halifax for example..

[biguc]

Seriously though, what do you guys call metros under 500K? Villages?


My observations:

Metros turn over to midsized somewhere around 350k. A this point they become large enough to support both a growing city centre and other nodes. Higher-order transit starts making sense. Culturally interesting things start happening.

Large happens somewhere around 3 million. At this point you can count on expansive urban areas or multiple very dense nodes. You also get the critical mass of people to support vernacular culture. For example, unique subgenres of music emerge in larger cities based on the market within that city alone.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Because I think county mash-ups are dumb, I'll use Urban Areas and say:

Medium UA: >500,000

Large UA: >2,000,000

X-Large UA: >5,000,000

Since Canada is a smaller nation, here it would probably be

Medium UA: >250,000 (Regina to Halifax)
Medium-Large UA : >500,000 (London to Winnipeg)

Large UA: >1,000,000 (Calgary/Edmonton/Ottawa)

X-Large UA: >2,000,000 (Toronto/Montreal/Vancouver)