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Houston And Phoenix


Houston or Phoenix  

46 members have voted

  1. 1. Houston or Phoenix

    • Houston
      38
    • Phoenix
      8


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This lends some perspective to our belief that we're the Fourth Largest City - and why the rest of the nation doesn't view us that way.

Hence the city population. Thats how they figure size. But this will only take us to an infinant arqument. Well Houston's total Metro is the biggest in the country (total square miles). But the metro population is like 11th or whatever. but the population (in the city) is 4th. The census (and everyone else go by city populations, as in the city limits. Chicago's has gone down, due to urban sprawl, as well as Detroit. Urban sprawl is effecting Houston, but the total population growth (city + metro) is growing. Chicago's & Detroit's metro population has increased, most dramaically, Chicago being the prime example.

Will Houston's city population pass up Chicago's? probibly. Maybe even Phoenix. But no one knows what could happen. There only estimating by past expieriences. Houston may pass Chicago's city, but will we ever build as many buildings as they have? Will our metro out grow theres? Will our economy be better then theres? Could we measure up to there "World Class" Reputation? Its only based on opion. No one could have guessed in 1920 that Los Angeles would pass up Chicago. So why should we be so concerned? Just let things happen... :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

slightly off-topc, but since the posts are now skewed towards MSA's I decided to post this here.

an article about Texas MSA's

Ray Perryman

Even though Texas encompasses such a large area, the lion's share of the population, some 85 percent, resides in just under 27 percent of it - in areas designated as metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs).

Formal designations of metropolitan areas were initially made in 1949. By definition, they are areas with a substantial population center of at least 50,000 persons and core census tracts or block groups with densities of 1,000 persons per square mile. MSAs are named for the largest city in the area and always follow county lines. Where an MSA contains more than one county, all of the counties have a substantial degree of economic homogeneity and are economically integrated through commuting patterns.

Changes to MSA designations are considered every decade and are determined by the official U.S. Census Bureau figures. Before 2004, there were 27 Texas metro areas formed of 58 counties. Those MSAs generated about 92 percent of the state's real gross product (RGP or output) in 2003 (up from 90 percent in 1993). As of this year, the Census Bureau redefined the metro areas and there are now 25 MSAs in the Lone Star state accounting for 77 of the 254 counties.

These changes resulted in adding 22 counties and dropping three. The San Antonio MSA gained four new counties, the most for any Texas metro thanks to its rapid outward expansion. With the division of the Odessa-Midland metro, there are now nine single-county MSAs. The new Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington MSA includes the most counties with 12. This metro area is a combination of what used to be two MSAs (Dallas and Fort Worth-Arlington). The area is subdivided into two metropolitan divisions-Dallas-Plano-Irving and Fort Worth-Arlington.

Because of the relative growth rates among cities, six MSAs were given new names by adding or removing the names of cities included in the previous designation. Two were created - Midland and Odessa - in splitting the Odessa-Midland MSA (which were joined together after the 1990 Census). The former Brazoria and Galveston-Texas City MSAs are now included in the Houston-Baytown-Sugar Land MSA.

While the acronym MSA is not a regular part of the vocabulary of many Texans and changes in metro area definitions may appear to be far removed from daily life, they actually influence many business decisions. For example, through the addition of four counties, the reported size of the San Antonio MSA population (and other measures of business activity) will jump significantly. For companies considering corporate locations, these larger numbers may make San Antonio more competitive. For Odessa and Midland, splitting the metro areas leaves us with two small MSAs rather than one that is larger, which may hamper efforts to attract attention in the national scene as a potential place to do business or open a retail establishment.

The fact is, those analyzing economic data are typically doing so using MSA definitions. They don't always look at a map to recognize that Odessa and Midland, or Tyler and Longview, or Waco and Killeen-Temple, or Brownsville-Harlingen and McAllen-Edinburg-Pharr, are in adjacent counties and have substantial interaction. As evolving demographics lead to shifts in the way the Census Bureau (and all other federal entities) define MSAs and report statistics, the dynamics of cities can change. Adding fast-growing outlying counties, for example, can enhance the perceived prospects of a metro area.

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  • 2 years later...

Chicago proponents must eat their words. City proper and Cook County losing population. It is called "white flight" and very much their problem. Houston has grown to 2.1 mil. and Chi-town is getting down to 2.7 mil. Ya know where this is going to go. Yeah, their metro will be larger, but our city will be the third largest in the USA. I've seen Houston grow from 7th to 4th and it isn't going to digress. :P

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I grew up herein Houston and voted Houston (recently moved back to Houston)

I lived in Phoenix for a while and absolutely love the city.

as for size wise- Phoenix has a long way to go to come close to being the size of Houston population wise I believe.

Phoenix has much larger suburbian communities than Houston with much of the population of the area being in the east valley- Mesa, Scottsdale, Chandler and Gilbert.

Phoenix does not have a major downtown like Houston- in fact its not even close, probably closer to the size of the Galleria and still not that big.

Phoenix is not a concentrically located city like Houston nor does it have as major corporate structure like Houston...

Phoenix has lots of manufacuring facilities places like Intel, Boeing, Motorola (used to be), Honeywell, etc that are spread out throughout the city in various locations not necessarily in Phoenix proper.

Tourism is also a major employment industry in Phoenix.

that being said Phoenix has lots of other cities that make up the area- these cities seem to house a lot of employment so I'm not sure you'll ever see a revitalization of inner Phoenix like we've seen in Houston...

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  • 1 month later...

Houston will reach it faster because of its relative core. Phoenix has larger suburbs and is not quite so tight as such.

My mom did a nursing assignment out there for a few months and I drove to visit from San Diego.

It is Sunbelt like Houston in terms of long broadways, freeways, sprawl and strip centers. But it is interesting as I see a sort of strip that connects Phoenix's two main business districts. It seems that there are two midsize skylines noticeable.

The vibe of Phoenix to me was quite friendly and as a city, I liked it even more than San Diego. Tempe's entertainment district is cool. It's sort of like an Ybor City or clean cut Deep Ellum type environment.

But I'm not a desert person. I love greenways and more green and trees...ah, Houston!

Charles Barkley is very, very fond of Phoenix though and considers that town to be in his top five or six cities in the world (he had his list on Inside the NBA one night).

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I think Phoenix is pretty. I love the mountains in the background. The skyline is very small compared to H-town's, but NY and Chicago can say H-town's skyline is small. It is all relative.

Phoenix grew by 337,642 from 1990 to 2005 - population 1,461,575 (2005)

Houston grew by 323,078 .... coming in at 2,016,582 (2005)

At this rate, Phoenix will not approach 2,000,000 for a couple of decades. It may take longer for Houston to overtake Chicago unless Chicago drops significantly and Houston's growth continues. It also appears Houston no longer is in the annexation mode. The Woodlands and Houston have decided to be separate entities (at least for now). I like that idea. Houston is large enough already. Quite frankly, I liked Houston a lot when I moved here and the population was around 1,232,000. Now is it almost double that and I can only imagine ten years from now ...

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I think Phoenix is one of the uglier cities in the country. Anywhere you go without trees is pretty ugly to me. Everything is the same color there, the landscape, the buildings, etc. You add the heat in with that plus no shade and you have a pretty miserable city. I'm not sure why people live there, other than it's cheaper than Cali.

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I think Phoenix is one of the uglier cities in the country. Anywhere you go without trees is pretty ugly to me. Everything is the same color there, the landscape, the buildings, etc. You add the heat in with that plus no shade and you have a pretty miserable city. I'm not sure why people live there, other than it's cheaper than Cali.

Take away everything you think is good about Houston including trees and different color buildings, and then factor in the humidity and mosqiutos of Houston, and I could ask the same thing. Personally, the humidity isn't THAT bad, although it's nothing to enjoy, but I can hardly explain how I've tolerated the mosquitos my whole life. They can make life miserable.

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