At what point is a metro considered midsized or large?

[Dariusb]

In your opinion at what population does a metro become midsized or large?

[SIGSEGV]

Just halfassing numbers, I'd say mid-size at 750k and large at 3 million.

[JAYNYC]

Originally Posted by Dariusb

In your opinion at what population does a metro become midsized or large?

Midsized: 1,250,000 (Salt Lake City)

Large: 4,000,000 (Seattle)

[SpawnOfVulcan]

I generally go with 1 million + as mid-sized and 2.5 million + for large.

[mthd]

using the broader definition of metro areas (CSA for the US)

small metro <2M
e.g. memphis, birmingham, boise, reno

mid-size 2-7M
e.g. austin, denver, seattle, phoenix, cleveland, minneapolis

large 7-20M
e.g. dallas, houston, washington dc, san francisco, chicago

mega 20+M
e.g. new york, mexico city

about half of the >1M metros are "mid-size", which is how one should define "mid-size," as the fat middle part of the bell curve. large and mega roughly correspond to the top 10 (top 9).

it also corresponds with my on the ground experience of most of these places; denver feels mid-size, not large, cincinatti feels mid-size, not small, the bay area feels large, not mega.

[iheartthed]

Large: +4M (give or take)
Mid: 1 - 4M-ish

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by Dariusb

In your opinion at what population does a metro become midsized or large?

Depends on what country you're from and even there it varies depending on where specifically ones from. Personally:

Small metro: 500,000 - 2 million (Milwaukee, Calgary, New Orleans, Winnipeg, Salt Lake City)
Midsize metro: 2 - 4 million (Portland, Tampa, Vancouver, Pittsburgh, San Diego)
Large metro: 4 million+ (San Francisco, Montreal, Miami, Toronto, Chicago)

Once a place gets up around 9-10 million it's a whole other category again: Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York

[xzmattzx]

To me, with some exceptions, it's when you get one of the four major sports. Multiple teams solidifies that.

So, Nashville, Cincinnati, Boston, Las Vegas, Kansas City, Tampa/St. Petersburg, etc, are all large metros. Omaha, Boise, Albuquerque, Tulsa, Lexington, etc are not quite there yet.

[Obadno]

To be quite honest any metro/region with less than 1 million I consider a “town”

1–3 is midsize

3-10 is large and as others have said megacities are in a category all their own

And despite the large having a big range realistically there are less than 20
Metros in the us over 3 million

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

To me, with some exceptions, it's when you get one of the four major sports. Multiple teams solidifies that.

So, Nashville, Cincinnati, Boston, Las Vegas, Kansas City, Tampa/St. Petersburg, etc, are all large metros. Omaha, Boise, Albuquerque, Tulsa, Lexington, etc are not quite there yet.

Austin has to be one of those exceptions.

[DCReid]

Interesting question, but can be a little complicated given the sprawl of many areas and classification of metros. For example, Riverside-San Bernadino- Ontario is a separate metro classification and it has 4.6 million people as of 2018, more than Detroit and Seattle. Would you consider it a major metro? Or consider some old metros, like Cleveland that are now smaller than newer metros like Orlando and Austin (and even Columbus) per the metro classification. Is Cleveland still a major metro since it has 3 major sports teams, while Orlando has just one and Austin and Columbus none?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...tistical_areas

[ThePhun1]

Everyone with a clue knows Riverside-San Bernardino is not a true metro.

[mrnyc]

nielsen tv market rankings are another factor. of course its measured differently tho.

ie., metro cleveland for tv land for example punches above its weight with that and it helps keep its pro sports teams around. sorta.


https://mediatracks.com/resources/ni...rankings-2019/

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

nielsen tv market rankings are another factor. of course its measured differently tho.

ie., metro cleveland for tv land for example punches above its weight with that and it helps keep its pro sports teams around. sorta.


https://mediatracks.com/resources/ni...rankings-2019/

Interesting that Tampa beats out Phoenix and Seattle-Tacoma and Denver despite all being quite a bit larger. Wonder why that is?

Is the average age in Tampa higher? (more Retirees) resulting in more TV subscriptions?

I personally have not had cable in years.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by Dariusb

In your opinion at what population does a metro become midsized or large?

Depends where we're talking about here.

In Canada? I'd say <500,000 is small; 500,000-1,000,000 is mid-sized; and >1,000,000 is large.

In the US? <1,000,000 small; 1,000,000-3,000,000 is mid-sized; and >3,000,000 is large.

Globally? <3,000,000 is small; 3,000,000-10,000,000 is mid-sized; and >10,000,000 is large.

Give or take.

[JAYNYC]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

nielsen tv market rankings are another factor. of course its measured differently tho.

ie., metro cleveland for tv land for example punches above its weight with that and it helps keep its pro sports teams around. sorta.


https://mediatracks.com/resources/ni...rankings-2019/

The fact that those rankings place Tampa above Miami makes them super suspect.

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by JAYNYC

The fact that those rankings place Tampa above Miami makes them super suspect.

Its for TV subscriptions which makes me wonder why some smaller metros have a larger TV audience.

My guess is age of the population. Increasingly a cable subscription is a sign of advanced age.

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by JAYNYC

The fact that those rankings place Tampa above Miami makes them super suspect.

they aren't though. it's serious business. that is what media outlets and advertisers use to set ad prices. its doesn't quite follow population for ... reasons ... but otoh its not wildly off either. tv and cable tv viewership varies by metro. and no doubt other online media outlets are a factor. area served is another thing. beyond that i am never certain, except that the issue of metro population vs tv viewing area and patterns comes up every year in forums like ssp.

hopefully someone can shed more light on the topic.

[badrunner]

Originally Posted by Obadno

Interesting that Tampa beats out Phoenix and Seattle-Tacoma and Denver despite all being quite a bit larger. Wonder why that is?

Is the average age in Tampa higher? (more Retirees) resulting in more TV subscriptions?

I personally have not had cable in years.

Media markets sometimes have strange borders so that could be a factor. It's hard to compare it directly with MSA/CSA population numbers.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_market

[mrnyc]

^ thanks that helps a bit. its like for northern ohio the yellow gets indians games, but maybe the east gets indians/pirates and the west indians/tigers. or something like that?