Houston now No. 5 in population, overtakes Philadelphia

Reverberation · #1 Posted **Apr 5, 2012, 2:06 PM**

Quote:

Houston now No. 5 in population, overtakes Philadelphia

Houston has overtaken Philadelphia to become the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the nation, a new analysis shows.

The Business Journals' On the Numbers analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data estimates the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown area's population at 6.22 million as of April 1, up 274,162 from 5.95 million a year earlier. The metro area ranked No. 6 in 2010.

The Philadelphia area is estimated at 6.02 million, up 52,371 people from its 2010 population of 5.97 million. This is the first time Philadelphia has fallen out of the top five metro areas ranked by population.

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/n...-by-metro.html

kingkirbythe.... · #2 Posted **Apr 5, 2012, 2:43 PM**

Whole lot of people.

Centropolis · #3 Posted **Apr 5, 2012, 2:59 PM**

Damb. I wonder who has worse rush hours.

Kingofthehill · #4 Posted **Apr 5, 2012, 2:56 PM**

Philly will always be the bigger city

dimondpark · #5 Posted **Apr 5, 2012, 3:00 PM**

While I dont doubt that this probably has occurred, I dislike non-governmental entities making these kinds of pronouncements--they arent official.

Crawford · #6 Posted **Apr 5, 2012, 3:03 PM**

It depends on the definition of metropolitan area, of course.

If the numbers are correct, one could argue Houston is larger, but one could still argue Philly is larger using the broader Census-derived boundaries.

And, if we are to use the broader definition, these two cities are either 6th or 7th, not 5th. DC and SF would be larger.

Chase Unperson · #7 Posted **Apr 6, 2012, 2:22 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crawford

And, if we are to use the broader definition, these two cities are either 6th or 7th, not 5th. DC and SF would be larger.

You mean dc and sj right? The larger city gets the top bill. That's the convention if you want to include it.

But in any case way to go houston!

599GTO · #8 Posted **Apr 6, 2012, 2:29 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chase Unperson

You mean dc and sj right? The larger city gets the top bill. That's the convention if you want to include it.

But in any case way to go houston!

Shawn · #9 Posted **Apr 6, 2012, 3:20 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chase Unperson

You mean dc and sj right? The larger city gets the top bill. That's the convention if you want to include it.

But in any case way to go houston!

If we're using the broader CSA definition, Houston is also behind Boston's 7.5 million.

krudmonk · #10 Posted **Apr 6, 2012, 1:42 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kingofthehill

Philly will always be the bigger city

that didn't take long...

599GTO · #11 Posted **Apr 6, 2012, 1:52 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kingofthehill

Philly will always be the bigger city

Nope.

relnahe · #12 Posted **Apr 7, 2012, 1:38 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 599GTO

Nope.

So a sprawled out nearly all post-war city will always be bigger than Philly?

Owlhorn · #13 Posted **Apr 7, 2012, 2:56 AM**

If you live in a city that grew before 1900, I want to know what original idea or new thing your city has to done beyond its 20th century reputation that gives anyone the right to come on here and put down another city.

Centropolis · #14 Posted **Apr 7, 2012, 3:16 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Owlhorn

If you live in a city that grew before 1900, I want to know what original idea or new thing your city has to done beyond its 20th century reputation that gives anyone the right to come on here and put down another city.

I don't feel like I did any bonifide put-downin' and indeed have not come to know Dallas well enough to my satisfaction, and I do feel you have a fair point. I also feel like friction is due the "new big boys," same way it's always been and has been constructive at it's best. Chicago still busts our chops all the god damn time, and in a weird way I feel it's sort of helped drive our stagnant small metro to build 2 grade separated rail lines.

Evergrey · #15 Posted **Apr 5, 2012, 3:00 PM**

According to the Census estimates xls file I'm staring at right now... Houston is at 6.09 million and Philly is at 5.99 million. Not sure where Bizjournals is getting those slightly enhanced figures.

Reverberation · #16 Posted **Apr 5, 2012, 3:16 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evergrey

According to the Census estimates xls file I'm staring at right now... Houston is at 6.09 million and Philly is at 5.99 million. Not sure where Bizjournals is getting those slightly enhanced figures.

I think those are 2011 figures. They probably just added another year to make 2012. I noticed that the article referred to April 1st so I figure that they mean this year. 274,162 in a year is really high but half of it is ~137,000 which is about right for the annual growth for the metro.

Stratosphere 2020 · #17 Posted **Apr 5, 2012, 3:50 PM**

Dallas and Atlanta will follow soon. :-)

Jelly Roll · #18 Posted **Apr 5, 2012, 4:21 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stratosphere 2020

Dallas and Atlanta will follow soon. :-)

Dallas already is bigger

min-chi-cbus · #19 Posted **Apr 5, 2012, 6:34 PM**

So Houston is growing at 46% this decade? UNREAL!

Shasta · #20 Posted **Apr 5, 2012, 11:02 PM**

I have a habit of noticing license plates when I am on the road. Force of habit from the 13 cross country trips I have made driving alone.

It is not uncommon to pull up to a stop light now and see several out of state plates on the road. Here's what I spotted today on my way to work;

Colombia! Never seen one of those before
Mexico
Louisiana
New Mexico
California (Cali cars are all over the place these days)
Vermont (love those green plates)
New Jersey
Michigan
Illinois
Florida
Alberta (big F350 truck)