New York Times Article comparing Birmingham and Nashville

[BamaDave]

Originally Posted by tacosman

I kind of balk at areas like Trussville and Leeds and especially Clay/moody as being "part of the birmingham area"(I just don't think birmingham itself is big enough to get to grab places like that as part of the area), but certainly even taking them out if include the others you get to high 600s....which I think is about the max one could really say is the "birmingham area". I just prefer a little more restrictive definition for birmingham since it's so small and doesn't have that much pull. Honestly places like Helena and Mccalla are a little questionable too.

But It's really this idea that places like far out walker county(lol!) and basically tuscaloosa should be considered "part of the birmingham area" that I find hysterical.

Of course Trussville, Leeds, Clay, Moody, Helena, and McCalla are all suburbs within the Birmingham metropolitan area. They are all clearly suburbs and not standalone towns sustaining themselves. Metro areas include whole counties, hence the inclusion of far, far out places from the core city. Isn't that true for essentially any metro area? I live in SW Blount County as still easily consider myself to live in the Birmingham metro, albeit on the fringes.

[BamaDave]

FWIW, I feel like the urban area populations put out by the U.S. census bureau match my perceptions of the sizes of cities much better than core city population and better than metro populatons. For example, the 2020 list has the Birmingham urban area at 775K, compared to Nashville at 1.16M, New Orleans at 963K, and Memphis at 1.06M. To me, this better explains the "feel" of Birmingham being smaller than these cities. Urban Jackson, MS is under 350K, confirming that the city is not on a peer level with Birmingham by any measuring stick (much more in line with Mobile).