will la ever become larger than Chicago or NY

[catdaddy]

LA used to be number one in the country back in the 60s early 70s. do you think LA will reign again

[Jaybee]

LA is the largest City in the United States: see the official MSA census numbers from 2000 here.

This doesn't even count Orange County and the Inland Empire (San Bernardino and Riverside areas), which puts LA way over the population of other US cities.

[Allan]

Los Angeles has 3.7 million people. New York has 8 million people. LA won't outgrow New York for some time. If comparing the metro populations, however, it is only a matter of time before LA outgrows NYC's metro area. It really depends on what numbers you look at.

[Showtime24]

LA is bigger than chicago its just chicago has more density

[ZachariahDaMan]

I doubt L.A. or anyone for that matter will outgrow New York City.

[orulz]

This doesn't even count Orange County and the Inland Empire (San Bernardino and Riverside areas), which puts LA way over the population of other US cities.

If you're going to start counting surrounding MSAs for LA, you need to start counting the surrounding MSAs for other cities as well.

You can toss Nassau/Suffolk, NY; Newark, Jersey City, Bergen, and Monmouth NJ plus Stamford and New Haven CT in there for New York.

When it's a fair comparison, I think you'll find that New York is still overwhelmingly the largest metro area in the U.S.

[ZachariahDaMan]

I agree, NYC is easily the biggest metro in the nation.

[OE-305]

I agree, NYC is easily the biggest metro in the nation.

Not for long, not for long....

[Unifour]

I am not sure where some of the information came from, but Los Angeles is not the largest city in the nation. Los Angeles has 3.9 million people, New York has 8.1 million. Los Angeles has never been the largest city in the nation. In the beginning, Boston was largest, then Philadelphia, and finally New York, where it has remained ever since. LA is slightly larger in land area, but city size is determined by population. New York is listed as the largest, on all lists. LA's growth has been slowing rapidly as well, while New York's is accelerating, so you can't predict the future. Most likely NY will remain the largest. LA has been larger than Chicago since the mid 1980's however.

[NCB]

I see NYC staying the largest city in the U.S. for quite some time...

But I think the L.A. metro will pass the New York metro within the next few years.

[peaceloveunderstanding]

LA is bigger than chicago its just chicago has more density

Actually LA has the densest urbanized area in the United States at 7,068 persons per square mile. While certain parts of New York and Chicago may be denser; LA maintains a density throughout the suburbs of which the others do not.

[Metroinspect.]

well the i think La will grow larger, but the skyline will never compare with Chicago or New York

[DetroitBazaar]

Last I drove from roughly Palm Springs through Santa Barbars and it was nothing but subburbs and city. I had to stop off in Hollywood for 3 hours just to "beat" the traffic- not something I'd do again since even at midnight the traffic was so bad I nearly lost it. I was travelling from Phoenix. It was well over 110 miles of contiguous sprawl. Chicago as a city has higher urbandensity and you can travel for a good hour and change through its environs if traffic isn't heavy east to west- not including the stretch from Gary. From the south up toward the Wisconsin border take a similar time in my experiences. Chicago as a city is suffering a massive population loss and unfortunately can't compete with the "newer" sunny areas of the southwest just like many of the other urban areas in the midwest. Still 8 or so million is quite large, but I can't see LA- til they run out of water stopping the growth. BTW, this was in 2000. I guess the term city is being used loosely here. I also spend quite a bit of time in Orange county, but don't you dare call that part of LA, lol- the locals I know don't like it a bit.

Peace from DetroitBazaar

[monsoon]

Chicago is 1/2 the size of Los Angeles. It's not in the same league as NY or LA.

[FSUViking9]

Chicago is 1/2 the size of Los Angeles. It's not in the same league as NY or LA.

Maybe not population wise, but only a complete fool would say that Chicago isn't in the same league as L.A. or New York in any other category.

[Angelina]

This really depends on how you define "LA" and how you measure this, on a city-level, county-level, or as a metropolitan area. and we're still grooowing

[DetroitBazaar]

How would you define LA? Chicago is in a league in and of itself, which most folks in this thread seem to miss. If you want population or sprawl well I can't think of a more miserable place than LA. Again, the first question is pertinent. How do you define LA? Never will it become NYC.

Peace

[EbonyGardens]

LA is already larger than Chicago, but there's no way LA will get bigger than NY, hell will freeze over the day LA overtakes New York in population.

[hudkina]

These are the top 20 metros in the U.S. as of 2000:

1. New York - 21.36 million

2. LA - 16.37 million

3. Chicago - 9.31 million

4. Washington - 7.54 million

5. San Francisco - 7.09 million

6. Philadelphia - 5.83 million

7. Boston - 5.72 million

8. Detroit - 5.36 million

9. Dallas - 5.35 million

10. Miami - 5.01 million

11. Houston - 4.82 million

12. Atlanta - 4.55 million

13. Seattle - 3.60 million

14. Minneapolis - 3.27 million

15. Phoenix - 3.25 million

16. Cleveland - 2.95 million

17. San Diego - 2.81 million

18. St. Louis - 2.75 million

19. Pittsburgh - 2.53 million

20. Denver - 2.45 million

21. Tampa - 2.40 million

22. Cincinnati - 2.05 million

23. Sacramento - 1.93 million

24. Portland - 1.93 million

25. Kansas City - 1.90 million

[cameronm]

Maybe not population wise, but only a complete fool would say that Chicago isn't in the same league as L.A. or New York in any other category.

UH...THANK YOU

[JB04]

i think LA will overtake NY many years from now - LA has plenty of room to expand while NY can only build up - i also think philadelphia and atlanta will move up closer to the top of that list

[Snowguy716]

LA has plenty of room to expand while NY can only build up...

What if it becomes more economically feasible and more popular to build up? What if we move from a car-based society to one on public transportation... building up makes more sense in this situation.

I don't think LA will overtake NY.

[Angelina]

LA *can* overtake NY but it probably won't. we're too busy enjoying the weather and the beaches to compete in that regard

[Snowguy716]

That is one thing that L.A does have: Great weather and nice beaches.

[ConcreteSchoolyard]

Yeah but they're also polluted and the downtown to me seems nowhere near as interesting as NYC, Chicago, or even San Francisco, Boston, or Philly. The cars and interstates in LA seem nauseating to me. And I do not think people will ever want to live in high rises in downtown LA when they are all living in huge houses on the beach or projects, whereas NYC and Chicago actually has life amongst its towers. That is why I do not think LA will ever overtake NYC.