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The clear answer is Austin. Why isn't it in the poll?
In 1990 it had 465k in the city (27th) and 846k in the metro (52nd). In 2022 it has 974k in the city (10th) and 2.4M in the metro (27th).
Moving up 25 spots in the metro population rankings is a massive change. I think the only other one that is close on this front is Vegas, but personally I feel like Vegas is more like a bigger version of what it already was; I don't know that the character of it has changed as much as Austin has.
Yeah, Austin would be a great example of a city going from a clear "mid sized city" to a much larger one with development, urbanity and population, over the course of 30 years.
I think Austin, Charlotte, Las Vegas, and Nashville are great examples of cities like this. Cities that have built up decently dense urban neighborhoods where there once was vacant land.
Phoenix more than doubled its metro population since the early 90's. It also now has one of the nicest freeway systems in the country whereas prior to the early 90's, it didn't even have I-10 connected through downtown - that last section or final half-mile that completed the entire I-10, the Papago Freeway wasn't completed until 1990 - there was no light-rail until 2008. Although it has a long way to go still, significant strides have been made in the downtown area as it barely had much left of its original downtown that wasn't torn down prior to the early 90's. In addition, the Phoenix Suns didn't even begin play in CBD until 1992, there were no DBacks playing until 1998, no Coyotes yet in AZ either, and the then Phoenix Cardinals had barely settled into AZ and had no stadium of their own (played at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe). Sky Harbor's main terminal (Terminal 4) did not even open up until 1990 and there was no Williams Gateway airport (now Phoenix-Mesa-Gateway). Scottsdale's primary moniker was still "The West's Most Western Town" and the mega-nightclub that eventually had the first day-drinking pool bar in Scottsdale (The Works) and helped launched careers of Eddie Amador and Markus Schulz didn't open until 1992 setting the trajectory and expectations for future Scottsdale nightlife. Tempe Town Lake wasn't a thing until 1998 and it's creation lured many companies and a whole bunch of future construction to create a dense environment that wasn't just influenced by ASU. East Valley suburbs exploded in population. Today, plenty of future growth is in the West Valley too with the 303 corridor now becoming a booming logistics hub where farms once stood. The Valley's demographic has changed and its economy is much more diverse (no longer primarily agricultural, construction and tourism).
Okay so everyone is just voting where they are from lol. We should make a rule not to choose the city you live in. So like if you live in NY or Boston, dont pick them.
I'd say quite a few of these cities listed have changed extremely dramatically, and drastically, over the past 30 or so odd years.
However, I think one city leads them all, for being as huge as it is, and impactful as it is, and how built out it already has been, but continues to push growth faster and forward, as time progresses.
And that city, is the city I reside in, New York City.
Early 1990s NYC was a city of high crime, aging infrastructure, and losing a bit of its "shine" as a mega city to other cities in the west, the south and globally.
But over the course of these past 30 years, New York City has proven time and time again that it is the most resilient city in America, and perhaps the globe.
The city has just pushed to its all time population high point (granted, the pandemic allowed for population loss, albeit temporary) and continues to dominate the globe in finance, fashion, and trend-setting.
Growth and gentrification across the city has spread like wildfire, since the early 1990s. Brooklyn has changed the most dramatically--going from a higher crime, mob-like reputation outlandish borough, to one that is a top tier highly trendy, live/work destination for high-income earners and families looking for a leafy, village-like, high end, high-quality big city destination in the US.
Neighborhoods that have gone from "sketchy and dangerous" to "trendy and desirable" are numerous across New York, today:
Manhattan:
Inwood
Washington Heights
Harlem
Hamilton Heights
Hell's Kitchen
Hudson Yards (brand new neighborhood)
Lower East Side
NoLiTa
Chinatown
Tribeca
Financial District
Brooklyn:
Williamsburg
Greenpoint
Bushwick
Dumbo
Downtown Brooklyn
Ft Greene
Clinton Hill
Navy Yard
Bedford Stuyvesant
Gowanus
Crown Heights
Prospect Heights
Queens:
Long Island City
Astoria
Jackson Heights
Sunnyside
Flushing
Bronx:
south Bronx waterfront is rapidly gentrying today, with luxury housing going up in a once very sketchy area
The city keeps attracting domestic and global investments, with taller and taller skyscrapers being built, and massive new development projects announced or under construction.
Never bet against NYC. What a city!
Albeit, NYC has lost a lot of its uniqueness with the rapid gentrification. I was just in Queens today and the Gentrification is literally wiping away the culture up into Astoria.
Okay so everyone is just voting where they are from lol. We should make a rule not to choose the city you live in. So like if you live in NY or Boston, dont pick them.
I would totally pick Seattle for this lol, so point taken. (The city at least --- Snohomish and Kitsap Counties haven't changed much besides just growing)
Chicago though may have changed the least out of any major metro. It hasn't really declined or grown much since the '90s. The good and bad neighborhoods then are pretty much the good and bad neighborhoods now, except that poverty and blight has spread farther south and into the south suburbs, while some formerly rough core neighborhoods like Wicker Park and Logan Square have gentrified. Downtown has built some towers since then, especially around the edges, but it doesn't feel qualitatively different in scale from what I can tell.
Boston does have an argument. The fundamental shift in going from practically no minirities to a healthy amount is substantial. It more than tripled its minority share and number. It was not a major immigration hub in 1990/1993 and it is today.
The metro areas has also undergone significant gentrification in just about every major community there is. And probably has seem some of the greatest price appreication in terms of housing. Seaport which he adjacent to downtown boston has also become and entirely new downtown. Brockton MA became the first majority black New England city.
This is the only MAJOR metro I know of to repeal rent control in this time
The Big Dig- Americas largest public work project ever- was completed during this time period.
Boston became the first east coast metro with legalized marijuana and gay marriage during that time. It also legalized Tatoos, liquor on Sunday's, and gambling in this time period.
In 1993 no town in MA had ever had a nonwhite-mayor. In 2023 Boston Lowell and Cambridge both all white mayors of Asian descent (Taiwanese, Pakistani and Khmer). Cambridge Framingham Boston and Newton have all had Black mayors in this time frame as well. Cambridge having had 2.
climate wise to the Boston area has lost on average 27 days of snow cover per year compared to 30 years ago. That’s an aspect we don’t think about but it’s been majorly felt there.
Yeah I agree. But I didnt place Boston higher because 30 years ago it was starting out more put together/more desirable than NYC and DC were. Now I would say they are all equal, meaning DC and NYC changed more.
But for the Northeast, yeah, Boston changed the most demographically. Its not even close. Literally every suburb was 95%+ white, to now, a good amount are 50-75%.
Boston went from a second hand city in NY’s shadow, to a truly worldly city.
But the gentrification is similar, not nearly as extreme, to NYC. And they got to be careful. The built environment hasnt changed enough in the suburbs. Theres like two new apartment complexes and a handful of homes that have been built in Randolph since 2010, for example. Like come on. Another point- I found some stats from the 1990s, and while they are MA specific, MA was like #1-3 in most things like it is today.
Not sure how Atlanta is winning this poll. Houston and Dallas have changed WAY more than Atlanta.
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