Question For Rural Folks, What Is Your Definition Of A Big City ?

[ABQConvict]

Originally Posted by Tiger Blood

Is it any place that has atleast 1 McDonalds qualifies as a big city to you ? lol.

I moved from a northeastern city of 200,000 (actually, I lived in the town next door) with 2 McDonald's to a southwestern city of 400,000 with 18 McDonald's. Culture shock I tell you!

[Gungnir]

Originally Posted by Tiger Blood

Anybody who lives in a rural area where there are more livestock than humans, would consider 100k to be a big city.

I live in a rural area, where there are more critters than people (not livestock, but there's only about 80 people here in a 400 square mile area).

I don't consider 100,000 to be a big city. Big cities need at least 1M to be considered "big". Or more accurately a population density of over 4000 per square mile.

Don't mistake rural residency for rural origin. I grew up in an urban area of more than 2M, lived in a City with more than 7.5M people, in the city and about 8M in the urban area surrounding it, then moved to a City that thought it was a "World Class Big city" of 800,000 odd population (it wasn't even close to world class).

The problem you're displaying with multiple varying simple criteria presented, and others opinions on big cities, is that there's no correct answer, it's all subjective. There's very little controversy surrounding London, Paris, Rome, Hamburg/Bonn, Madrid, New York, Moscow, New Delhi, Tokyo, Sydney, Shanghai, Sao Paulo, Mexico City and others all being big cities, the controversy develops when you consider, Manchester England, Lille, Essen, Bari, Valencia, Cleveland, Minsk, Hyderabad, Nagoya, Darwin, Shenyang, Porto Allegre, Puerto Vallarta are they "Big Cities" or not...? If they are by what criteria, if they're not, then by what criteria.

For example, you mentioned St Bruno CA, which in my opinion, is merely a suburban area of San Francisco, and San Jose, and a soft landing spot for short landings at SFO. Not a "city" at all regardless of it's amenities.

[PaperTrail]

Originally Posted by Tiger Blood

Anybody who lives in a rural area where there are more livestock than humans, would consider 100k to be a big city.

Nah, again. I fall into category of the first part of your statement but not the second. 100,000 to me is a medium-size city, but as was previously noted, you may be confusing rural residency with rural origins.

[SCGranny]

Originally Posted by Tiger Blood

To me a big city is any city that has an international airport. So a city with only 50,000 people is disqualified from being considered big in my opinion, because cities of that size don't have international airports.

Wrong!

In Beaufort County, SC, there is a little town (pop -2,000) called Frogmore. They are home to Frogmore International Airport... so named because a large intercontinental flight developed severe mechanical problems and was forced to land there for repairs. The next day the sign went up - Frogmore International Airport. Seeing this grandiose sign over two strips and a large amount of grassy pasture always makes people chuckle. Frogmore is famous for this distinction among pilots of all aircraft, and some fly their private planes into there just to check it out!

Methinks thou hast too many off-the-cuff assumptions...

[TBCasino]

Originally Posted by Tiger Blood

Is it any place that has atleast 1 McDonalds qualifies as a big city to you ? lol.

My old hometown qualifies as a big city, it's just a tiny little speck on the map, a small out of the way place called New York City , maybe you've heard of it?