Pittsburgh is a Major US Market!

I had an interesting conversation the other night while having a drink with some associates.
One of the guys at the table had spent significant time in Phoenix Arizona, and had mentioned that it had grown over the years to become the 6th largest city in the US. I knew that according to census rankings that Pittsburgh had dropped to 52nd largest.

52nd does not scream out Major market!


The next day I decided to do some research and what I found was a real eye-opener.

The ranking of city size by the census is done according to population with-in the city limits. No consideration is given to the land area of the city.
Sixth largest city Phoenix spreads its population of 1,418,041 over a land area of 475 square miles!

Pittsburgh's 322,450 people are spread over only 55.6 square miles!

What is wrong with this picture?

The Greater Pittsburgh Metro Area is clearly larger that the city borders.
Our borders have been arbitrarily set by politicians or by topography decades or even centuries ago. Our region has remained the same size since it's founding.

On the other hand, cities in the south and south-west have grown from small cities to large in the very recent past, often by increasing their borders and annexing adjacent communities. I would suggest that some of these cities have done so with one eye looking towards their status.

Perhaps we could learn something from these fast-growing cities.

The Land Area in square miles (sm) of the top ten US cities is as follows:

1. New York: 303 (sm)
2. Los Angeles: 469 (sm)
3. Chicago: 227 (sm)
4. Houston: 579 (sm)
5. Philadelphia: 135 (sm)
6. Phoenix: 475 (sm)
7. San Diego: 325 (sm)
8. San Antonio: 408 (sm)
9. Dallas: 343 (sm)
10. San Jose: 175 (sm)

52. Pittsburgh: 55 (sm)

Some of these cities sprawl as far as the eye can see. In Pittsburgh, on the other hand, I could easily ride a bike from one end of the city to the other in a leisurely afternoon. ( And I am not in very good shape! )

I firmly believe that the Greater Pittsburgh market ranks in the top ten if looked at objectively. Would anyone argue that Allegheny county is the Greater Pittsburgh market area?

Allegheny County's 730 square miles and population of 1.4 - 1.5 million people put us around the sixth largest city in the US.

This is not arbitrary! In 1788, when Allegheny County was founded, it could have just as easily been named Pittsburgh County, and it would be unnecessary for me to write about the relative size of the Greater Pittsburgh region.

My point is not neccessarily that Pittsburgh and Allegheny County should merge to create the sixth largest US city. It is that we are already the sixth largest US market no matter where the "City Borders" are drawn.

From now on, I will no longer concede that Pittsburgh is the 52nd largest city, or that our population is 322,000. I will simply restate the obvious - Greater Pittsburgh is one of the nations top ten markets.

Photo courtesty of The Pittsburgh Regional Alliance