Top 10 Small Cities with Unusually Large Skylines!

This is my list of the top 10 best skylines for cities with a population of less than 50,000 people. Small cities with big skylines and downtowns.

[@jimpern]

Frankly, I think that Harrisburg's skyline is more impressive than Bartlesville's. I'm not surprised to see resort cities like Myrtle Beach and Atlantic City on the list. 712 feet is a tall building for a city of 37,000 people!

[@cityskylines11]

I ranked it high as I did because of it being so small as far as the city and metro goes. It's one of a kind. Thanks!

[@GeoHuman.]

Harrisburg likely got put second due to the much larger metro area surrounding it

[@GeoHuman.]

Most of these cities have one of 3 themes; 1. Coastal resort town 2. In a small valley/geographically confined space that forced denser development 3. Cities that used to be much bigger but are now small

[@cityskylines11]

True, I never looked at it that way or broke it down like you did. I just looked at it as they were cities that developed a skyline a long time ago and back then cities weren't so spread out and suburban. Also many of them grew before all of the industry in the US was sent over seas, killing jobs and thus killing the industrial dependent cities. Interstate/highway bypasses also weren't around yet when places like Jackson or Niagara Falls developed the majority of their skylines. Bypasses opened up lots of spaces for new development but they killed the core of the city where traditionally shopping and as well as commercial business was located.

[@cityskylines11]

Bartlesville, OK is the only one I believe that wouldn't fall into any of those categories. It's uniqueness is one of the reasons I chose it as #1. It isn't the biggest skyline but it is the truest to the list I was trying to compose. It's metro isn't much bigger than the city pop and it's so small it doesn't even have a interstate or limited access hwy. Also, it is a stand alone city so it's not affected by a larger nearby city and it isn't a resort town or on a coast. There was just a whole lot of oil money there and the people who made that money decided to spend it there to show their wealth.

[@dariusbrock2351]

If Canadian cities were included, Yellowknife, NWT has an unusually large skyline for a standalone town of 18,000 or so.

[@cityskylines11]

I actually had a short that I mentioned it in. The short was two of the cities that were almost used. I decided not to use any cities outside of the US though because I plan to do a Canadian version.

[@dariusbrock2351]

@@cityskylines11 Ok cool. Will certainly be tuning in.

[@redcomic619]

Yellowknife is impressive

[@texasyojimbo]

Galveston, Texas just barely missed the cutoff, as it's grown beyond 50,000 (again) in the last census. It fell below 50,000 in 2010 due to Hurricane Ike but has rebounded somewhat to its pre-hurricane population. Galveston has a lot of fairly tall buildings for a city with 53,000 people in it. One Moody Plaza (the ANICO building) is 358 ft tall with 23 stories. The Beach Club and Tradewinds are 382 ft tall. The Bank of America building and Railroad Museum buildings are also fairly tall. If you ever do an addendum to this video, keep Galveston in mind!

[@jamesschott2870]

You missed Covington Ky. You need to check it out.....right across from Cincinnati. I was born in Covington...has a great skyline and is under 50,000 residence....

[@cityskylines11]

I like Covington and Newport a lot. They do have a nice skyline too, but I was trying to do cities that had their own metro or stood alone as it's own city. With Cincinnati right across the river it's hard to know what buildings are there because of just Covington itself or because of it being part of a major metro area. I had some hesitation about having Niagara Falls on the list due to it's proximity to Buffalo.

[@jamesschott2870]

@@cityskylines11 Yeah I get what you are saying....Covington is considered a Cincy step child.....

[@cityskylines11]

@@jamesschott2870 I truly appreciate the input/idea though. It actually got me thinking about doing a video on 2nd cities. Top 10 2nd cities. Not the main city within a metro but the 2nd largest city or skyline in it.

[@cityskylines11]

@@jamesschott2870 I wouldn't call it a step child necessarily. Northern Kentucky holds it's own in that area and in the state.

[@neilbender3050]

Great list. I love info like this! I love taking skyline quizes on line but they’re always for like the top 50-100 cities. Would be cool to see one for 101-200. Canton, Wheeling, Utica, Schenectady, Johnstown Pa….

[@cityskylines11]

That's exactly what I plan on doing. Already have one in the works with wheeling Utica ect on it. Great list. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@jaredhardaway]

@@cityskylines11 would be awesome to see Tempe AZ in a video, as its a suburb but has a big skyline

[@goat7844]

Interesting video. Keep up the good work.

[@cityskylines11]

Thank you, I appreciate that very much.

[@ZebsterP43]

That’s very cool. I love skylines (and bridges). Those are some very pretty ones. I like taking skyline pics from jets too

[@cityskylines11]

Looking at cities from above while flying when I was a kid, is actually what got me into all of this. I love the way they look when you're flying over. Thanks

[@ronaldcoleman1210]

Covington, KY.

[@overbanked]

Gulf Shores, AL should've been on here. It has a very small population (around 15K) but has many huge high-rise hotels and condos, similar to Myrtle Beach

[@cityskylines11]

That's true. Don't know why I didn't think about it.

[@peaceloveandunderstanding]

@@cityskylines11 And Panama City Beach, FL (not part of a major metro).

[@mic1240]

Nice video, some of these cities used to have much larger populations which shrunk since mid 1900s, as people moved to suburbs or away.

[@cityskylines11]

Very true. It's really easy to see in the northern and rust belt cities. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@mic1240]

@@cityskylines11 and many had booms in their metro areas, were more densely populated vs sprawl of some newer cities. Are often suburbs of older cities more densely populated than bigger cities elsewhere, in Illinois, for example, the four most densely populated municipalities are all near west suburbs of Chicago, which is #5 for density in state. Those with lots of land or annexation ability also growing through change in borders (like Houston which is massive in size).

[@cityskylines11]

Very true

[@Simon-tc1mc]

I knew Jackson MI would be on here. Always surprises me how big its downtown is for how small the town is. I guess it used to be a bigger Michigan city back in the day

[@jaredhardaway]

I think it peaked at like nearly 60k back in the day

[@JL-sm6cg]

@@jaredhardaway that's what I was thinking. I feel the same of Harrisburg, PA. Wasn't that at, like, 80K at one point?

[@jaredhardaway]

@JL-sm6cg i had to google it lol. 90k in 1950. Now about 50k. But metro area is like 600k, so the area has actually surprisingly been growing

[@joella1939]

Mt. Clemens, Michigan has a very large skyline for a very small city.

[@JL-sm6cg]

It's still a suburb of Detroit, though. That doesn't count for this list.

[@jaredhardaway]

OMG I GREW UP IN Jackson. That is my HOMETOWN! Finally representation!

[@JL-sm6cg]

I think Jackson had twice as many people living there at one point, hence why the skyline is massive for its size. Still, yes, representation for my home state.

[@jaredhardaway]

@JL-sm6cg yea I think Jackson peaked at like 58k people and now its barely 30k

[@george371]

White Plains, NY beats them all. Population just over 50k and a bunch of 200 - 500 foot tall buildings

[@JL-sm6cg]

Welp, the requirements here was under 50k.

[@MoromoMusic]

I was surprised by Jackson Michigan. I've never even heard of that town

[@MoromoMusic]

Never heard of Bartlesville either. Thanks for this video is interesting

[@williammaddox3339]

I had heard of it but was surprised by the skyline

[@williammaddox3339]

@@MoromoMusic But its skyline was not good enough to be on this list and it is not anywhere near #1.

[@dariusbrock2351]

My favorites were Myrtle Beach and Atlantic City.

[@shape816]

I feel like resort towns on the water like Myrtle Beach and Atlantic City shouldn't count. It's mostly hotels. Utica, NY should be here for sure. Interesting video though.

[@cityskylines11]

Funny you said that because I feel the same way. I went back and forth about it. I decided not to use other resort town for this reason though. I looked at Utica but if I'm not mistaken it was over 50,000 people.

[@shape816]

@@cityskylines11 yeah barely over. Give it a few years 😆

[@perlazywicz4684]

Good Job Baby. 😘 Cute Cities.

[@ChaoticDestiny1]

Clayton Missouri has most those beat Edit. Didnt know you were going for stand alone cities

[@AJSHOPE]

I was actually going to mention Clayton as well. I guess I could understand it being a little different since it is part of an urban metropolis and the county seat of a county with a population of 1 million, but still the actual city population is under 17,000 and it has a major downtown area.

[@tohoku9303]

Chillicothe OH, feel like it has a few tall buildings for having roughly 20,000 residents.

[@cityskylines11]

I'm pretty sure I looked at it and I know what you mean. Ohio has a lot of small cities that have respectable downtowns. You can tell that in the past there were a lot of booming towns in Ohio as well as the whole Midwest.

[@tohoku9303]

@@cityskylines11 Yeah, I get why Chillicothe wasn't on here. A lot of its taller buildings are more spread around the town.

[@JL-sm6cg]

I think Chillicothe wasn't included because it's technically part of Columbus's metro.

[@pizalu3052]

Forgot sunny isles beach Florida top 20 largest skyline in USA with only 20,000 pop

[@cityskylines11]

Thanks for the info! I'm going to look into that now.

[@cityskylines11]

The reason why is because I was trying to do stand alone cities that aren't part of some larger city's metro area. I wanted the list to be made up of cities that are the main city within the metro. Otherwise I would have too many cities to try to choose from. Thanks for the input though and for watching as well!

[@xoxxobob61]

@@cityskylines11 Yes Sunny Isles Beach is part of the Miami metro & ironically it is the Second tallest Skyline in Florida after Miami. Thanks for this informative video.

[@cityskylines11]

Thanks for watching. Very much appreciated my friend.

[@ztl2505]

Lots of buildings from the ‘20s, especially the southern cities. Boomtowns that just never bounced back from the depression, I presume.

[@cityskylines11]

Yea that's true. Most of them are from a long while ago or from the post WWII times like around the 50s or 60s. I love the art deco style architecture. My favorite buildings in most cities are the older ones from the turn of the century or around the 20s. Seemed to build with a lot more detail and they built them to last unlike in the 80s, 90s etc.

[@Knuckles7220]

Omg they have Alexandria Louisiana on here at number 10 I'm surprised but its not 47 square miles it's 27.

[@williammaddox3339]

There are some small coastal cities in Florida that put these cities to shame - lots of highrise apartment buildings

[@cityskylines11]

Very true but I was trying to stick to stand alone type cities that weren't part of some other major metro and weren't a major tourist destination or beach town. Although myrtle beach and Atlantic City are just that. I also was keeping the population under 50k. Thanks for watching and the comment.

[@k.s.7104]

I though Albany NY has an impressive skyline but that city wouldn't qualify because it's population is over 90K.

[@danielponce-lh5xd]

Los Angeles is a major city with a joke of a skyline.

[@JL-sm6cg]

Much of that reason is because until the 70s, LA had an ordinance keeping any buildings other than city hall from being over 150 feet tall. That all changed in the 70s when skyscrapers that could withstand earthquakes were developed.

[@cbgreiwe]

I wondered if Sarasota, FL would be on the list, but they are just out of the running. They went over 50,000 in the last census.

[@JL-sm6cg]

Would Sarasota qualify? I know that is basically the unofficial retirement capital of Florida, but is there more to that city than just retirees?

[@dragonflyxj]

midland, tx should have made the list imo

[@cityskylines11]

It was only cities with a population of less than 50,000. Midland is going to be on the next one though without a doubt

[@cityskylines11]

Thanks for watching and commenting. I appreciate all the input/suggestions. I plan on doing something similar to videos for cities of 100, 200, 500, and 1 mil.

[@TheBigMarMar]

Somehow I knew my hometown of Harrisburg would be on the list…😂

[@realityorfiction]

Interesting how the Biggest Little City is too big lol. , if you ever do a list for cities above 50,000 but below 300,000 you have to consider Reno Nv.

[@cityskylines11]

Will do

[@MoneyC225]

Leaving off Biloxi, MS; South Padre Island, TX; & Orange Beach, AL is 100% disrespectful. All sit below 50K with greater skylines than half of the towns listed.

[@cityskylines11]

Thanks for the comment. I considered all three of those. Biloxi didn't really have any central downtown like cluster of buildings. I only saw one or two tall resorts or casinos. South Padre is too much of a resort/beach town and I was trying to stay away from too many beach towns without any real city or economy other than summer time tourism. Orange Beach is great. I love those beaches but it too is not a real city but more of just a strip of condos for vacationers. With that being said, I know I included Myrtle Beach and Atlantic City but these are more of a city than the others in my opinion and I also didn't want the whole list to be made up of just random college towns and beach resort towns. There are many others that I looked at and could've used. I plan on making a second video so I can highlight some of the other not so well known skylines.

[@JL-sm6cg]

@@cityskylines11 I actually was going to say, you left off those places because SPI, TX when I saw it, rivals Miami with its skyline, but yeah, it's not really a city that people live and work in. Atlantic City and Myrtle Beach are more like it there.

[@peaceloveandunderstanding]

Panama City Beach, FL?

[@k.s.7104]

When the hell did Binghamton shrink? Only 40ish thousand people, I thought Binghamton was around 80,000 back in the 1980s....Wow if that's true NY is in trouble.

[@cityskylines11]

It's kinda sad honestly when I look up some city's populations. There are so many once great and healthy cities in the northeast, Midwest and parts of the deep south that now are only a shell of what they used to be. Detroit, MI and Birmingham AL are prime examples. Even though some of them have grown as far as their metropolitan population, a lot of them haven't grown as much as they need to in order to continue to keep up with roads and such. I have a cool map that shows where all the cities in the US that held the title of top 10 most populous are located and it's shifted to the southwest and Florida for the most part.

[@stevepalmberg5905]

Rochester Minnesota

[@JL-sm6cg]

Too big.

[@stevepalmberg5905]

Rochester MN

[@cityskylines11]

That's definitely one that I looked at but I don't think it was under the 50k pop mark. Thanks for the post!

[@stevepalmberg5905]

@@cityskylines11 Just noticed that limit Yes 100k Dominated by one organization which might be unique? Do follow up 50k-100k🤔

[@cityskylines11]

@@stevepalmberg5905 will do. I have plans to do many more. 100k, 200, 500, 1mil, and so on. Might not do those exact numbers but something like that. Thanks again friend.

[@redcomic619]

Rochester, NY is nicer

[@kierannelson2581]

Is this meant to be the USA only? Why no Benidorm for example? And you have the Gold Coast on the front image.

[@cityskylines11]

Yes it is only the US. Also it's only cities under 50,000 and Benidorm is over that. I do plan on doing the same for cities outside of the US eventually. I'm working on a Australian one now.

[@kierannelson2581]

@@cityskylines11 sweet! And that makes sense.

[@joshf5341]

See if you look at the city by it’s metro size it actually makes more sense. I normally base things off it’s metro rather than just the main anchor city population.

[@cityskylines11]

Yea that's very true. I agree.

[@cityskylines11]

That's why I added the metro as well as city limits. Also the land area makes a difference. I like taking that all into account because sometimes you can have a city like Greenville SC that has a city pop that is smaller than the city looks but a metro that is much bigger than it looks. In that case neither one truly gives you an accurate idea of what the city is like.

[@gnmckii]

Battle Creek Michigan's skyline is more impressive then Jackson's...........

[@cityskylines11]

I was going to use battle creek but it was just over 50k in population. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@joelmadrid2193]

"PANAMA RELOCATION TOURS!! WITH JACKIE!! 🙋😊 👍❤️👈"

[@sheldonrobinson7639]

Grand rapid, mi Flint mi

[@JL-sm6cg]

Under 50K in population! If Flint don't change, then it might qualify soon. lol (ftr, that city has one of the ugliest skylines I've ever seen imho)

[@boyfrmetown3549]

myrtle beach could easily be a major city just from looking at it

[@williammaddox3339]

No it looks like a beach town resort

[@marksauck3399]

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I live in a suburb of a city that has over 200,000 people and has a small skyline. In fact you can’t see anything of a downtown from the freeways that surround the city. Figure that one out.🤔

[@cityskylines11]

Sounds like California or somewhere out west. That's how it was when I lived there. San Francisco had a nice skyline though.

[@JL-sm6cg]

That makes for a video for the future (if it isn't already made); metro areas where there are suburbs with more people than the core city. Hampton Roads, VA for instance, or might be the only one for all I know.

[@JWReichert]

The real shocker is actually a Canadian one. Check out Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Population 20,000, no real metro.

[@664theneighbor5]

It’s funny cause most of these cities are insanely mid lol

[@ComsiCaterpillar]

Like the opposite of LA ;)

[@cityskylines11]

Exactly

[@cityskylines11]

That gave me an idea. Big cities small skylines. Could put San Jose, Sacramento, San Antonio and maybe Phoenix.

[@JL-sm6cg]

@@cityskylines11 I live in Phoenix. Their skyline isn't so impressive because I believe you can't really build a taller building than 500 feet here due to the desert bedrock. However, there are a number of new buildings going up at once here that might change that.

[@osirismoon]

Birmingham, AL

[@DinnyDonbas]

Under 50000 residents

[@knivesgunfights526]

I do not know how old your data is, but you were seriously off the mark on several "small cites populations." The population of the Cities, not the MSA.

[@cityskylines11]

Please let me know what and which cities I was wrong about. I used the US census for my info so I don't know what I got wrong. Thank you for commenting and watching.

[@terryarmbruster9719]

@@cityskylines11 having a ten story 100 ft plus bldg in a city under 50k but metro over 100 I isn't uncommon at all as these are usually HQ for a regional business or govt buildings like Jackson. Bismarck ND The Capitol Tower was built before 50k pop. 21 stories

[@terryarmbruster9719]

@@cityskylines11 lol yes very off on Jackson. It's 160k with a metro of 600k

[@shadowduck1234]

@@terryarmbruster9719 believe it or not, he's not wrong. He's talking about Jackson, MI as in Jackson, Michigan. I didn't get it at first either.

[@cityskylines11]

Actually I think I was right in the beginning. Jackson county is about 150k or more but the city limits of Jackson MI are 31,347 as of 2021. In 1930 it reached its largest population ever which was 55,000 people.

[@adawg2015]

Where’s Clayton MO Jeff City or Joplin, MO?

[@cityskylines11]

Clayton is part of the STL metro so that is why I didn't use it. I looked at these cities and many others but they lacked the tall buildings downtown that I was looking for in this list. I was trying to find stand alone cities with a population of under 50,000. I appreciate the input and thanks for watching.

[@brianwolters7560]

I came here to say just that...Honorable Mention, Clayton Missouri. Sure, it is in St. Louis County but it has a huge skyline for a town of just over 17,000....but I get where he was going with video.

[@TheAidanodian]

Mankato Minnesota has a more impressive skyline than most of these and it’s the most boring place I’ve ever been

[@smackindabox]

One 7 story building isn’t a skyline or impressive

[@TheAidanodian]

@@smackindabox that is the joke

[@smackindabox]

@@TheAidanodian 😂

[@davesravens47]

Clayton missuri

[@timg2727]

Clayton is a suburb of St Louis though. There are a lot of other examples of suburbs with skylines that don't match their population, which is a direct result of being located in a major metropolitan area (Tysons, VA for example). .

[@davesravens47]

@@timg2727 those places should be listed too imo.

[@timg2727]

@@davesravens47 they don't function as standalone cities. They're just a small part of a large, continuous urban development, and the actual municipal boundaries aren't very meaningful in most senses. They basically function as auxiliary CBDs for a much larger city. It's not the same thing as a standalone small city with no larger population base (like Bartlesville) having an impressive skyline.

[@davesravens47]

@@timg2727he included Myrtle which isn’t a standalone city. There’s several towns and beaches to the north and south of it to account for and most of their skyscrapers are not used much for a majority of the year due to it being for tourists. The criteria to my recollection was a town that’s smaller than 50k with an impressive skyline.

[@timg2727]

@@davesravens47 I'm not saying the list is perfect. I'm just saying why I don't think Clayton counts.

[@Andrew-df1dr]

In the US.

[@crawlingmoth1868]

It’s spelled Binghamton, no ‘p’.

[@cityskylines11]

Thanks for the correction. My apologies. Don't know how I got that wrong.

[@crawlingmoth1868]

Not a big problem, people, even some locals, misspell the city’s name all the time. 😂

[@renegomez3061]

you forgot dallas

[@Mitsunori_Hokuto]

Dallas population is 1.2 Million and Dallas metroplex is almost 8 million people, it is a pretty big city to be included here

[@renegomez3061]

cities. not metro. Dallas has been at 9 or ten spot for a long time . just because the METRO area is large doesn't mean dallas has big chunk of population.

[@KoTM25681]

​@@renegomez3061What?!?!?

[@GabIsAPro99]

@@renegomez3061 this video was about cities with

[@teejay6063]

Harford

[@cityskylines11]

Hartford is a good one. I was only doing cities with a population of 50,000 and under for this one. Eventually Hartford will be one that makes a list. It has a great skyline for it's size.

[@teejay6063]

@City Skylines, Maps & Stats Ah. It really is a nice skyline.

[@cityskylines11]

@@teejay6063 yes it is. I've wanted to make a vid for cities around that size for a while. Richmond VA, Louisville KY, Hartford CT, Tulsa OK, Buffalo NY, etc

[@edwinmadrigal7652]

Cleveland Ohio?

[@cityskylines11]

Great skyline but too big for this list. Only cities with a population less than 50k. Thanks

[@clearlycaribbeanreb2895]

Lexington, KY?

[@cityskylines11]

Love Lexington and it's a great city for a list but this one was only cities under 50,000. And Lex/Fayette county are much bigger. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@clearlycaribbeanreb2895]

@@cityskylines11 Fair enough! Lol How about Huntington, WV then? 😂👍

[@cityskylines11]

That's one I did consider but I thought Charleston was bigger and I went with it instead. Huntington was definitely in consideration though. I've been through that area many times and I love that part of the country. Kentucky and WV are really pretty.

[@clearlycaribbeanreb2895]

@@cityskylines11 Me too! I’m from the OH, WV, KY tri state area originally. Really digging your channel. 👍