Why NOBODY Lives in these 10 EMPTY Big Cities

Did you know that despite Kansas City being the most populated city in the whole state of Missouri and being almost 100 square miles bigger than Chicago, Illinois, Chicago has a population of about 2.6 million people compared to Kansas Cities 510,000 people? This means that Chicago has a population density of about 11,400 people per square mile which is over 7 times more dense than Kansas cities roughly 1,600 people per square mile. This isn't the only example of this either, in fact there's actually a lot of huge well known cities in the U.S in addition to Kansas City that are shockingly empty.
So today on Across the Globe we’re going to be looking at Why NOBODY Lives in these 10 LARGE Empty Cities. For some context, the following list was compiled using cities that are both well known and have a significant total land area.
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While we do our best to provide you with the most accurate information. These are after all just our take based on data we analyzed. You should make your own decisions based on your own experiences by visiting the places we talk about!
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#emptycities #america #acrosstheglobe

[@ComDocH]

Public transportation is the difference. Chicago, NYC, Philly, Jersey City, Boston, etc, have great public transportation. All the others are car oriented.

[@biggrickdoinnumbers29]

Cleveland is like that too

[@Nikki_the_G]

Phoenix doesn't and it's still exploding.

[@UrbanGardeningWithD.A.Hanks14]

Yeah, and they allow all of the crime to easily flow into the suburbs. People who own cars won't put up with it, and leave. That's why all of those cities are rampant with crime.

[@jmcclain8237]

" great public transportation " hahaha... yeah, o.k.

[@JackoWillMakeLives-loveu]

Great public transportation lol is that why so many people are leaving those cities permanently?

[@Veganisbadhunter-wx5nt]

Tucson, Arizona New Orleans, Louisiana Memphis, Tennessee Tulsa, Oklahoma Virginia Beach, Virginia Kansas City, Missouri Nashville, Tennessee Jacksonville, Florida Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Anchorage, Alaska

[@akuakesewaa9715]

And it all red states 🤔 no suprise no one want to live there though

[@KristNi]

​@@akuakesewaa9715Red states are attracting residents. It's blue states that have people leaving it

[@WBCakaWBrickCraft]

​@@KristNi almost all of those cities listed are in red states, what?

[@KristNi]

@@WBCakaWBrickCraft I was talking about cities. But, voting Blue for a city in a red state isn't much difference

[@jamesjazz3395]

Nothing will change until we realize red and blue are the same. These politicians are laughing all the way to the bank. Mean while we're out here arguing about which side is worse.

[@bongsunkim7623]

City's are empty, but why is it rent are still high?

[@DJHASDIMONDS]

not a lot of housing supply, usually due to poor land use

[@marcel3942]

​@DJHASDIMONDS lies. These big corps, like black rock are buying up all of these properties

[@dave_407]

Because every aspect of building and maintaining a property has gone up

[@joachimklinkosch699]

Good question

[@michael72012]

High tax and maintenance costs

[@beenadickarnold5666]

After living in the DFW area the last few years I could go for empty!

[@valerief1231]

I’m in north Fort Worth after living in the south Dallas county area most of my life. I gotta get out of here, I’m sick of so many people and the traffic!

[@masonbeck3766]

​@valerief1231 I'm from North Fort Worth, and I'll tell you, don't move to the Tampa Bay area. It's ridiculous.

[@chrisbartolini1508]

Dallas is like the 19th most densely populated metro area in the country. Do you just hate being around other humans?

[@beenadickarnold5666]

@chrisbartolini1508 Are you assuming that I hate (strong word) to be around other humans or are you seriously asking such a ridiculous question?

[@chrisbartolini1508]

@@beenadickarnold5666 I mean if Dallas of all places is too much for you, don’t know what to tell you.

[@jamespyle777]

The stats don't matter until you drive in its rush hour.

[@yankee8570]

The lack of density is precisely the reason people are driving further, causing traffic

[@malik_alharb]

Car centric planning is the problem

[@No1reallydies]

@@yankee8570 not really. NYC has the best transit and most traffic. so ur theory dosent hold up

[@mattkase6644]

Does a segment on Memphis while showing a drone shot of what's clearly the Nashville skyline with the iconic Batman Building 🤔

[@mekaeg]

I was about to point out the same thing. This video was sloppy.

[@MKBinDC-bf2dv]

The segment on Memphis also includes an aerial shot of Knoxville, which is almost 400 miles away! This is almost certainly an AI-generated video.

[@mbengeable]

Shots before the Nashville Skyline were also of Nashville. There was a clear aerial shot of the Vanderbilt/VA Hospital area.

[@supremelordoftheuniverse5449]

Batman lives in Gotham #fail

[@congjuny]

4:38 The pyramid and the Mississippi river look weird. 😀

[@hudson5112]

Virginia Beach was a small town with fewer than 6,000 people in the early 1960s. Later in the decade it consolidated with Princess Anne County (200+ sq.mi.) to prevent County land from being annexed by the adjacent city of Norfolk. So VB is not a real city at all, but basically just a surburb of Norfolk.

[@ExiledMSH]

It's a sprawl. Like Norfolk, it's basically the Navy's dumping ground for service folks, but with more space for farms, golf courses and megachurches.

[@trapmuzik6708]

Jax fl is just like that it's misleading bc they merged w Duval county

[@vapoet]

@@ExiledMSH It is rather startling how quiet Virginia Beach becomes just south of Rudee Inlet.

[@vapoet]

@@trapmuzik6708 I kind of laughed about the tourist population. I thought, why? It's due to the rest of Duval county. And population is not surpising given how many retirees move south.

[@donaldharper8632]

VA Beach, Norfolk. Chesapeake, Newport News, Hampton and Portsmouth are all considered Independent Cities within Virginia. They are basically counties without the name.

[@topplacetoLive]

Fascinating video! It really highlights the importance of considering location in retirement planning. Empty cities could offer unexpected opportunities. Thanks for sharing!

[@K.B.Williams]

That KC/Chicago comparison at the beginning hits different when you're from both KC and Chicago.

[@AMPProf]

Tornados or Snow?

[@RyanKusuma]

@@AMPProfsnownado

[@AMPProf]

@@RyanKusuma ommmm

[@mrmarkymark77]

Most of the KC population live outside the city proper

[@AlexM-WI]

@@mrmarkymark77 as does Chicago. The metro area of Chicago he like 10 million people

[@xcjohnnyricox]

Please do me a favor and physically look at a map of Tucson. Their city limits go almost 20 mi away from the city center on the east side. However you don't really hit the city until you're about 7 mi from downtown. Meaning you drive through 13 mi of empty desert, inside Tucson City limits before you ever reach any urbanized area. This skews your number

[@alkey7266]

If the maker of this video drivers from phoenix to Tucson I'm sure he wouldn't put Tucson on this list.

[@thebabbler8867]

There is no such thing as a crowded American city; they're ALL sprawled car-centric undesirable places to live.

[@brandonmccoy8434]

Yeah this is the dumbest video. These are all cities that are just as dense as others, but have official boundaries that include a lot more surrounding land.

[@xcjohnnyricox]

@@brandonmccoy8434 amen. I can understand why Tucson did it though. They're probably just trying to prevent other towns from surrounding it kind of like Chicago is surrounded

[@greymaxwell8993]

@@brandonmccoy8434 yea this video acts as if it’s never heard of the concept of a consolidated city/county

[@BruceM8]

Dude, western and even many midwestern cities are spread out with a more suburban feel. That's just how they are. It's not a defect.

[@oladeebiazazi4538]

Yea but the lack of infrastructure makes those area more car dependent which sucks

[@thebabbler8867]

@@oladeebiazazi4538 Well, what most people don't realize is that all of America used to be dense walkable cities. It's just that most of them got bulldozed and retrofitted for cars in the late 1960s.

[@RalphJBater]

​@oladeebiazazi4538 ...that is also why America as a whole is car dependent... European cities combine a robust public transit system (busses, subways, trams) with strong walkable environment which makes it possible to travel between cities by train/plane.... and then still be able to get around within those cities... even if one were to travel to most cities in America by train/plane they would still need access to a car to get around and function within that city... so rather than travel by train or plane to a destination city it is often more convenient to drive there so one has their car available... this causes a circular effect stifling the development of high speed rail between cities and the development of strong public transit within cities...

[@bluecyclone7077]

Detroit, Chicago, STL, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, etc. most all not be a part of the Midwest because they have more city feels. I think you meant the South

[@BruceM8]

@@bluecyclone7077 Actually, I was thinking of Kansas City, Tulsa, Denver, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, and so on. I agree that the cities you named are denser "eastern type" cities.

[@joelwright1807]

A lot of American cities went on massive land grabs in the 60's and 70's

[@UpUpDnDnLtRtLtRtBAStart]

Big 3 incentivized. Big city long distances. No public transit. Forced into cars. That simple.

[@cowmann3555]

​@@UpUpDnDnLtRtLtRtBAStart more money for mister GMC!

[@TenThumbsProductions]

I drove through Tucson about a month ago, I swear I was 20 miles out of the city in the desert when I pulled off the highway to fix something in my van… and there was a sign that said “Tucson City Limit” … it was wild

[@Lurch685]

I had no idea KCMO was so big. I was born & raised in Chicago, didn’t know it was so big compared with Chicago.

[@DavidLLambertmobile]

Jacksonville FL is Florida's largest "city" by land mass, size not pop. I think Miami 🌆 has the most residents. Orlando, Orlando.gov 2020s is approx 800000. Maybe 850000. It seems larger than it really is.

[@ophs1980]

This video uses the skyline of Nashville when talking about Memphis. This is a very poorly researched and deceptively titled video.

[@boogitybear2283]

He’s a Moron.

[@fr4nn4]

"Empty" and "Nobody" perhaps a bit overstated... Interesting however

[@ramencurry6672]

I agree but I have driven around in some of these cities and it’s shocking to see empty downtowns. I’m from Philadelphia and have frequented New Jersey and New York on a regular basis. My environment is used to seeing hustle and bustle….Then visiting some of the empty cities and seeing nobody walking the sidewalks and almost no car traffic is an eye opener for me. Many people in the Northeast never see that kind of scenario in a major city

[@shredward666]

What blows my mind is that Fresno CA has a higher population than Atlanta GA. 540k vs. 500k

[@Pveal79]

Those numbers are wrong. I live in Atlanta. There's like 6 million ppl here in the metro area

[@RooseveltAliWashingtonX]

​@@Pveal79--- He's obviously referring to Atlanta's city population, not the metro. And Atlanta has a population density of 3685.45 per square mile. That's nothing to write home about. You can look it up for yourself.

[@Pveal79]

@RooseveltAliWashingtonX and what was the point you trying to make rescueman. You think I don't know that

[@RooseveltAliWashingtonX]

@@Pveal79 --- Don't get your panties in a bunch. Now, take a breath. Btw, did you know that when you pose a question, you end it with a question mark? You can look it up.

[@MyKeeP81]

the city genius. not the metro@@Pveal79

[@waltercasas3124]

Love how you show the Nashville skyline during the Memphis segment 😂😂

[@EmilyTienne]

The emptying of the big cities really began at the same time the interstate highways were being completed. That’s no unrelated coincidence.

[@thebabbler8867]

Of course. Nobody wants to live in a city where you need to depend on a car for transportation.

[@JesusChrist-qs8sx]

@@thebabbler8867if you live in a suburban area off a highway, I hate to break it to you, but you do in fact live in the city.

[@nelsfrye8570]

We replaced cities with highway parking lot strip mall strip mall parking lot boring low-rise housing development strip mall highway identical housing development identical housing development housing development parking lot highway parking lot strip mall strip mall parking lot identical low-rise housing development strip mall highway housing development housing development housing development parking lot highway parking lot strip mall strip mall parking lot identical low-rise housing development strip mall highway housing development housing development housing development parking lot strip mall highway…

[@charliestaton4487]

Hard to take this video seriously when the video footage for the first 15 seconds of the Memphis segment is actually Nashville

[@theotherserge]

Memphisvillie? *ducks* 😂

[@thinkbeforyouvote]

This is a Russian propaganda outlet.

[@ShakurUniversity]

Did you ever fact check the information despite the error in video footage? @charliestaton4487

[@EngineerDJ_Julius]

dude, Alaska doesn't count the cost of living there is insane

[@libramoon9968]

I live in Hawaii and it's expensive. I heard and read Alaska is even more expensive! I believe you !

[@gmac2558]

Check out the grocery prices in Nunavut, very expensive...

[@Em3ga]

Jones Act victims.

[@user-iw1tv7nm9f]

Most ppl don't live in Nunavut that's the stupidest reply I've ever seen.. This whole thing is about cities not states or small villages nobody would live in but a m o r o n. Anchorage has WalMart it's still expensive though

[@BrownBomber92181]

I'm surprised Rochester NY isn't on this list. I was there 10 years ago for a wedding. And for one thing, I was shocked how big the downtown area is, many tall buildings and such, i wasn't expecting that. After exploring the downtown area, it was very clear that just about half of that city was empty. It was very weird and eerie, kinda like Detroit

[@Em3ga]

Kodak.

[@tlewisAK]

I knew Anchorage would be #1 on this list. It really doesn’t feel like it’s as big as it is. I live nearly 400 miles to the North, in Fairbanks, and every time I travel down, I’m always amazed at how well traffic flows around there.

[@keithball6480]

In Canada, Timmins Ontario in northern Ontario is 1240 square miles with population of about 45,000. Toronto, has size of only 240 square miles, so Timmins is huge by any standard. The reason, when mining created a boom in the larger Timmins area, these sparsely populated hamlets on the outside of town, where then incorporated into a newly created "Greater" Timmins.

[@mynamemylastname7179]

45000 to many siberia sounds a little bit better

[@AwilDoinIt]

Kansas City annexed over half of its current land. The original side was a 3rd of its current. That's why it's not that dense.

[@bluecyclone7077]

So did Philly it’s not an excuse that’s just the way they planned it

[@rchilde1]

Oklahoma City also, due to water rights. OKC actually feels as dense as elsewhere in its urban area but due to state refs it has to incorporate water shed in order to control it. 485 square miles is the real density; which is still large but gives prospective.

[@pHixiq]

As someone who lived in Memphis for 14 years, *those reasons are 100% correct*

[@reneeandchrisforever]

As a resident of Broken Arrow (part of the greater Tulsa area), I can tell you that listing Tulsa and OKC as empty is a little misleading. Both metro areas are huge and growing rapidly. That includes cities in Tulsa county and Oklahoma county.

[@christopherdieudonne]

4:18 I think that actually might be Nashville and not Memphis. Does Memphis also have a building with two spires like that?

[@chadboatright8166]

I have lived in two of the cities on this list, Jacksonville and Tucson each one for about 20 years. Jacksonville has a large city size due to the consolidation of City and county government in 1968 I believe. That has been pointed out in other comments. Tucson, has a large city size with vastly open areas due to water rights. Out in the desert, you need to be able to have as much access to water sources as possible to sustain any kind of population growth.

[@johnmaxwell4072]

Context for New Orleans: city land area 169 sq miles but at LEAST 100 square miles are uninhabitable swaps to the east and west of the city. And it’s not hurricanes so much that keep people out, it’s the insurance premiums (if you can even get insurance) along with the stated issue of crime. Katrina was a lost opportunity to re-imagine the city, with denser living areas and mass transit. Oh well.

[@ThunderFist1978]

I’ve been to Anchorage! I was part of a team that did missions work in Wasila, and while we mainly stayed around that area, during the second day of our time there, we went to Anchorage and shopped around. I had no idea it had so much land, or that it was so sparsely populated, although now that I think about it, I remember not seeing many people there while we shopped.

[@mattanderson6672]

Thank you!!!

[@teasy2518]

Interesting video, but I think some context is missing here. It's important to note that cities like New Orleans, Nashville, Virginia Beach, and Jacksonville have merged with their county governments, which significantly impacts their population density as their city limits encompass their respective counties. They function more like counties rather than traditional cities seen in the Northeast US, which can give the impression of emptiness when looking at population statistics. It's a unique aspect of Southern urban planning that aims to streamline services for the community while reducing bureaucracy. The absence of township-level government and the presence of one large school district for an entire county, as opposed to several smaller ones, further validate this approach (a cool outlier is San Antonio which is served by 14 independent school districts vs Chicago served by only 1). Also...China has taken a similar approach with planning its new mega cities like Chongqing.

[@acewickhamyoshi8330]

Yes ,,just like australia,, our cities are empty in lockdown, because we mainly live in houses 5o miles out in suburbia,, also its colder than concrete cities plus we get harrassed for appearoing homeless ,, so cities get ghosted

[@joeywilson3]

New Orleans is in a parish not a county. Please refer to the correct nomenclature. It's not only incorrect to refer it from a governmental stand point but a cultural as well.

[@teasy2518]

@@joeywilson3 I appreciate the correction and apologize for the oversight in my terminology. I used "counties" as a general term for secondary levels of local government. As Virginia Beach is technically an "independent city" which is unique to that state rather than a consolidated-city-county. I didn't feel it was necessary to delve into such detail on this platform, but I understand and respect the importance of accuracy in discussions like these.

[@bar-bee-cue-chicken3549]

@@teasy2518County, borough, parish, district, municipality, it doesn’t matter how you slice it. I understood what you meant, and was very intrigued by your comment.

[@bluecyclone7077]

That doesn’t sound like a good plan and southern cities aren’t the only ones that absorbed counties. They are like that because they ARE empty. It’s just the way they built the city

[@ThunderKat2012]

I live in Los Angeles and what’s hilarious To me seeing ads from different states encouraging Californians to move there…😂

[@jeffherdz]

Encouraging people to move to other states from California. Not over inflated home prices, high gas prices, and homeless everywhere ? I won't even mention the government in California and the ridiculous state laws. Which Californians bring with them and want to impose on other states. Stay, Please stay in California.

[@reneeandchrisforever]

Please, stay where you are. We don’t need your politics anywhere else.

[@ThunderKat2012]

@@reneeandchrisforeveryou assume I’m liberal and not conservative…I’m good…I like living in CA…your state sucks in many ways equal or worse then California 💁🏽‍♂️

[@reneeandchrisforever]

@@ThunderKat2012 Keep believing that, it helps us prosper.

[@ThunderKat2012]

@@reneeandchrisforever yall underwater right now or nah? 😆 yeah I thought so…

[@quizplz]

Interesting how urban sprawl is becoming less of a thing. Very professional video. Well done. No 'and' between hundred and thousand when saying numbers.

[@EmilyTienne]

I noticed you used single quotes. Is this standard? 🤔

[@quizplz]

@@EmilyTienne Probably not. Laziness on my part.

[@woxyroxme]

Toledo is the second largest city in Ohio in land area but #4 in population. People don’t want to live in big cities anymore because it’s not 1950 anymore.

[@757CitiesReppa]

Maybe not in Ohio. Certain cities yeah. They want NEW sht. with some of the classic urban look…and they don’t want to have to pay for 3500 for a “luxury” apt. to do so.

[@ruudperez9635]

people just don’t wanna live in american cities bc they’re built like shit

[@mayavenuemisfit814]

​@@757CitiesReppayou are aware that Columbus is currently the fastest-growing city in America, and that it's in Ohio, correct?

[@757CitiesReppa]

@@mayavenuemisfit814 yeah, I know…”NEW sht” …

[@bluecyclone7077]

Small America is still getting smaller. People DO want to live in big cities that’s why they move their ass into the metro area

[@discoverglobeliving]

great video

[@NickSprecher]

Doing a little bit of research, how come Lexington, KY did not make this list?

[@mayavenuemisfit814]

I would certainly make an argument for Lexington to be on this list. Its land area is actually larger than Tucson, and they have about 200,000 less residents. In 1974, Lexington annexed Fayette County, almost all of which is farmland or otherwise vacant land that will likely never be built on, since much of it is protected or considered to be of "statewide importance" by the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

[@jeffdavis2648]

Honestly, I'm surprised Louisville didn't, but then I remembered why Louisville's population has gone down. Some of the suburbs, like Shively, Prospect, Middletown & St Matthews aren't a part of Louisville anymore

[@isettech]

If you want ot live in a studio apartment on the 8th floor, you too can choose to live in over crowded conditions. Personally, I prefer a place where I have a greenhouse, rose garden, RV parking with hookups, and a detached shop. There are advantages to having a little elbow room.

[@andyexplores1982]

Great video, thanks for sharing!

[@sandpeat]

Seven of these cities are featured in the homicide show 48 Hours

[@discoverglobeliving]

While exploring vacant big cities, it's wise to consider retirement planning. Look for areas with vibrant communities, healthcare, and amenities for your future.

[@charlesgair8608]

New Orleans May Have Low Population By Residents Who Live Here.But New New Orleans Is Always Packed To The Max By People Who Visit Here. MILLIONS Every Year

[@rumbaughsteven5577]

Some cities are hemmed in by legal boundaries which count only the cramped city center population. KC and Oklahoma City and Jacksonville have enormous land areas which in Chicago or St Louis have small areas. Area of developed area should be compared to population and then things equalize significantly.

[@ashleighelizabeth5916]

Yeppers, Jacksonville is the largest city in the state of Florida by square mileage. Suffolk is the largest city in the state of Virginia by square mileage.

[@jdwilmoth]

That's true I live in Oklahoma City and it is huge but we only have a population of 1.4 million

[@barbarabrooks4747]

We need a national policy to reward businesses to move to areas with lower housing costs and less density. People retired or on disability in subsidized housing should be given incentives to move to cheaper areas, like paying relocation. Low income workers in subsidized housing could be matched with job offers in multiple areas and be offered relocation assistance in hopes that eventually they won't require subsidies or can buy a manufactured home on its own lot or in an owner cooperative trailer park. People aren't having children because they have to live in high cost areas. Rural and small town people have 50% more children, especially in the more prosperous areas.

[@ashleighelizabeth5916]

Low density means fewer job opportunities. OK I get what you are saying, encourage businesses to move there and then the job opportunities will be there. And it can work somewhat. But the two things that will make a business want to relocate to your area are tax incentives and solid infrastructure. And those two things don't work together. In fact they generally work against each other. I'm not saying you can't get it to work because I've seen it done. But EVENTUALLY people will moved to where the jobs are and you have the same problem all over again. And businesses that aren't something like ranching or farming or logging work better in built up areas instead of rural areas most of the time for a number of logistical reasons. Go to far down this road and you end up with central planning committees and that's not a very workable situation either. Truth is we would have far better luck putting an end to corporate investors turning residential property into a commodity instead of a basic necessity. Almost all of the housing crisis and issue with finding affordable housing is being driven by large corporate real estate buying up a high percentage of the available residential property on the market. Take that out of the market or at least limit it in some way and you will find that housing prices won't be so insane.

[@MrARhodes]

'im can confirm on Tulsa. Coming from slightly outside the Metro Atlanta area, Downtown Tulsa on a Friday afternoon seemed eerily vacant. Almost replicates the scene in "The Devil's Advocate" when that twisty faced woman beckons Kevin to go see "Pops"... up that "still" One Way. 🤔🤫🤐

[@JoseMartinez-df2db]

Chicago is such a great and beautiful city.

[@AMPProf]

Til bullets

[@iwouldliketoorderanumber1b79]

For sure

[@iwouldliketoorderanumber1b79]

@@AMPProfthat’s everywhere in America these days.

[@dontlookatmypants]

It really is, but fear mongering propaganda in this new age of mainstream ignorance and a radicalized maga crowd will always paint it as some sort of warzone.

[@ThunderKat2012]

😂😂😂 maybe in the 80s

[@alexlindsey6446]

I watch KZbin videos all day and night and you did a nice job here.

[@akshay_755]

How you get money to countine life of you watch KZbin full day sir

[@happytheclown37]

Unless I'm crazy, one of your pictures of Memphis is actually of Nashville, off the Cumberland River, the picture with the "Batman Building", which is well known in Nashville.

[@thomaskirk9546]

First few pictures are Nashville not Memphis.

[@banjomechanic]

Quite a stretch to note Nashville as a big empty city. And the schools there are fine, btw. Lived there 30 years, went to jr high and high school there. Nashville greenway is great, there is a commuter rail that goes to Lebanon, TN, LOTS to do in Nashville. Definitely not a big empty city. It is growing at a ridiculous rate though. I got tired of living in an eternal construction zone and moved to a much more laid-back midwestern area.

[@jefferyduplessis1577]

New Orleans 169 square miles, how much of that is water, swamps and areas where you cannot build structures. Those numbers are very misleading.

[@truthteller4442]

Ideally I would love to live in New Orleans, but the hurricanes and crime are huge reasons why I never would.

[@stvp68]

I grew up in the Jacksonville burbs and did not know it has tourism outside of the Gator Bowl

[@DavidMetheny-xe1ur]

Jacksonville, Virginia Beach, and Anchorage have a consolidated political structure. The city and county (Anchorage was a city/borough merger) that the city resided in were merged into one political unit.

[@hmm-zoolol]

New Orleans is too crowded.

[@joywebster2678]

Be interesting to know amount of good/well rated hospitals in these cities.

[@pumpnix7243]

Just started the episode, but I bet Dallas should be on this list! Dallas is shockingly empty in the downtown area outside of business hours! Lived here all my life, and while it has become more busy over the years, still is empty compared to other big cities I’ve visited! Back in the early 00s, downtown Dallas was a ghost town on the weekends and after 6pm on weekdays

[@zubairrazzaq6271]

Great video amazing information 👍👍👌👌

[@karladenton5034]

Kansas City stats vary on whether you are talking about the 'city of Kansas City MO' or the KC metro. The metro is in two states, multiple counties (14) and dozens of small cities that are set up next to each other. There are some shared services, but you can cross a street and be in a totally different city - with it's own police department and school system. The metro has a population of around 2.5 million, but yeah, we are spread out. A lot.

[@danduffy7974]

When they were talking about Memphis,they showed a pic of "The Bat Building" in Nashville.

[@fadusysko]

Lived in OKC for eight months when I was a kid, that place blows

[@reneeyounk9663]

I was shocked that in 1985 phoenix, az, buses stopped from 10pm till 6am. Everything was 24 hrs. Could grocery shop at 12 am. I couldnt get home from 59th ave to 32nd st. From a 3-11 shift! Milwaukee too. I asked my inner city why she just didnt get on a bus and get a decent job. Cuz buses quit at 11 pm. Crazy!!!

[@antoniomendoza7218]

This video misses the elephant in the room: zoning. Majority of urban and suburban areas have zoning laws for single-family homes. That restriction is detrimental to significantly decreasing the population density for a major city, as single-family homes typically acquire large acres of land to be utilized for such.

[@nelsfrye8570]

Yep. Most analyses miss this and choose to focus on, from one side, greed, cApItaLiSm, and gentrification and, from the other, freedumb, my sprawl hellscape is "full", and "we just need to add another lane!"

[@genighmartin4999]

Your definition of empty is different than mine

[@Doctor-vn8es]

As a UK citizen who has relations living in Arizona, and has visited, I can honestly say it feels quite empty. Mind you the streets could be empty because it's ridiculously hot.

[@Offroad_Lwyr]

The photo used at timestamp 3:33 is of Houston, Texas, not New Orleans, LA. The photo used at this point in your video is from the northwest looking at downtown Houston; the large elevated freeway running through this shot is the HOV lanes running from I-10 to downtown. Please don’t diminish the losses suffered by Houstonians post-Hurricane Harvey to make your video more visually appealing. Houston took in many of those displaced post-Katrina.

[@ferraridan4883]

Nashville had no downtown housing until recent years. Now downtown is being built like crazy. Every other new highrise is now for housing.

[@greymaxwell8993]

The video lists Nashville and Jacksonville as having very low population densities but completely fails to mention that both of these cities have a large total land area because they are city/county consolidated.

[@colinfagan539]

New Orleans also has about 1/3 of it's land area being bayou/swamp

[@poetcomic1]

Downtown St. Louis... 100 million dollar skyscraper office bldg offered at 4 million with no takers.

[@immaculate5784]

What an interesting usage of the words "Empty" and "Nobody".

[@charlesbird781]

Around 1900, downtown Boston had a daytime population density of 400,000 people/sq mile according to the PBS documentary “The Race Underground “. Today, Manhattan has a daytime peak density of about 100,000.

[@jayc222]

City density comparisons are often skewed by natural features. New Orleans, for example, has more water area within its city limits than land. Jacksonville has large swamps, ocean, or empty wilderness areas that greatly skew its density. Salt Lake City also has large swaths of its city limits extending over uninhabitable mountainous areas or the Great Salt Lake and its wetlands.

[@ViceCoin]

What about Dtroit, Cleveland, Newark, Camden, Gary In?

[@Bdk2036]

Detroit isn't anywhere close to being a big empty city.

[@75aces97]

The ones on this list are built almost exclusively for roadway transport. Roads and parking take up a lot of space relative to what's there.

[@bjdon99]

Is t the reason a city like Boston or SF is so dense, but Tucson or Jacksonville isn’t is that the older cities at some point stopped annexing neighboring towns, so the growth in the fringe belongs to some other town’s jurisdiction? Cities with vacant land on their fringes that can be annexed for single family ‘burbs within the city limits.

[@RaniVeluNachar-kx4lu]

Yep, Alaska is a pretty weird place. Average apartment is 3 bedroom two bath with 2600 square feet. Compare that with NYC with average apartment being two bedroom, one bath with 900 square feet. I suppose that people have to find a place for the sled dogs. No pets allowed is not going to happen in AK.

[@lasurflife]

This list is too influenced by the randomness of how much open land has been annexed into the various cities.

[@ashleighelizabeth5916]

Well yeah that's a big part of this. Another big part of this is how few permanent residents actually live downtown in major cities in the US. In both Houston and Atlanta where I've lived for decades the downtown areas are devoid of much residential property. Atlanta has almost nobody living in downtown and it's not until you get into Midtown, Grant Park, VA Highlands or Techwood that you see any actual residents. Houston is the same way. People live in Montrose and Midtown and Galleria but there aren't any people living downtown. And the two cities are a perfect example of the different approaches to city growth and city jurisdiction where Houston city limits expand all the way out past the inner loop and pretty much to Beltway 8 Atlanta doesn't even cover all of the land inside of the 285 Perimeter. Instead you have towns like Chamblee, and Sandy Springs and Decatur carved out of that land. I honestly don't think either approach is the end all be all of solving local governance. Nor is the practice of combining a county government with a city government like they did in Virginia Beach or in some of the other locations mentioned here. There's always pitfalls and problems with any approach.

[@lasurflife]

@@ashleighelizabeth5916 Yes, and it would be a more interesting list to really pull apart which big cities have more people living downtown and/or in the inner city versus which ones are more under or depopulated. But just doing populatoin density doesn't accomplish that because it's random how much of the suburbs are incorporated within city boundaries, as you correctly stated with respect to Atlanta and Houston. I've lived in the SF Bay Area, LA and DC, and SF and DC are both small cities with almost no incorporated suburban areas that often feel just as big if not bigger than LA, which is a big city, but also a city that is mostly composed of suburban areas.

[@stevekim3217]

Kansas City , MO. Downtown never has had a residential population all businesses.

[@chriskelly6559]

NYC built up, L.A. built out, explains the density difference.

[@rabokarabekian409]

The NJ average density is extraordinarily misleading. Northwestern NJ is extremely rural. A huge chunk of Southern NJ has the Pine Barrens (about 1.1 million acres) plus many huge industrial farms. Northeastern NJ is the largest and most densely populated REGION in the U$A. Population density varies from 0 to more than 60,000 people per square mile.

[@27mhz47]

Tucson also grows during the winter to over a million people with all the snowbirds. They don’t live there full time so they are not counted in its population.

[@benjaminrush4443]

No. One - Anchorage Alaska - 1975 - Costs were unbelievably high!

[@ImTasty1978]

I have heard a LOT about Nashville. Not the best for kids but apparently it is hitting.

[@ImTasty1978]

Apparently it’s the new Madison, which was the new Portland which was the new Austin which, etc.……

[@alexanderl2061]

After looking at the video and the comments, we know for certain that no effort was made in actually "talking about the problem," if there really was a problem. The producer deserves no money from this video.

[@kfpocs]

I LOVE visiting Tucson because it feels like a small town despite being one of the biggest cities in AZ

[@Gron257]

Empty cities today are former industrial centers, whose populations left when the jobs dried up. Busy cities today are centers for the still vibrant service economy, be it financial, insurance or technology, where jobs are still available.

[@moa3008]

The Kansas City, Missouri Chamber of Commerce should try luring all kinds of businesses to the city and that will help bring in more people who can work for those businesses and now there’s a growing demand for housing!

[@johnlabus7359]

There are some sloppy mistakes in the video with the number in the graphic being different from the narrative.

[@davincileonardo5861]

I lived in Tucson for 2 years. I never thought it was an empty city. LoL

[@me12722]

That's due to bad land use. If you have a city where you have to depend on a car for transportation then you're going to get crowding without actually having many people.

[@jerrywood4508]

The problem with comparisons between American cities is the fact that you aren't comparing the same things in every case. Comparing the density of the urbanized area, including New York's suburbs for instance, would be a better comparison method. Oklahoma City aggressively annexed huge swaths of rural land before the 1960 census to grow to 600 square miles so that they could have a 1960 population of 600,000, which they did not achieve. Those undeveloped areas bring the city's density down so much. Anchorage, Jacksonville and Nashville consolidated the city with their county (borough in the case of Anchorage) and New Orleans includes all of Orleans Parish, which includes quite a lot of wetlands. Kansas City annexed aggressively, probably in reaction to the highly constrained Saint Louis on the other side of the state. The boundaries of American cities are determined by very different state laws and very different strategies by city governments, so all of the portentous 'analysis' in this video is nonsense.

[@MikesLeTour83]

If I had to choose between Chicago and Kansas City as my place to live, based on this video I would 100% choose Kansas City!!

[@kenneyp1]

Jacksonville is huge, and at least a million people come for events it's nuts.

[@stvp68]

I wonder about the size of housing tracks-how big are the average yards in these cities?

[@DanYellow3000]

One of the reasons why these cities are empty is because public transportation suck in ALL of these cities. I've been to some of the cities on this list and the public transportation is abysmal.

[@magnaman1963]

theres a difference between empty and underpopulated. as an example, go out in the desert with nothing but your clothes for a week, would you prefer and EMPTY glass or a glass partially filled with water?

[@jontalbot1]

If you view this from a European and not US perspective, the most obvious factor is the low cost of land relative to other factors of production. My country, the UK, has a population of 67million in a country the size of Ohio, of which at least a third of the land is not suitable for habitation. US settlements of all types are relatively under populated compared with the UK and other European countries

[@JeffreyJones-zr8yx]

Tulsa has a vibrant city area.

[@jdwilmoth]

Really I haven't been to Tulsa in several years I live in Oklahoma City

[@keouine]

The first seconds of citiscapes of "Memphis" segment were not Memphis, but you fixed it.

[@mabutoo]

Virginia Beach is not surprising since a lot of the square miles are water.