Why These Capital Cities are DOMINATED by other Cities in Their OWN State | America's BETA Capitals

[@mikemclean5815]

Philosophically, though, *should* a state capital actually be a state’s largest city? If a state’s capital is also its largest city, then that just centralizes the whole state’s population into one area, like Phoenix, Salt Lake City, and Oklahoma City, among others. I think it might be healthier to have a more even distribution of population across a state, with multiple large cities of comparable size, and that is achieved by having the state capital *not* be the state’s largest city.

[@Shad0wSabr3]

That also helps to prevent the largest city from dominating state politics (one of the main things Chicago politicians complain about lol).

[@civlyzed]

@@Shad0wSabr3 I've heard some folks from southern Illinois complain about Chicago being the dominant political force, so I just assumed the Chicago politicians would be just fine with that. :D

[@cliffshockley4406]

In Delaware, our capitol of our state and in my county are both exactly center of the area, so no one has to travel unfairly further than anyone else to get there to do business.

[@civlyzed]

@@cliffshockley4406 And the only state smaller is Rhode Island, so it takes about two hours to drive the entire length of Delaware. If you lived in Westby, Montana it would take 9 hours to drive to the capital, Helena, and that's running 80+ MPH.

[@trademark4537]

It should be the largest city so that the most citizens can be connected to their leaders and testify directly at the capitol

[@Will0398]

Historically Nevada had most of its population in the north, due to the south being settled relatively recently. Which is why Carson City made sense at the time. Las Vegas wasn’t incorporated as a city until 1909 and didn’t surpass 100,000 until 1970. Now 74% of Nevadans live in Clark County.

[@295g295]

LasVegas is closest to Los Angeles... and the Hoover Dam electricity.

[@danielzhang1916]

I think people forget that these capitals were established in the 1800s, there were no huge metro areas like today, some capitals were based off the former territory before they became formal states

[@xjing800]

@@295g295ok?

[@Zalis116]

True -- the main migration route across the state heading for California was the trail along the Humboldt River, the path that later became US-40 and now Interstate 80. Carson City and Reno had access to water flowing east out of the Sierra Nevada via the Carson and Truckee Rivers, which was in scarce supply elsewhere in the state. (Particularly the infamous "40-Mile Desert" between Lovelock and Fernley, east of Reno.) What allowed Las Vegas to flourish was not only the Hoover Dam electricity, but also the now-rapidly-declining Lake Mead water supply.

[@hulugn]

Carson City is better.

[@sfdko3291]

What's crazy about Albany is that it's dominated by two OTHER cities besides NYC. Syracuse and Buffalo.

[@tomfields3682]

What about Rochester?

[@bxbeautynyc]

It’s the oldest city in NY

[@babs3241]

Yeah, I love how New York didn't even get a countdown of the cities that outrank Albany. ;p

[@sieteocho]

Then how about Sacramento being dominated by Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego?

[@RitaBaumann]

@@tomfields3682 True. Rochester has 202000+ pop

[@JoshuaFagan]

It's funny that a lot of state capitals (Sacramento, Austin, for examples) were chosen specifically because they were small, out of the way places apart from major cities, but over time, they became major cities themselves.

[@JayTemple]

In no small part, it's because the state government becomes a larger and larger employer.

[@kjhuang]

​@@JayTempleThe state governments of California and Texas have little to do with the rapid growth in those cities.

[@GOJOSATORUWILLIVE]

sacramento is the best

[@invaderjoshua6280]

Well in Austin’s case it was more a massive tech migration from silicone valley.

[@kelllakell]

Sacramento isn't a major city.

[@PendragonDaGreat]

Olympia, WA, was chosen the state capital *explicitly* because it wasn't Seattle or Tacoma. At the time those two were both vying for the Capital, as well as things like railroad termini, ship cargo, etc. It was deemed that giving either the recognition of the state capital would be very bad for this rivalry. So Olympia was chosen. This rivalry is also why the Capitol Hill in Seattle is spelled that way, because that was the hill where they wanted the Capitol Building to be built.

[@Spanner249]

Sacramento was chosen because when California became a state, Los Angeles and Southern California were lightly populated. Sacramento was a good location because the Sacramento River lets out into the Bay area but it would be much easier to defend than San Fransico if California came under a surprise naval attack. The United States was very aware that it would take many months to respond to a threat on the West Coast of the United States, especially before the Transcontinental Railroad and the Panama Canal.

[@greasher926]

Olympia became the capital way back when Washington territory was formed in 1854, 3 years after Seattle was founded in 1851. So this was way before the rivalry between Seattle and Tacoma happened. Instead Olympia was chosen because at the time the main population center was in Vancouver, WA across the river from Portland, and Washington wanted a capital far removed from Oregonian lobbyists. 6 years later in 1860 these were the top 5 counties 1. Clarke (Vancouver): 2,384 2. Thurston (Olympia): 1,507 3. Walla-Walla (Walla-Walla): 1,318 4. Pierce (Tacoma): 1,115 5. Spokane (Spokane): 996 As you can see Seattle’s King county didn’t even crack the top 5. Later on when Washington became a state in 1889 a number of other cities were considered such as Steilacoom, Vancouver, Port Townsend, and Ellensburg. Ellensburg suffered a major fire that same year and Olympia remained as the capital. In 1890 the top 10 cities in Washington were; 1. Seattle: 42,837 2. Tacoma: 36,006 3. Spokane: 19,222 4. Bellingham: 8,135 5. Walla-Walla: 4,709 6. Olympia: 4,698 7. Port Townsend: 4,558 8. Vancouver: 3,545 9. Ellensburg: 2,768 10. Centralia: 2,026 However in 1870 Olympia was the second largest city in Washington. 1. Walla-Walla: 1,394 2. Olympia: 1,203 3. Seattle: 1,107 4. Port Townsend: 593 5. Port Gamble: 326 6. Steilacoom: 314

[@georgesheffield1580]

Somewhat like Canberra or Brazila .

[@Ex_Caseus_Fortis]

It feels weird to see Spokane as the second largest city in Washington. Just doing its own thing on the east side of the state I guess.

[@greasher926]

@@Ex_Caseus_Fortis what’s so weird about that? Plenty of states have their two largest cities on opposite ends, like Philly and Pittsburgh or St.Louis and Kansas City. Either way Spokane isn’t exactly alone, Tri-Cities has over 300k people in the metro area and it’s also on the east side. These are the largest metro areas in WA 1. Seattle-Tacoma: 4,034,248 1a. Seattle: 3,106,868 1b. Tacoma: 927,380 2. Spokane: 597,919 3. Vancouver (w/o Portland, OR): 515,771 4. Tri-Cities: 311,469 5. Olympia: 298,758 6. Bremerton: 277,673 7. Yakima: 257,001 8. Bellingham: 230,677 9. Mount Vernon: 131,179 10. Wenatchee: 124,118

[@Unmannedperson]

27:05: Yikes! As they say, a bad driver never misses their exit, except in this case where a terrible driver not only missed their exit, looks like they made someone else take an unexpected exit...

[@drewf7743]

Thought I was the only one to see that lmao

[@deanbianco4982]

I'm not surprised. Texas drivers are notably HORRIBLE and accident-prone. Don't just take my word for it, look it up.

[@emperorsadrax7242]

Austin drivers are built different

[@HoshizakiYoshimasa]

Oh my.... Didn't notice it until you pointed it out

[@doukyuuseii99]

I saw this and was like yup, thats why I hate having to drive through Austin

[@zackerykoroskenyi2745]

1 Alabama 0:47 2 Alaska 1:34 3 California 2:26 4 Connecticut 3:28 5 Delaware 4:21 6 Florida 5:10 7 Illinois 6:15 8 Kansas 7:31 9 Kentucky 8:27 10 Louisiana 9:26 11 Maine 10:11 12 Maryland 11:10 13 Michigan 12:32 14 Minnesota 13:21 15 Missouri 14:16 16 Montana 15:41 17Nebraska 16:17 18 Nevada 17:01 19 New Hampshire 18:03 20 New Jersey 18:51 21 New Mexico 20:02 22 New York 20:59 23 North Carolina 22:15 24 North Dakota 23:26 25 Oregon 24:18 26 Pennsylvania 24:41 27 South Dakota 25:36 28 Texas 26:27 29 Vermont 27:37 30 Virginia 28:14 31 Washington 29:53 32 Wisconsin 30:11 you're welcome okay Not in the video okay 33 Arizona 34 Arkansas 35 Georgia 36 Hawaii 37 Idaho 38 Indiana 39 Iowa 40 Massachusetts 41 Mississippi 42 Nebraska 43 Ohio 44 Oklahoma 45 Rhode Island 46 South Carolina 47 Tennessee 48 Utah 49 West Virginia 50 Wyoming

[@onslaughtmp]

Thank you!

[@Pack1ngPeanuts]

🙏

[@maryannefeyer6332]

Thank you!

[@levikindred8007]

Where's arizona?

[@TheSaxophone]

@@levikindred8007 I was wondering that too but realized the video is about capitals that are smaller than the states biggest cities. Phoenix is Arizona's capital and the largest city in Arizona so that's why its not here

[@CreepyBlackDude]

I love that Austin is the 2nd-largest state capital by population in the country (behind only Phoenix), and the largest capital in this video, but is only the 4th largest city in its own state.

[@tnix80]

Texas should be its own country

[@TheWizardGamez]

Fuck Austin. It’s amazing that it isn’t the biggest city. Incredible foresight by our founders to move it from Houston. A multi-polar government is a slow government. And a slow government is better than a quick one.

[@wta1518]

@@tnix80 Yeah, because that's going so well for Britain right now.

[@kshaad9526]

Soon to be 5th largest with Fort Worth right on its heels.

[@antimatterg]

What? Britain's always been independent.​@@wta1518

[@rokr0001]

I honestly did not expect Fresno of all cities to be more populous than Sacramento.

[@lynksis12]

Fresno county just crossed 1 million residents

[@kjhuang]

Fresno is a surprise big city just like San Jose which is more populous than San Francisco.

[@mattr2626]

We don't talk about Fresno here in Sacramento. Or Stockton. If you've been to either you know why 😂

[@rokr0001]

@@mattr2626 Oh, I am well aware. It is just surprising.

[@Veyronp87]

me too, totally caught off guard with that. For how little Sacramento is talked about, Fresno is even less so.

[@ClementinesmWTF]

Texas’ capital used to be Houston, but a small “war” happened during its Republic era where the second President Mirabeau Lamar (who wasn’t a fan of 1st and 3rd President Sam Houston) moved the archives to Austin. The attempt to move them back was thwarted and there’s a statue commemorating the even on Congress St in Austin now. The first capital was Washington-on-the-Brazos (to differentiate from Washington-on-the-Potomac) and a few other small-to-nonexistent towns today did have the capital before they settled on Houston.

[@hankeng6375]

One of those small to nonexistent capitals before Houston was San Antonio.

[@derekwest4245]

Also nacodoches and even lil San Augustine before that. Austin was chosen for its central location.

[@jordanteichman2397]

Ah, the Texas Archives War, which has a statue of Angelina Eberly to honor it in Austin where she looks like she ran outside in her robe and used a magic wand and firm slap on the backside to fire a cannon at oncoming traffic. Fun fact, only part of that is true!

[@Maznhaden1]

Historically Richmond was the largest urbanized area in Virginia until the 1940s. Going back further to 1870, Richmond was the second largest city in the entire South after New Orleans and had the most industry. Richmond built the first municipal electric trolley system in the world in 1888 when most of Northen Virginians were getting around on horse and buggy. Before WW2, Northern Virginia was almost entirely rural outside Alexandria and a few small towns like Leesburg and Fredericksburg, but has boomed post-WW2. However, since 2020 the pendulum has swung and Richmond is now the fastest growing metro in the state and Northern Virginia's growth has stalled out (especially in Fairfax County). Also, growing Richmond is anticipated to surpass declining Norfolk in population by 2025 and climb in its ranking. One thing of note is that the Independent City status in Virginia makes it very difficult to annex and city's like Richmond can only grow their population through infill and adding density. Interesting enough a city can annex and grow its population if it reverts to a town as was the case in Bedford in 2013.

[@BorninVirginia]

That why (especially in Virginia) it's better to judge a city by its metro area

[@sarahcantrell9821]

Fairfax has gotten so dense that there's not many open places to put people. And it's horribly expensive to live in as well

[@Melvin-r1p]

And as I've asked multiple former residents of Fairfax County: "Could you name a place that is 'quintessential Fairfax' (you know the first thing you think of when you think of Fairfax County)?" Not one could. It's essentially no where USA. It has no soul, no sense of place. That's why it's population is declining. And that lack of a soul is essentially true of all suburban Virginia. Many of the other counties in other regions are still growing, but some are trying to learn from Fairfax's mistakes by trying to build multi-million to multi-billion dollar "downtowns" or "town centers" to create a sense of place that they destroyed for a time in abandoning the core inner-cities of Virginia. In the Virginia suburban counties' pursuit of keeping the "wrong" minorities at bay or not wanting to be around poor people of any race much less help them or of the state not allowing--via actual court-adjudicated decisions--white leadership in Richmond to "dilute" the Black vote by annexing white exurbs (you name it this commonwealth has done it in the reality of structural/de jure racism/classicism) there has developed a level of fractured co-existence between localities that if not openly spoken of as in the '70's, '80's, and '90's when it seemed all suburban Virginia was "ascendant in wealth, popularity and overall economic growth" in all regions to now all inner-cities have made huge comebacks with many like definitely Roanoke City whose individual city-proper GDP growing to over $750 million more than the combined-proper GDP of Roanoke County and the City of Salem, Roanoke's immediate, long-term inner-suburbs (of a combined population of about 10,000 more residents than the city itself) and that's with several large projects within Roanoke not even coming on line in the next year or so (which should grow its financial heft to well past a $1billion GDP gap). The quaintness and overall more recently found attractiveness of say Norfolk's Ghent neighborhoods, Edgewater, Downtown, and other areas. Richmond has its famous Fan District, Museum and Carytown neighborhoods along with its Forest Hill, revitalized Church Hill, soon to be spent $500million in just affordable housing over the next five years not to mention the $4billion already spent and the next $4billion coming in everything from the Sauer's developments to Co-Star's campus to the Diamond District (and God help them if the casino squeaks by). Roanoke's neighborhoods of Deyerle, Grandin Court, Raleigh Court, Downtown, Old Southwest and of course South Roanoke and the South Hills have regain their panache and with newly arrived residents from as far afield as Michigan, California, Florida, Ohio and Tennessee, Roanoke City has found fans that far out-strip the extremely denigrating rhetoric of what Salem and Cave Spring Roanoke County conjured in steering new residents away from the City. And beautiful in-fill developments are complementing well the older renovated homes in all these Virginia inner-cities. @@sarahcantrell9821

[@JhonnyBoi]

@@Melvin-r1pFairfax is not declining, it’s stalled, just like the rest of the metro area and like the rest of the major cities in the country. And you’re talking about Fairfax not having a soul as if it’s a city. Fairfax is a county. A county that is a suburb to Washington DC. Compare Richmond to DC not Fairfax. That’s like comparing a Richmond suburb like Hanover County to DC. What makes Hanover so “quintessential Hanover”?

[@lewhitney06]

Richmond has been stepping it up majorly. Virginia is weird with the cities without counties and the counties without cities.

[@brianarbenz1329]

Fun fact: New Jersey’s capitol building is the only one of the 50 state capitols which is visible from another state.

[@brianarbenz1329]

That illustrates the reality that NJ is primarily portions of metro areas of other states’ giant cities. When states were created, keeping the capital city in the interior of the state was important for identity, and to shorten travel times. New Jersey has no heavily populated area that would truly be its interior.

[@kirstynloftus826]

@@brianarbenz1329yeah the only “city” i can think of would be newark but that’s really only due to being right by nyc

[@brianarbenz1329]

I always thought of Newark, Jersey City and Elizabeth as the big three NJ cities clustered around New York City.

[@billm1866]

Trenton is a terrible city.

[@E46SedanGaming]

@@brianarbenz1329Which is why Great and glorious Delaware should annex all of Southern Jersey, alongside the whole peninsula

[@Pat_Playz]

Michigan's capitol was originally in Detroit but some years later it was decided to be moved more inland for defensibility, so Lansing was the choice selected out of many and it was fairly centralized around all the big cities at the time and still is. That's the basic run down

[@adriennegormley9358]

Helena MT is pronounced HEL uh nuh. I know; im a Montana native. Bismarck ND has had one asvantage over a lot of the other possible capitals, as it is on yhe Missouri River. What cracked me up is, when I drove through there some years ago, I saw asign by the freeway that said, Port of Bismarck next exit." Yup, the Missouri is navigable that far,and until Ft Peck Reservoir was added, navigable as far as GreatcFalls MT.

[@adellemery3336]

Geographically, Austin makes a hell of a lot more sense as the state capital of Texas than does Dallas, which is way up north and east from over half of the state, and Houston, which might as well be in Louisiana since it's closer to that state than it is most of the rest of the state (it's 7 hours from where I live in South Texas). San Antonio might have made an even better choice than Austin, but hell, nowadays, Austin and San Antonio are just one giant metroplex anyway.

[@KingAsa5]

I was with you til the end. Austin and SA have a long way to go before we even talk about them being one metro area. 😂😂 but other than that, I fully agree

[@adellemery3336]

@@KingAsa5 Yeah, you're right about SA and Austin, but it just seems that way now since you NEVER seem to leave SA with all those "little towns" like Selma, through Kyle, and then New Braunfels, THEN San Marcos . . . it just seems like 35 from SA to Austin is one giant "little" city.

[@kjhuang]

​@@adellemery3336There's a ton of nothing between New Braunfels and San Marcos. As for Austin being the capital, when it was selected as Texas's capital in 1839 it was in remote wilderness, near the edge of what Texas effectively controlled, far from where everybody lived in the Houston area. So it made little practical sense at the time, as many Texans pointed out. It only makes more sense now since Texas has expanded westward, as Mirabeau Lamar predicted. But the whole being in the center thing is kinda overrated anyway. If the capital is in the center when most people are living off on one side (e.g. Nevada) that's just making more people have to travel a farther distance.

[@adellemery3336]

@@kjhuang I hope you're from Texas, Kenneth, bc if you are, then you'll know we're all required to take a Texas history class in what is now middle school. I know all about how Austin was chosen to be the capital, and as for my post, I was being F-A-C-E-T-I-O-U-S about what's between SA and Austin. There are stretches, where I'll admit, the deer and cows outnumber the people and cars.

[@Bob-te3le]

Austin , San Antonio , Houston , Dallas is a huge triangle.

[@ideasmatter4737]

Thanks for noticing Omaha and Lincoln-energetic cities for sure! As a Nebraskan who lived in your home state for several years, I appreciate the friendly connections the 2 states have. Nucor, based in Charlotte I believe, has a massive presence in my home town, and I suspect that’s one reason there are several direct flights per day from Omaha to Charlotte. (It wasn’t so long ago that Nebraskans had to fly to Chicago to connect to just about anywhere else!)

[@leeswecho]

14:50 As someone who used to live in St. Louis, I'm slightly surprised you didn't include the discussion of the metro areas here. While St. Louis proper has suffered a dramatic hollowing-out, this was mainly due to people leaving the inner city for the suburbs. The St. Louis metro area population has mostly stayed stable, and continues to be the center of gravity for the state as a whole.

[@ptorq]

While the St Louis metro area is the largest metro area in the state, the "center of gravity" is probably closer to Columbia (and Jeff City) than to St. Louis, thanks to the also substantial Kansas City metro area (about two-thirds as large as that of St. Louis) on the opposite side of the state.

[@leeswecho]

@@ptorq I apologize, I did not literally mean center of gravity here, that was a bad word choice. Just meant that the StLouis metro is probably still the foremost metro in the state

[@Compucles]

This is largely due to St. Louis being an independent city since 1877 that can't annex new areas like the ones in Virginia.

[@avocadoonrye295]

yea the stl metro area is bigger than kc

[@Sir_Austin_T_Gee]

I’m only 28 and grew up in the somewhat close but also not close small town of Salem… Saint Louis was “the city” for our area despite being almost 2 hours away… anyhow, even I’ve watched Saint Louis decline further and further in my lifetime, again from 2 hours away. It’s sad, really. STL was such a beautiful city, and it still could be. If only all the manufacturing jobs wouldn’t have been sent off shore…

[@johnharris6655]

California had a lot of capital cities but Sacramento was chosen because it was inland and accessible by water. Having the Capital long the Coast meant it could attacked by sea. Which was a real threat in the 1800's.

[@rainboweater456]

It’s painstaking living in the Hampton Roads, VA metro because it is a significant region of the state, but receives little to no attention in the state or federal government. It suffers from having to govern itself off of its own taxes where all the cities compete to get state, federal, and local attention. Not to mention the Roads part of hampton roads, where most travel can only be conducted by car. Since this area is so significant with military members and out of town tourists, it makes for a dangerous combo with accidents and the need to be more independent with fulfilling your needs than most metro areas. It’s all highways and congestion with no soon indication of public transit solutions and car dealerships galore. I would love to see change here, but it’d need to be drastic and swift for residents to benefit and with the way elections go here, I don’t see that happening anytime soon. Look at the HRBT expansion being HOV-EZPass only and the toll relief programs each of the cities now fund because of how much people need to drive. It feels like we’re living in a 50’s-70’s nightmare 😂

[@danielmisgana2672]

Is it really that bad? I’m from northern VA- plenty of housing, public transportation(for US standards) and it’s been growing rapidly throughout my whole life. Interesting to hear that it’s stalled out, but that might be from Covid, since so many people move to the region to get closer to the federal government.

[@peachykeen7634]

Hampton roads was a river-based coastal community (hence the “roads”) and was never meant to handle this many people, which is why Norfolk is literally sinking. The whole area is marsh. But the navy keeps INSISTING cuz they like deep harbors… so… here we are. 🙄 They’ve only been cities since the 1970s, when Virginia Beach thought it would be cute to convince all of Princess Anne co to incorporate and then everybody started doing it. Suffolk has a huge initiative to try to DEincorporate like Bedford did. The county-less city concept means we can’t get funding in a normal way like most counties across the country do.

[@LordBitememan]

Funny thing about Michigan: Sterling Heights, Warren, and by some metrics Ann Arbor can all be lumped into the Detroit area.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Baton Rouge actually has the tallest capitol building in the country! Here's why: By the 1920s, the Old State Capitol (built in the 1850s) was starting to show its age and proving to be too small for the expanding state government. When Huey Long was elected, he seized upon the idea of using a new capitol as a way to symbolize the end of the "political domination of Louisiana's traditional social and economic elite" in the state. He noticed Nebraska was constructing a new tall capitol building at the same time at 400 feet tall, and decided to copy the skyscraper concept Nebraska was doing and made sure the new capitol would be taller at 450 feet tall. Both of these were completed the same year in 1932. The reason Alaska's capitol looks like an ordinary federal office building is because it was built in 1931 when it was still a territory. Construction for it was partly funded by Congress, but they refused to give more funding. Local citizens managed to pay the rest of the cost for land, which was then given to the government. It hosted federal services until 1959 when the Alaskan government was given permission to settle in it upon receiving statehood. The New Mexico State Capitol is unique in being circular because it was designed to resemble the Zia sun symbol (which is on the state flag) when viewed from above, with four entrance wings that protrude from the main cylindrical volume.

[@MattlikestrainsOfficial]

Hi

[@brianarbenz1329]

New Mexico's capitol is indeed cool. I've toured it. The most awful looking capitol building is in Salem, Ore. It looks like a wine cork on top of a mausoleum.

[@brianarbenz1329]

French travelers placed a red stick along the Mississippi River to mark where they planned the city.

[@SwannSac]

and another unique thing about santa fe is that its the oldest capitol in the US which nobody really knows (edit my bad he mentioned it in the video, i was scrolling through comments wayyy to early lmao)

[@brianarbenz1329]

@@SwannSacWe've all done that a few times.

[@redevlmao]

i love that he goes into detail about little things about the state, love hearing him actually give reasoning and history and stuff. Great video

[@powerofk]

Some of the smaller state capitals (e.g. Lansing) were specifically built with being a state capital in mind - deliberately so that the largest city would not be. Others (e.g. Santa Fe) are mostly the state capital for historic reasons. Santa Fe is, yes, the oldest capital city in the US, but it’s also older than Albuquerque and Las Cruces, which also date from Spanish colonial times (Rio Rancho is so new that it didn’t even exist when the interstates were built). Most of the growth of Albuquerque came after the railroads were built, and before that, Albuquerque was pretty much just a backwater town in the Rio Grande valley. So until around the early 1900s, Santa Fe dominated the then-territory. One can easily tell by going there, too. Most of Santa Fe’s roads were not originally built for automobile traffic, and are still quite narrow, especially in the plaza area close to all the government buildings. Albuquerque, though, experienced most of its growth in the 1900s and later, so has normal sized streets outside of the few blocks that comprise Old Town.

[@crotchwolf1929]

Lansing originally was farmland when the state capitol moved there in the 1840's. Prior to that the capital was Detroit which was the cosmopolitan center of territorial Michigan. However Detroit sits in the southeast side of the state. Back in the days when people got around via boats, horses and walking it was necessary for the state capitol to be centralized around the population, hence Lansing was born. Also the US and Great Britain were still largely at odds with one and other and Detroit being a border city, people were still concerned of a possible attack from the British via Windsor.

[@blakelazeski5974]

Isn’t it more useful to compare the size of metro areas rather than the arbitrary city limits?

[@MileageMike485]

Easier to use city population for this one since some of the cities are in the same metro area and some in metro areas outside of the state in question.

[@blakelazeski5974]

Good point.

[@Spanner249]

Well if the Cities are in the same Metro, than are they really all that different?@@MileageMike485

[@SnowmanTF2]

@@MileageMike485 The cities that the states largest city and capital city have basically fused into one metro like Twin Cities seems like probably should be kicked out of the list, since there is little difference between the capital being in the core of a metro, a second city, or decent sized suburb.

[@itzpro5951]

The city limits make more sense because metro areas include all the sprawl that doesnt actually represent the city itself. The city limits aren't "arbitrary" just because they didn't annex all the suburban sprawl that occurred after WW2

[@dustin35713]

Left off South Carolina, where Charleston has surpassed Columbia as the biggest city as of the 2020 census.

[@PSTXFL]

Good video Mike. Tallahassee was not a developed area when it was named Florida’s capital, it was the site of the ruins of a village burned down by Andrew Jackson during the Seminole Indian war. Tallahassee was chosen for Florida because it was the midpoint of the two main population centers at the time -Pensacola (former capital of West Florida which included Mobile Bay and part of Louisiana) and St. Augustine (former capital of East Florida). In the 1960s there was a movement to relocate the capital to Orlando but it was decided to keep Tallahassee.

[@Gatorsfan601]

Orlando today would be a better choice for the capital because of its central location. Would Tallahassee miss it much if the capital moved elsewhere? I’m sure it would take a financial hit, but two big universities, particularly FSU, would still help keep it afloat.

[@PSTXFL]

@@Gatorsfan601probably enough in Central Florida going on already. Having Tallahassee in the panhandle kind of cements Florida’s ownership of that region imo.

[@DNSKansas]

Ocala would be a great choice. Near the beginning of Florida's Turnpike and still within driving distance of Pensacola and Tallahassee.

[@75aces97]

I never thought of state capitals as being "dominated" by a larger city within the state. The two types of cities were established for completely different reasons. Large cities exist where they do because of optimal commercial conditions. Organically people prefer to settle near a body of water that supplies irrigation, arable soil, drinking water, and convenient transportation to other settlements. But those same lakes and rivers often serve as natural boundaries between states. Capital cities were chosen based on what works best for conducting government business, so most are vaguely in the middle of the state. Or at least the middle of what were the geographic borders at the time.

[@icejadechica]

Capital cities are often also along main transportation lines. So southern capitols are traditionally on waterways, while other areas are on canals, railways or other crossroads.

[@highratingstv9809]

the idea for and execution of this video was so so spot on and awesome. Random fact: I ate at an Outback Steakhouse in Pierre, SD and it was delightful.

[@Chris-io4iz]

Hello from Albany, NY. I was watching mostly to see if you'd say the name of the city right because people say it wrong all the time. Kudos to you for getting it.

[@miaviridimea4942]

Fun fact, Barre, VT is actually pronounced like Berry (Bear-EE). Probably for the same reason that Charlotte, VT is actually pronounced Shar lot ... we just like to be different up here. On the same ground our capitol Montpelier is named after the city of the same name in France which is usually pronounced Mon-peh-lee-ay even in British English.

[@jedgar63]

And the "e"s in Helena, Montana are both pronounced as short "e"s.

[@jellyhonut1583]

Lol I was gonna say this never thought of how flatlanders would pronounce that stuff

[@kaia.4688]

I live in the capital of Kentucky, it's definitely a different experience when the capital city is a small town. It has a lot of charm compared to other small towns, so you have to appreciate the things that are happening over the things that aren't. There's a strong sense of community here, you either love it or you hate it.

[@parkerbrown-nesbit1747]

Fellow Kentuckian (although I live in South Carolina) here. Do you ever tire of people asking you what state you're from and they immediately assume you're from Louisville?

[@kaia.4688]

@@parkerbrown-nesbit1747 I'm actually a Michigan native. But people have definitely assumed that when I say I'm from Kentucky lol. Not that annoying, just an opportunity for them to gain perspective.

[@parkerbrown-nesbit1747]

@@kaia.4688 it's always Louisville or Eastern Kentucky 😉

[@DNSKansas]

At least I-64 connects Frankfort to Louisville and Lexington. I stopped by the capitol on my only visit to the Commonwealth and was impressed with the floral clock.

[@gabrielshowers5442]

For my home-state, Iowa's capitol was originally planned in Burlington, but was moved Iowa City, and moved again to Des Moines shortly after receiving statehood. The reasoning behind this was to give the capitol a more "centralized" location in the state. That city then became the largest in our state as well as the only thing that really keep us even slightly relevant.

[@DNSKansas]

Hy-Vee and Casey's keep Des Moines relevant as well

[@deltajukejoint1561]

The thing with Memphis and Nashville is historically Memphis falls behind Nashville. It has even lost its city charter before. But once it falls behind Nashville, usually significantly, it comes roaring back again to surpass Nashville. It will be interesting to see what happens to Tennessee in the future.

[@Gatorsfan601]

Memphis would’ve fallen behind Nashville sooner had it not been for Memphis annexing the Cordova area in the 90s. The annexation only delayed the inevitable.

[@deltajukejoint1561]

@Gatorsfan601 You are correct about the city proper. But not the metro area. Nashville has been growing since the late 70s and 80s at a faster rate. Memphis' growth, as a metro has been slow but consistent. And the state has made a steering effort to help stem Memphis' growth in the past. Like creating the tiny town law or creating specific areas that Memphis is not allowed to annex and making Memphis plans is growth 20 to 30 years in advance.

[@deltajukejoint1561]

But again, it is not unusual for Memphis to fall behind Nashville. And it is also important to note the state has done things to severely help slow, if not out right eliminate Memphis' growth. What will be interesting to watch is how Memphis chooses to address it.

[@mrstopanimationguy]

Mike it would be awesome if you did a road trip across Canada and compared the differences between US and Canadian highway infrastructure! Love the vids

[@twistedjake_]

I live 5 minutes from Elgin, IL, and I had no clue it was one of the largest cities in Illinois.

[@tomfields3682]

So was Galena. Ever been up there?

[@BoratWanksta]

Elgin didn't strike me as having that much population, either.

[@dfp_01]

A lot of state capitals, when they're not the largest city in their state (only 17 are, if I remember right), are roughly centrally located both geographically and in terms of how the state's population is concentrated, especially when considering the historical values of those figures. To that end, though, it's very puzzling why Alaska hasn't moved its capital to Anchorage, because it is geographically and demographically central to the largest state by area in the union-it has been for many years-and one of the most clearly largest cities in its respective state, beaten out by only New York (which dwarfs the population of second-place Buffalo by a factor of about 30, compared to 9 for Anchorage over Fairbanks) and Chicago (roughly 15 times the size of Aurora). Of note also is that Columbus, Ohio, like Jacksonville in Florida, has had a metropolitan area smaller than the two dominant cities of Cincinnati and Cleveland for a long time, although that gap is rapidly closing as the general rust-belt decline takes hold in those areas.

[@kjhuang]

Alaska has repeatedly attempted to move its capital and actually kinda succeeded in moving it to Willow in 1976. But voters rejected the funding needed to make it happen. The real answer is: once the state capital has been set for a long enough time, no one wants to move it.

[@apersonontheinternet8006]

Moving a state capitol to a larger city for the sake of being being in a larger city is about as idiotic and wasteful of resources as it gets.

[@Compucles]

Meanwhile, Cheyenne, Wyoming is in the corner of the state, because there are no more centrally located options or any other real options at all.

[@robertewalt7789]

Except NJ. The capital, Trenton, is way down in population, and is on the western border.

[@StevenHughes-hr5hp]

Jacksonville is not even close to being the largest city in the state of Florida. Imagine the population of Miami if it merged with Dade County like Jacksonville did with Duval. A lot of counties are bigger than Jacksonville.

[@Ethyro]

I was wondering this my whole life so thank you for this video

[@MileageMike485]

I’m glad to have helped make your life complete.

[@rlg1976x]

Interesting tidbit about Lansing, Michigan--it's the only state capital in the United States located in a county of which it's not also the county seat.

[@MileageMike485]

Wow. Didn’t even know about that one

[@kingdoughnut7244]

@@MileageMike485 It all depends on the side of town you commit a crime, will determine where you go to jail. St. Johns in Clinton County, Charlotte in Eaton County or Mason in Ingham County.

[@FameyFamous]

I suppose Mason was designated as the county seat before Lansing became the capital.

[@eksearle]

Lansing was little more than a developing railway town when it became the capital and the decision to make it the capital actually created a lot of public backlash. Mason was actually more powerful than Lansing at the time, so when Lansing tried to take the county seat Mason agreed to move some county buildings to Lansing in exchange for retaining the county seat.

[@docjanos]

In most cases, the capital city was chosen early in the state's history and its importance was then historically overshadowed. You comment on this in some case such as correctly noting that Tallahassee became the capital long before Peninsular Florida was settled. These kinds of situations played out in many states. California became a state during the Gold Rush which happened relatively close to Sacramento and it was a major transshipment point then. SF was very small and insignificant then and LA did not even exist for all practical purposes. When Illinois becasme a state the Lake Michigan area was pretty much wilderness while all the economic activity in the region was focused on St. Louis, Missouri and other places further down the Miss. River. Illinois' first capital was across the river in Kaskaskia and later moved inland to Vandalia and then Springfield. I know that you are focused on city, and not metro, populations, but this can be misleading. Again with Illinois, while Springfrield may be the 7th largest city only 1 of the six larger ones are outside the Chicago metro area. That is Rockford. The contrast in pop between Chicago and Rockford is huge. Georgraphers call this a large measure of primacy. In other words, Illinois has a primate city, Chicago. NY State also has a primate city in NYC with Buffalo being second, but the population ratio between the two is not as great as that of Illinois. California is not a primate state as the LA area is not all that much larger than the Bay Area. The US as whole is not very primate with NY not being that much larger than LA. On the hand some countries are very primate. For example, France, where Paris is much larger than the second city, Marseilles., or Japan where Tokyo is much larger than Osaka. However, Italy and Spain are not primate as Rome is not much larger than Milan or Madrid is similar in size to Barcelona. Back to the states, no Minneapolis was NOT always the dominant city. When Minnesota was formed St Paul was THE railroad and agricultural capital of the region and Minneapolis was quite small then. Nebraska moved its capital from Omaha to what became Lincoln over fear that Kansas would annex the area south ot the Platte River. Albany, New York was a major river transport and later rail and canal center. Albany was also the center of the pre-European Iroquois Confederacy which the early NY colony dovetailed on. Carson City, Nevada, a mining boom town before Reno and Vegas existed. Salem is the 2nd capital of Oregon. First was Oregon City which was important as the west end of the Oregon Trail. As the trail's importance diminished, agriculture in the Willamette Valley became important and Salem was at its center. Portland was not yet that big or importnant. So while all these states are cases where is the capital is not now the largest city, there are all sorts of reasons wht, nearly all are matters of historical inertia--so the context would help!

[@bhg123ful]

Only recently discovered your channel and love it! I actually teach geography, and I’ll add your channel to resources for my students in the fall. One interesting thing about which cities and towns were chosen (or in some cases planned from scratch) as state capitals was central location above all else. Any place chosen that would be equal travel time and distance for everyone from every corner of the state thereby demonstrating that no subregion or major city would dominate and this creating a balance of power and hopefully preventing and future conflicts. The few major exceptions where the state capital is relatively tiny compared to its major cities in a total opposite end of the state would be: Nevada, where the silver rush of the 1850s/60s of the comstock load near Reno/Tahoe/Virgina city were quickly becoming the major population cluster, while barren wastelands of the Mojave in the south meant that where Las Vegas now sits would remain nothing more than a water supply stop for the railroad until the building of Hoover dam. Florida, somewhat similar. South and even central Florida were malaria infested swamplands, and the Florida panhandle was the most populated part at the time of early statehood as it was more presumably tied to the cotton economy of Georgia and Alabama. Not until did wealthy East Coasters/northerners invest in railroads, swamp drainage, and AC did the rest of the state boom.

[@RexFuturi]

Moved to Virginia a few years ago. I live in Hampton Roads, just outside Williamsburg. One of the first things I learned was that Virginians HATE NoVA. Whether it is the political swing of the area or the economic difference, the region does not match the rest of the State at all; but it completely dominates Virginia. I vaguely wonder if Virginians wish they'd never reclaimed their portion of the DC diamond.

[@usefulpineapple4538]

I lived in Chesapeake for 18 years. We don’t want anything north of Richmond

[@cleolikesguitar]

that's too bad, coming from a NOVA resident lol

[@dwaynekeenum1916]

@@usefulpineapple4538the people are rude there meh

[@YHWHsam]

Born and raised in hampton roads and ur completely correct. NOVA is essentially DC Lite and has little to do with the rest of the state

[@skurinski]

NOVA is destroying the state@@cleolikesguitar

[@RJ-mz3co]

I heard that some time in the 1970s-1980s, Alaska had a vote on where to move the capital. Willow was chosen because its location was weighted between Anchorage and Fairbanks, i.e., between the two but closer to Anchorage on the way to Fairbanks. But also in a vote, the people failed to approve funding to actually move the facilities from Juneau. So some consider that Willow is the de-Jure capital, but Juneau remains the de-Facto capital.

[@tombirkland]

I was in Alaska during this debate, and this is right. But it's probably better to say that Juneau is the de jure capital city, but Anchorage--to the chagrin of the rest of the state--is the de facto capital. There are more state workers in Anchorage than in Juneau. I grew up in Anchorage and yet never went to Juneau, because it was really too hard to casually travel to.

[@mpetersen6]

One note on Madison, WI. Building restrictions ensure that the capital building will continue to be the tallest the structure in the city. Beautiful setting too.

[@HoshizakiYoshimasa]

US Midwest..... beautiful? Yeah right. Not in January. The LEAST popular US region globally.

[@Error403HRD]

I'm from texas and I didn't realize Austin was 4th. Makes sense though, San Antonio and Dallas are HUGE. Never been to Houston, so I'm kinda excited to see it one day.

[@homedeezyfasheezy5662]

Houston is a a borderline dump. If it weren’t for the many suburbs surrounding it, which aren’t too bad for the most part, it would be a dump. Traffic is ridiculous, everyone drives like they’re in the middle of a fast and furious movie, there multiple places in the city that are extremely dangerous, the weather is terrible with high heat/humidity and also the constant threat of flooding, minimal zoning laws so you can have strip clubs and liquor stores next to a school etc… One huge positive though are the citizens. I’ve met some of the coolest people and some of the biggest sweethearts from there.

[@TheLeaderKee]

Update: Mobile is now Alabama’s 2nd largest city (204,689), Montgomery is now 3rd largest (198,665), & Birmingham dropped to 4th largest (197,493)

[@Gatorsfan601]

Did Mobile annex some land? They’ve been the smallest of the big four Alabama cities for quite some time.

[@TheLeaderKee]

@@Gatorsfan601 They did a few months ago. They annexed 3 out of the 4 areas on the west side of Mobile into the city limits - The Cottage Hill corridor, King’s Branch, & Orchard Creek. The area along Airport Boulevard near Mobile Regional Airport didn’t get annexed into the city limits [863 No votes to 431 Yes votes].

[@Gatorsfan601]

@@TheLeaderKee i figured they had to in order to have such a sudden, big population increase. It’s also amazing how little separation there is from the largest city to the fourth largest in the state, and that Birmingham is the smallest of the four after being top dog for so long. Connecticut is the only other state I can think of with such close competition. Of course, Birmingham’s metro population is by far the largest in the state, but I think Huntsville may challenge in the next 25 years. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Huntsville and Decatur metros are combined and a few more counties are added over time in the future .

[@crew6227]

Fun fact: Birmingham metro CSA population around 30% of the state of Alabama population. It’s nearly the size of Huntsville, Mobile and Montgomery metros combined.

[@NotSalem]

As Someone from Huntsville Alabama, I'm surprised by how big Huntsville is, I thought Birmingham was WAY larger then my city, I also thought Montgomery was HUGE. Guess not. Just a message from someone from Huntsville AL!

[@TamDSC]

27:05 can we talk about how those two cars almosted crashed lmao

[@DENVEROUTDOORMAN]

Nope too boring...we don't care

[@keegansmetanko3755]

It's great that you mention the metro area inclusions, it gives a much clearer idea. Especially in Illinois as a local outsiders see the cities all bigger than Springfield without realizing effectively its only 2 cities that are larger. Since, like you said, the others outside of Rockford are all part of Chicago metropolitan

[@kaugustian]

27:04 shows a car almost running another off the freeway!

[@mityace]

While Harrisburg, PA is the 15th largest city in PA, it's the 4th largest metro area behind Philly, Pittsburgh and Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton. According to Wikipedia, the metro area grew 7.69% which was the fastest growing of PA's MSAs.

[@Coop1250]

I’m a Harrisburg resident and it sucks here but a fun fact is on game days in state college. That city/college town becomes the 3rd largest in population behind Pittsburgh and Philly

[@PhillyBagel]

@@Coop1250I wish Penn State was in Harrisburg or the Harrisburg area. Most state capitals benefit greatly from having the primary state university campus in their midst.

[@LThunders138]

It's interesting. Here in Brazil we have 26 states, and the capital are the most populous cities in 24 of those. And taking metro area in consideration, the state capital is located in 25 out of the 26. The two states are Espirito Santo, where it's capital Vitória is the fourth largest in the city (though located in the state's largest metropolitan area); and Santa Catarina, whose capital Florianópolis and its metro area are the second largest in state.

[@seanthe100]

Brazil is much more centralized population wise than the US

[@terrywert6587]

Apparently we do things a little differently in the United States. But then again, Hawaii is the only state with rainforests, while Brazil is LOADED with rainforests across perhaps half of its land area. Things like that can have an effect on how cities are built.

[@feeberizer]

I'm a Seattle area native who ended up in Las Cruces, New Mexico 13 years ago. The estrangement felt between LC with Santa Fe and Albuquerque far to the north reminds me of how Spokane, WA feels estranged from Olympia and Seattle on the opposite side of the state. Historically, LC has always been tied to El Paso, TX and Cuidad Juarez, Mexico which are both 45 miles south. While working as a site secretary on construction projects in the area, it was common to have subcontractors from Juarez on the team. When the mass shooting at Walmart in El Paso happened in 2019, LC went on immediate lock down. The next day, police were stationed at the entrances to all of our Walmarts and kept a visible presence for over a year. We had a bomb threat just 2 days ago that was handled by the explosives unit from Fort Bliss in El Paso. We're even on a separate El Paso electric grid which is isolated from the rest of NM and TX. Needless to say, we continue to depend on our neighbors to the south a great deal. BTW, Santa Fe is an abbreviation of the city's legal name of _La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís_ ("The Royal Town of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis of Assisi").

[@atonmartell2813]

Bridgeport and new haven are just apart of the NYC metro which is the only reason why they have a higher population overall Hartford is the dominant city in Connecticut

[@matthewryan9323]

Paradoxically proving your point, but - even though I'm currently living in (upstate) NY, I grew up in MO, so I'd most definitely heard of "Jeff City," and thought of that first, while NYC so dominates that Albany didn't even enter my mind ;p

[@imjashingyou3461]

People tend to forget about Omaha. Its metro area is just under 1 million people while Lincoln is a 45 minute drive away with a metro area of about 400k. Omaha also had the most resturants per capita for years until it recently lost it to NYC. Want to find any kind of food. You can find it here. You have 70 degree weather from mid April to late October with summer highs in the 85-95 region for most of June - August. The only thing you cant find here is Major League Sports but you have Kansas City a 2.5 hour drive down the road for that. Came here because of the military and decided to stay. Offutt AFB has the highest rate of any base in the USAF of members not from there seperating from the military and deciding to stay there. Everyone I met in the military was usually upset initially about comming to Nebraska but then came away pleasantly surprised

[@anthonyl1506]

People just don't think about Nebraksa having a metro city because they think about it is just a large rural farming state, which is mostly true. But the Lincoln and Omaha metro areas(which are almost close enough to be considered 1 metro area now) make up 75% of the entire state population.

[@torrinfell]

I mean technically we do have major league sports if you count the world series being held here all the time, but yeah, Omaha tends to pretty much be the forgotten city of the US.

[@DENVEROUTDOORMAN]

We don't care cause it's boring and sucks

[@zach2382]

@@DENVEROUTDOORMANboring translation I can’t get drunk

[@HoshizakiYoshimasa]

​@@DENVEROUTDOORMAN What people would say about your state (with it's big ugly "C" on it's flag. The Roman alphabet is so aesthetically lame compared to Asia's writing systems) if weren't for your mountains. Mount Fuji outclasses all US mountains anyway. In history, in cultural importance, and in aesthetics and shape

[@prototropo]

Ever since kid-hood I have loved the arcane, "Reference-Section" ambience of geography profiles: whether on population, sq-mile area, wars of independence, state-flowers, national heroes, bits of relevant history, famous daughters or sons, dates-of-statehood or nationhood, summer vs winter weather, treaty signatories, life expectancies and so on, forever. After all, geography, I like to say, describes the geo beneath meo & weo. I'm content for life if left in a DMV waiting area with a book of stats like this survey of state capitals (if spelled"capitol," with an "o," the word defines the actual building, the "a" instead refers to the head of something, from the Latin root for head--caput). Speaking of those buildings proper, my home sweet home boasts THE most magnificent in physical majesty: Colorado! (For City Hall buildings, however, Denver must bow long & low to San Francisco's Beaux-Arts gem--the replacement for the original city hall, which didn't need demolition because the 1906 earthquake rumbled and crumbled it to rubble and crumble. The replacement provoked the NYT to sniff that San Francisco aspired to a sort of lazy, European style of grandeur, and indeed it surpasses the architecture of every national capital, provincial headquarters and municipal building on Earth; good enough to serve as backdrop for Marilyn Monroe's marriage to Joe DiMaggio.) Anyway, congrats to this fantastic list, with its great, fascinating research details and discursive commentary. I love it! One humble suggestion--when reading off the comparative populations, it might hold our attention and trim some time by rounding off large numbers. To tell me I'm surrounded by 5,123,089 people is no more enlightening and less engaging than "over five million." And 947,588 is not as punchy or pretty as "nearly one million" people. Approximation has a value that's hard to pin down, but perhaps just offers the satisfaction of, well, approximation.

[@Zalis116]

Another fun fact about Nebraska cities: our college football stadium holds more people (~90k) than live in our 3rd-largest city of Bellevue (~64k), which is part of the Omaha metro area.

[@matthewkreps3352]

I notice a pattern. If the State/territory predates the invention of the telegraph or phone, the capital is centrally located. Communication was a guy on horseback. So travel times from capital to border were somewhat equal in all directions.

[@ktrimbach5771]

Excellent observation. Primo geographical thinking

[@75aces97]

Yes, logistics were always a concern. Kentucky's County borders were drawn ostensibly so that any part of the county was within a one day ride by carriage from its county seat. I would guess that state capitals were designated under similar considerations.

[@jessicaslave5940]

The TV market size is almost identical between Raleigh and Charlotte. Wake County actually has more population than any other County. Recent development.

[@torrinfell]

Damn Nebraska doesn't even get it's own timestamp? Just gets lumped in with Missouri's?

[@reginaldgarner4321]

@MileageMike, excellent choice of topic! I don't think that most schools are teaching enough, if any, geography today.

[@brandon.brooks4872]

Not for nothing, but they pronounce Helena (MT) as HELL-in-UH. Don't ask me why, I don't know...but they do that down in Helena-West Helena, Arkansas too.

[@DNSKansas]

If you pronounce St. Helena Parish, Louisiana the way you do the Montana capital, you will get punched in the face by a local. They hate any association with a faraway state.

[@shadowbonbon3]

This reminds me, when I was younger I lived in Sacramento my whole life and still do, however I thought that LA was the capital of California because Sacramento was way too small. I was more than surprised when we had a field trip to the state capital. But tbf I thought Istanbul was the capital of turkey until like 3 months ago

[@dcasper8514]

That was a very extensive field trip.

[@maxpowr90]

Massachusetts should have its state capital be Worcester. Fun fact about Boston, it's the only state capital in the contiguous US that is on an ocean.

[@angusb99]

I agree. Moving the state capital to Worcester would also breathe a lot of new life into Central Mass and spur a lot of development. It would probably bring the population density of the whole region on par with eastern Mass over time.

[@itzpro5951]

Massachusetts does not need to move its capital, Boston is fine as the capital

[@itzpro5951]

@@angusb99 dude, central Massachusetts, especially Worcester, is doing fine especially with development, it's like you haven't seen Worcester. Plus just because the capital moves or is in a different smaller town doesn't mean the population and population density is going to grow. Look at Springfield IL or Albany NY and you'll see there's not much population density around it anyways. So why are people in these comments saying dumb things still?

[@kjhuang]

Boston is on the Massachusetts Bay. If bays count as oceans, then Annapolis on the Chesapeake Bay should count too.

[@mach6893]

Annapolis: I'm on the water too.

[@johnmcleodvii]

In New Mexico, Rio Rancho is a part of the Albuquerque Metro area. The reason for the disparity in population goes back to the founding of the state. At about the same time cities were putting bids out for hosting the state penitentiary and the state universities. Santa Fe won the penitentiary. Albuquerque won the University, and later, the main airport and an Air Force base. Las Cruces won the agricultural college.

[@beejohn1016]

Same issue in CT ...Hartford metro has more people than the top four cities COMBINED ...the only reason why hartford is in "4th" is because the city proper is very expensive to live in ...Bridgeport is cheaper but doesn't have the influence like hartford does ....I would pick New Haven ( second city by far ) and Stamford ( our rising city) before Bridgeport...

[@spencerblais2539]

In regards to New Hampshire, many of the places outside its state capitol and two biggest cities are rather small towns and villages interconnected through woodland roads. It makes the places like Ossipee and North Conway feel more like tight knit communities than bustling cities. I used to have a house in Center Ossipee my family went to all the time growing up on weekends and vacations. Place hasn't changed much if at all. Portland, Maine I've only visited twice. It is however rather impressive how hilly the seaside city is if you spend some time digging your heels in to explore the city on foot sometime, especially during the monthly First Friday event. Fun Fact for Maine: In the show M.A.S.H, Hawkeye's hometown of Crabapple Cove was based off of Broad Cove in Bremen if you are curious to visit one day. Vermont is rather strange with its "cities." I use cities in the loosest sense, due to in part of these being not much different from larger towns in more populated places like Smithfield, RI. On top of that the economy in Vermont is rather poor, in addition to the mountainous landscape dominating the state, making it rather challenging to navigate.

[@OhiChicken]

I didn't think I'd read Smithfield RI in these comments lol

[@deanbianco4982]

The economy in Vermont IS NOT rather poor. Look up the stats. Vermont does well in many economic areas such as low unemployment and decent per capita income.

[@shanebernier2483]

Fun fact about about the Maine State capital. Way back int he day Portland WAS the state capital, but it caught on fire too many times so we moved it.

[@beejohn1016]

This is very true ...they also moved it to Augusta because of the wood they can extract through the Kennebec...

[@MoneyC225]

ALERT: Why was South Carolina left off the list? The 2020 census shows Charleston is now slightly larger than Columbia (demoted). Also, Nashville (promoted) should have been acknowledged/celebrated as a beta capital that has overtaken a dominant city since the last census.

[@jamieellis1094]

The comment I was looking for!!

[@silverfox575]

He also left it out of the other video. He doesn't mention South Carolina in ether video.

[@knightofappolo3360]

You also pretty much have to use charleston county because charleston can’t build buildings above the church so many people live in the surrounding area if you take that into account then it’s almost 3 times the size of columbia

[@cheyennethompson1701]

MUCH LOVE FROM NEW MEXICO ❤ I ENJOYED THIS VIDEO ❤

[@dennisenright9347]

When California became a state its overwhelming population center would have been the Bay Area. LA would have had a tiny population. Sacramento would have been more militarily defensible that SF if there were a repeat of the war of 1812, was on the land route to the rest of the country, AND was close to the gold discovery that drove the states population growth

[@tonymax9676]

And Sacramento was much larger than LA in the mid 1800s for several decades.

[@michaelkelleypoetry]

by Johnny Horton I mushed from Port Barren through a blizzard of snow Been out prospecting for two years or so Pulled into Fairbanks the city was a boon So I took a little stroll to the Red Dog Saloon As I walked in the door the music was clear The prettiest voice I had heard in two years The song she was singin' made a man's blood run cold When it's springtime in Alaska it's forty below (When it's springtime in Alaska it's forty below) It was red headed Lil who was singin' so sweet I reached down and took the snowpacks off my feet I reached for the gal who was singin' the tune We did the Eskimo hop all around the saloon Where the caribou crawl and the grizzly bear hug we did our dance on a Kodiak rug The song she kept singing made a man's blood run cold When it's springtime in Alaska it's forty below I was as innocent as I could be I didn't know Lil was big Ed's wife to be He took out his knife and he gave it a throw When it's springtime in Alaska I'll be six feet below (When it's springtime in Alaska he'll be six feet below)

[@stevetournay6103]

The mention of no large cities in Montana makes me think of Major Winchester on M*A*S*H, facetiously asking a Montana soldier whether "Big Sky Country has a...city?"

[@spammeat1433]

I was raised in the heart of midtown in Omaha Nebraska and I will say Omaha has had a huge Revamp within in such a short period of time new buildings and urbanizing projects in the downtown and midtown regions has given Omaha a lot of character

[@swagpapi7203]

How come you didn’t give a list of cities for NY like you did with the other states😢?

[@deanbianco4982]

He did a BAD job with New York. He focused on NYC, which is IRONIC because the focus of this video was STATE CAPITALS that are NOT THE LARGEST CITIES in their respective states. Also pathetic was that ALBANY was only mentioned in the end of the segment for a FEW SECONDS and he NEGLECTED to mention ANY FACTS AS TO WHY the capital is in Albany and not in NYC. A PATHETIC BOTCH JOB.

[@NebulonRanger]

Something interesting to note about Burlington, VT; the closest major city of any size is *not* Boston, it's Montreal. Second layer here is that Quebec is another example of this phenomenon. Capital is Quebec City (pop. 549,459), but Montreal proper (pop. 1,762,949) absolutely *dwarfs* it.

[@JPS47]

To be fair to the rest of the state of New York, the whole NYC area should be a state of it's own. It's too large not to be. Which brings me a idea for a potential video you could do, which areas should be a state and/or which states shouldn't be a state.

[@itzpro5951]

Why are people in these comments saying dumb things? No, NYC doesn't need to be its own state just because it's vaguely "too large to be" people in these comments sure do love saying dumb things all the time

[@Demopans5990]

@itzpro5951 NYC already kinda does it's own thing

[@MagsonDare]

The channel "Atlas Pro" did a thought experiment a year or 2 ago abourt re-drawing state boundaries to what would make better sense now, as opposed to what was known when they were initially drawn. I found it to be quite fascinating.

[@BokBarber]

This is one of those ideas that sounds okay on paper, but in practice wouldn't have the positive effect all of the advocates think it would. NYC pumps a ton of money into the upstate region. Upstate is largely struggling because of changes to the US supply chain over the last 50 years due to global trade, and not just because NYC exists or the state is more progressive than its neighbors. It was inevitable that when global shipping got cheaper, manufacturing would move to capture the bottom dollar on labor costs. I agree that there are flaws with NY but it's state investment made with NYC tax dollars that are keeping the area solvent at all. If you think just breaking the state in half will suddenly make all the jobs come flooding back, you need only look at the struggles in Wisconsin (a state that's largely the same size and population as this proposed new state) to see how that would go.

[@robynkolozsvari]

it's funny, as someone who's lived in both California and Oregon - Salem is quite immediate and real to me, but i often forget that Sacramento exists lol

[@cece624]

Lots of numerical information in this presentation; thanks for the charts. Some mispronunciations, as noted by others-perhaps check Google for local/regional pronunciations. Nice to hear Oregon said correctly!! Was disappointed that data on some states was presented without a picture of their capital buildings. I think the variety of architectural styles among the U.S. capital buildings is interesting!

[@tombirkland]

Wikipedia is really helpful for proper pronunciations. There were several here; a small distraction from an otherwise good presentation.

[@keagaming9837]

Northern Virginia is so different from the rest of Virginia, that it might as well be it's own state. Also, the western part of Maryland and the north eastern part of West Virginia could be combined with Northern Virginia to make a new state. lol

[@timehorse]

Nice drive through Reston Town Center in Virginia!

[@dcseain]

I thought the same thing, living a short walk from there.

[@ESPLTD322]

Montgomery surpassed Birmingham’s population early last year. However Montgomery metro isn’t very much. Birmingham, Mobile, and Huntsville’s metros are all a lot bigger. Montgomery has Prattville, which is pretty big, like say 20,000 I’m guessing, and Wetumpka is probably 10,000ish if I had to guess. That’s about all though really. The second you exit the Montgomery city limit from the south it’s all swamps, woods, and cotton fields. Birmingham has a big metro, although immediately west and northwest, it gets surprisingly rural pretty quick. But to the south, it’s non stop, big ass suburbs.

[@troybalster3687]

As far as South Dakota goes Sioux Falls will be the largest by far for the foreseeable future. At the xroads of i 29 and i 90 and kinda in the middle of omaha, des moines, and minneapolis it is a good central hub. With a new amazon distribution center and good influx of other states residents during the covid pandemic its growing like a weed.

[@davidgeoclark9208]

I really enjoyed this video since I am a geography nerd. I talked to a Florida resident recently and when I told her I had visited most of her state’s principal cities except for the largest, Jacksonville, she told me that I didn’t know Florida very well, that Miami is the largest. Sadly, she’s the one who doesn’t know her own state very well 😢 Like you said, in your video, Miami is certainly the best known Florida city, but Jacksonville is the largest.

[@jermichaelkirkland2446]

Florida mind is it's own thing. Blame Disney

[@ktrimbach5771]

@@jermichaelkirkland2446 if it was cuz Disney, it’d be Orlando

[@ace20016]

A lot of people don’t understand the difference between city and metropolitan area. Miami is Florida’s 2nd largest city. And has the largest metropolitan area in Florida. While Jacksonville is the Florida’s largest city. But the 4th largest metropolitan area in the state. -Lifelong Brevard County, Florida resident

[@skurinski]

Miami metro is by far the largest

[@Scrublorrdo]

Most Floridians dont really count Jacksonville due to the city incorporating the entire county. Almost any Floridian will tell you that Miami and Tampa are bigger, as two are by far the most important cities in the state culturarly and by population, with Orlando being a close third. The Miami metropolitan area is MASSIVE, and you could say the same with Tampa. While you are right, just keep in mind the Jacksonville is kinda cheating

[@thomasturner6827]

I lived in Charlotte for 4 and a half years and absolutely loved it!

[@jonasalden29201]

Did we skip South Carolina, or does the near population parity between Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville disqualify for the purposes of this video?

[@idriveastationwagon1534]

I think we skipped South Carolina. City limit wise, Charleston would be 1st and Columbia 2nd. For metro population, Greenville metro would be 1st, Columbia 2nd, and Charleston 3rd.

[@ethanellis4662]

I think he forgot Charleston surpassed Columbia not long ago

[@silverfox575]

@@ethanellis4662 No he doesn't mention SC in either video. It's the ONLY state he doesn't mention.

[@luberdoo1950]

Interesting video, thank you. Many people outside Vermont pronounce Barre as Bar. Actually, it is pronounced as if it was spelled, Berry. My understanding was that often Capitals were in a location more central to the state.

[@roygoodhand1301]

Some of these "beta" capitals are fighting back. Lincoln, St. Paul, Raleigh, Richmond, Austin, Madison and especially Baton Rouge are all at least keeping up with the larger cities in their States. In fact, Baton Rouge is a special case: Louisiana's capital benefited greatly from having it's playing field levelled out vs. New Orleans due to Katrina. Austin is another special case: Despite only being the 4th largest city in Texas, not only is it the largest State capital and 11th largest city in the entire country, but Austin is also the fastest-growing large city in Texas. In my opinion, Lincoln and St. Paul shouldn't be considered "beta" capitals since they compliment Omaha and Minneapolis respectively. Montgomery is in a perpetual dogfight with Huntsville, Birmingham and Mobile for the Top spot in Alabama, and due to that, I consider Alabama as having FOUR "alpha" cities. On the other hand, there's a possible new "beta" capital: Cheyenne. Casper is the fastest-growing city in Wyoming and 2nd largest in the Cowboy State.

[@jeffssaunders]

Phoenix is the largest state capital in the US, not Austin. Austin is second largest.

[@Damianoutlaw]

Dallas and Houston are each way bigger than Austin

[@breensprout]

texas is another interesting case of metropolitan statistical areas really changing the numbers because the metro areas are so spread out. the dallas-fort worth metro area is actually bigger than the houston metro area and is the 4th largest in the country (houston is 5th) while the san antonio metro area is way down at 24th, even though the city of san antonio technically has more people than dallas. editing to say that i currently live in arlington, va (suburb of dc) and yeah, NOVA and the rest of virginia feel like culturally completely different places.

[@sushi777300]

It's so much nicer to have a smaller capital 😊

[@turnbull1621]

You're the first channel that has pronounced Olathe Kansas correctly, well done

[@MileageMike485]

When I was writing the script I figured it probably wasn’t pronounced like it looked so I actually found a KZbin video from a local to see how it’s pronounced.

[@brandonlittle3979]

He did mispronounce Helena though.

[@jeffssaunders]

Should have done that for MANY others as well.@@MileageMike485

[@VinsonMusic]

I’ve been to Frankfort. The capitol building is very large for such a small city. Also it may be the only place where statues of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis are side by side.

[@brianarbenz1329]

No longer. Davis’ statue was removed about 10 years ago.

[@michaelholland4096]

It's a shithole of a city. The capital honestly should move.

[@elisanoro]

I live in Springfield MO and did not know it was number 3 largest in the state lmao. Thats good to hear :)

[@jamieervin4954]

Who clicked on this video to see their state But watch the whole thing because he was cool, me

[@spektermusic]

Yeah, its cold in Maine, even in the warm months. I recommend 2 places in Maine in the summer, being Wells-Ogunquit area and Acadia/Bar Harbor Area. Some other cool places in Maine are: Portland, Boothbay Harbor, Kittery, and Bangor.

[@TheInvisibleCanadia]

Baton Rouge was chosen as Louisiana's capital because New Orleans was too prone to flooding and hurricanes.

[@grey-spark]

This trend is far more intentional than you might think. Government bureaucrats WANT their state to succeed, they want more cities. By separating the economic hub and the pollical hub it guarantees the state will have two cities where people will be living close to at least one of them.

[@lorrainethemain]

NYC is so dominant in NY that you don't even discuss any of the other cities that are more populous than the capital. Disappointing...

[@Davers53]

i like upstate NY

[@wiiztec]

I know I clicked on this video wanting to hear about Albany and he barely said anything

[@pythonsnickers4298]

Regarding Washington State, Seattle is more prominent in population than Olympia because it is in the middle of Puget Sound and serves as a perfect central hub for people moving in and out of the city, along with the distribution and export of trade.

[@luisenriquealdana6709]

It's actually pronounced, "Loo-vil", for Louisville, Ky. salutations!

[@bxbeautynyc]

I knew somebody was gonna make this comment 😂

[@muellerator]

Columbus OH pulls the trifecta of State Capitol, Largest City and Leading University. But I usually think of Cincinatti or Cleveland when someone mentions Ohio.