Your City's Most Prominent Suburb

[goodbye]

What is your city's most prominent suburb in terms of size, business, or visibility? Most large cities have many important suburbs, but one usually stands out from the others.

[Viper]

Jacksonville's largest would be Jacksonville Beach with about 23,000 or so in the city. Jax has few actual cities surrounding it. Orange Park only has 10,000 in the city limits but has nearly 100,000 in the vicinity.

[NCB]

I think New Orleans' most prominent suburb would be Metairie, which has around 170,000 in the city. Kenner, which has around 75,000 people in the city, is very important because it is the location of Louis Armstrong-New Orleans International Airport.

I view the entire northshore area(Saint Tammany Parish) as being one large suburb. Slidell, which has around 27,000 residents, is on the east side of the parish, while Covington and Mandeville, which combined have around 23,000 residents are on the west side. The whole parish has a population of about 215,000, and is becoming larger and more important every year.

[thedude26]

Augusta's largest would be Aiken SC at 30,000 if you count it as a suburb. Otherwise Martinez, also around 30,000.

[Skyybutter]

Augusta's largest would be Aiken SC at 30,000 if you count it as a suburb. Otherwise Martinez, also around 30,000.

If by prominant you are refering to population Charlottes largest suburb is Gastonia with about 66,000. Concord is second I think with about 55,000.

[jmanhsv]

Depending on who you talk to, Decatur is Huntsville's largest suburb, with about 55,000 residents. About everyone would agree that Madison is Huntsville's most well-known suburb, with about 35,000 residents.

[DruidCity]

Tuscaloosa's only sizable incorporated suburb is Northport, which has a population of about 20,000.

It has been around for about as long as Tuscaloosa and has its own little downtown.

In general, Northport has a bit less money than we do.

[where_am_I]

In Savannah, I can't really think of a true prominent suburb, but Pooler in my opinion will be the most prominent in a few years with its Godley Station development. In my hometown of Birmingham, Hoover is the most prominent suburb with 66,346 residents.

[cheeriokid61]

For Nashville, you could say it would be Murfreesboro, with upwards of 100,000 people, and a major state college, MTSU. Another would be Franklin, a more well-to-do town of about 50,000.

[ironchapman]

Although not the biggest, Marietta is one of (if not the, that is) most prominent suburbs of Atlanta. It is one of the few that actually seemed to be a city in its own right before Atlanta really absorbed t.

Outside of Marietta, I'd say Roswell, Decatur, Alpharetta, Lawrenceville, and the newly formed Sandy Springs are Atlanta's other prminent suburbs.

[goodbye]

Is Buckhead a suburb, or just considered part of the City? I would consider it a very prominent suburb with so many high-rises and more being built. B)

[Aessotariq]

That's an interesting question... Miami's Coconut Grove neighborhood feels like a suburb within the city proper. At one time it actually was its own entity that was annexed into the city.

Strictly speaking, though, I would say a suburb has to be outside the city limits, either unincorporated or in another municipality. There certainly is suburban style development in core cities.

[ironchapman]

Is Buckhead a suburb, or just considered part of the City? I would consider it a very prominent suburb with so many high-rises and more being built. B)

Buckhead is a part of the city limits, it's just at the very northern end of the city. Although a part of the city (annexed in the late 1950's, one of, if not the, ity's last annexations), it is very suburban, even though high density suburban, in nature.

You could call it an edge city.

[Hankster]

Chattanooga's main suburban cities are:

East Ridge - population 20,010

Soddy-Daisy - population 11,970

Red Bank - population 11,865

Signal Mountain - population 7,207

Collegedale - population 7,166

All the above cities are located adjacent to Chattanooga and are in Hamilton County. A large suburban city located in an adjacent Bradley County is Cleveland which has a population of 37,746 (inexplicably to me neither Cleveland nor Bradley County (pop. over 90,000) are considered part of the Chattanooga Metro area. There are thousands of people who live there and work in Chattanooga).

[KendallKid]

I would have to say Kendall. The entire Kendall area(kendall lakes, west kendall) has roughly 250,000 residents in it. Failing that Coral Gables was built as Miami's first suburb so that would be my second choice.

[cheeriokid61]

A large suburban city located in an adjacent Bradley County is Cleveland which has a population of 37,746 (inexplicably to me neither Cleveland nor Bradley County (pop. over 90,000) are considered part of the Chattanooga Metro area. There are thousands of people who live there and work in Chattanooga).

That is weird. I would definately have considered Cleveland to be a suburb of Chattanooga. How recent are is your information?

[qwertycc]

Cleveland, TN (Bradley County) is its own metro, but you're right, it doesn't make much sense. It seems that it would rely heavily on Chattanooga. But not being from there, I don't know much of the commuting patterns.

As for Memphis, the best known suburbs would be Southaven, MS, Olive Branch, MS, Collierville, and Germantown, with Germantown and Collierville being the most affluent. Bartlett, however, is the most populous suburb. Collierville, Southaven, and Olive Branch are all booming, as are the smaller suburbs of Horn Lake, MS, Oakland, and Arlington. In fact, Olive Branch was the fastest growing city in the US from 1990-2000 censuses--it grew 490%. And Southaven is the 6th or 7th largest city in the state of MS, even though it's a suburb of a TN city.

[goodbye]

Greenville (SC) has several suburbs, but Greer is probably the most prominent for a couple of reasons. First, it is definitely the largest in square miles. Second, it has BMW's North American headquarters and the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport located there. It has been one of the very fastest growing cities in South Carolina for several years, with an aggressive annexation plan always at work.

It is interesting to note that Greenville County has an estimated population of just over 400,000 currently, but only about 60,000 (probably more now) of those people actually live in the City limits. This shows just how incredibly important all of Greenville's suburbs are to the City itself. This is not even taking into consideration the fact that the surrounding counties each have a decent population of Greenville suburbanites as well. B)

[Charleston native]

Charleston, a city of about 106,000 and a metro area of almost 600,000 really has two prominent suburbs, if not 3:

N. Charleston, pop. 80,000

Mt. Pleasant, pop. 55,000

(pop. figs are approximate)

Summerville is the possible 3rd prominent suburb, but it still has a population under 40,000. Some people, myself included, think that N. Charleston and Charleston should merge into one city of Charleston. This would definitely make Charleston the largest city in SC...it probably won't happen for a few years. I remain hoepful, though!

[elb401]

The most prominet suburbs of Mobile would be the cities along the bay's eastern shore. Fairhope, Daphne, and spanish fort. On the west side of Mobile there is West Mobile. But soon hopefully it will be annexed. It would be our largest suburb maybe bigger than the eastern shore combined and its unincorporated. If Mobile can convince them to annex (lost by about 50 votes last time) Mobile will see a large increase in its population. the suburbs to the north are okay nothing special.

[depechecureguyorl]

For Orlando, I'd have to say Kissimmee, just south of Orl in Osceola County and next to Disney World is the largest suburb at 50,000 ppl. Second is Altamonte Sprgs (which is currently undergoing a major urbanization movement) just north of Orl in Seminole Cnty at 41,000 ppl. Then Sanford, the northernmost suburb of Orl, also in Seminole Cnty, at 39,000. Some would call Deltona (65,000 ppl), north of Orl in Volusia county, a bedroom community of Orlando; as development in that area has gone non-stop and is practically merged into the Orlando metro area (Orange, Osceola, Seminole, and Lake counties).

East Orlando, practically a city in its own right and the current local poster child of bad traffic planning and urban sprawl, lies just east of the Orlando city limits in unincorporated Orange county and currently has an estimated population of 130,000 ppl according to a recent Orlando Sentinel article. Not to mention the other unincorporated communities surrounding Orlando which easily add another estimated 300K to Orlando's current (official census est) 258,000 people living practically right next to them.

[greystone98]

Depending on who you talk to, Decatur is Huntsville's largest suburb, with about 55,000 residents. About everyone would agree that Madison is Huntsville's most well-known suburb, with about 35,000 residents.

Since the city of Decatur is located 25 miles Southeast of Huntsville, it is unlikely most would consider it a suburb.

[Tayfromcarolina]

Raleigh, NC's most prominent suburb would be Cary, NC population 105,000. A very well to do suburb constantly ranked as one of the safest towns/cities in America.

Wake Forest is getting up there too. Pop. +- 30,000

[jmanhsv]

Since the city of Decatur is located 25 miles Southeast of Huntsville, it is unlikely most would consider it a suburb.

20% of Decatur's workforce commutes to Huntsville, and the 565 corridor between the two cities is clogged w/ traffic at rush hour. And, Huntsville/Decatur is now a CMSA. So distance doesn't matter.

[AlabamaGuy2007]

20% of Decatur's workforce commutes to Huntsville, and the 565 corridor between the two cities is clogged w/ traffic at rush hour. And, Huntsville/Decatur is now a CMSA. So distance doesn't matter.

I do agree about all that, but the fact remains that Huntsville and Decatur were incorporated or settled within 5 years of eachother. I would find it hard to believe that the founders of Decatur (then Rhodes Ferry/Albany) had Huntsville on their mind when they settled the place. If you consider Decatur a suburb of Huntsville because a whole bunch of our citizens travel to work there everyday, then I guess Huntsville could be, also, considered a suburn of Decatur.

Besides look at the word suburb, sub-URB, suburbial areas are founded as satallite (sp?) cities of one main larger city, and are usually spurred by that larger cities business. An example would be Hoover, founded around Birmingham. Decatur can hardly be put into that sort of category. As if Huntsville actually had a big enough business base in 1821. Decatur has played a major role in Huntsville's growth/life, as well as vice versa. One could really not survive without the other. Decatur and Huntsville falls into the category of Sister Cities relationsip. Such as Dallas/Fort Worth, or Minneapolis/St. Paul.