Houston vs. Atlanta

[Greens!]

This was bound to come up. I noticed that the CSAs of Houston and Atlanta are coming pretty close now. Will Atlanta pass Houston in size anytime soon or is the MSA a more accurate way to judge size?

Houston MSA 5,280,077 Land Area: 10,062sq mi

Houston CSA 5,380,661

Atlanta MSA 4,917,717 Land Area: ???

Atlanta CSA 5,249,121

What do you think? What gives a more accurate indication of a metro area's size? MSA or CSA?

My sources:

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.ph...pic=23193&st=20

http://proximityone.com/metros.htm#top10

[krazeeboi]

I prefer urbanized area figures myself. For instance, Gwinnett county is in Atlanta's MSA, but the eastern part of the county is barely developed and it certainly doesn't feel like you're in Atlanta's metro area just yet.

[westendatl]

Atlanta mainly because of the Hurricane Katrina thing.Being on or near the water is definately nicer when there are no crazy weather patterns.Not to mention that it is closer to other large cities.

[Justiceham]

I believe the MSA is the more accurate way of showing how big a city is. I think Atlanta will pass Houston in both instances even if Fulton county's population never gets larger than 600,000.

[qwertycc]

Beside the point, but Fulton's population is over 900,000.