Most Centralized and Decentralized States

[musiccity]

DISCUSSION: What are the most centralized and decentralized states.



Centralized

Georgia - Georgia's capital Atlanta is by far Georgia's largest city and metro area and is also the center of Georgia's economy.

Colorado - Same as Georgia, Denver is the political and economic hub of Colorado.

Massachusetts - Though with several other cities, Boston is clearly the dominant city in MA.

Hawai'i - Honolulu is the largest and to some extant the only city in Hawai'i.

Utah - Salt Lake City is Utah's only large metropolitan area and the only city with a decent skyline

Decentralized

California - Sacramento is one of Cali's smaller cities. There are several multi-million metropolitan areas.

Texas - Same as California, Austin may have a large economy but not nearly the largest.

Florida - Tallahassee is very small compared to the other metro areas in Florida

Kentucky - Frankfort is a small town, the economy of Kentucky lies in Louisville and to a lesser extent Lexington.

Missouri - Same as Kentucky except replace Frankfort with Jefferson City, Louisville with St Louis and Lexington with Kansas City.

North Carolina - Though Raleigh is a large city, there are several other large cities in NC with Charlotte being the financial center of the state.

[isaidso]

Decentralized: OHIO
Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus all have around 2 million in their metropolitan areas. Then there are a bunch of middle sized cities: Dayton, Akron, Toledo, Youngstown, and Canton-Massillon. The rest of Ohio is dotted with small cities and large towns from one end to the other.


Centralized: MAINE
Half the state live in and around Portland.

[HomrQT]

Illinois - Chicago / Chicagoland

[musiccity]

Illinois can be both. Even though the center of life in the state is Chicagoland, the politics and government are in Springfield.

[Otto Racecar]

Ohio,Texas,Florida,and California would be the largest cases of decentralization in my opinion.

I think Indiana and Michigan are also cases of centralization with indianapolis being by far the largest metro and state capital and detroits csa making up over half the states population. Really anytime you have a state with one large dominant metro you are probably going to be fairly centralized. Even if a smaller city or town is the state capital, the balance of power generally lies in the population base.

[weava]

Missouri has to be one of the most decentralized when it comes to population and culture.
-KC on the western border is a plains city, STL on the eastern border is an rustbelt city. Springfield/Ozarks are southern in culture. 3 of the 4 main cultures of the US intersect in Missouri (eastcoast/rustbelt. midwest/plains, southern), the only culture not repped in mo is the westcoast.
-SLU joined the A10 because they think they are an east coast city/college even though in the middle of the country. KC hosts the big 12 tournements(midwest/plains conference), and MU just joined the SEC(southern).

-The state is a swing state polictically with the cores of KC/STL being very democratic with the rest of the state being very republican.

-STL's most popular sports are baseball then hockey(city w/highest TV ratings for watching the MLB all star game 6 years in a row). KC's most popular sport is football with the MLS team (technically on the KS side of the border)rapidly gaining popularity. Springfield's most popular sport is basketball(home of the highest attended HS basketball tournement in the world every year[Bass Pro T.O.C.].

-The most popular food is also completely different accross the state: KC is a world class BBQ city[KC BBQ], STL is known for its Italian, STL style pizza and toasted raviolli[Toasted_ravioli], and Springfield is an oddity with Americanized Chinnese/Oriental food being huge there.[Cashew Chicken]

[bayviews]

Originally Posted by musiccity

DISCUSSION: What are the most centralized and decentralized states. Centralized

Good analysis!

Just consider the contrasts between a pair of nearby & otherwise relatively similar, nearby states, centralized Georgia & decentralized North Carolina!

[hudkina]

Originally Posted by Otto Racecar

Ohio,Texas,Florida,and California would be the largest cases of decentralization in my opinion.

I think Indiana and Michigan are also cases of centralization with indianapolis being by far the largest metro and state capital and detroits csa making up over half the states population. Really anytime you have a state with one large dominant metro you are probably going to be fairly centralized. Even if a smaller city or town is the state capital, the balance of power generally lies in the population base.

How is Indiana centralized if only 32% of the state's population lives in the Indianapolis CSA, while California is decentralized when 48% of the state's population lives in the Los Angeles CSA. Even Michigan only has 53% of the state's population living in the Detroit CSA.

[bayviews]

Originally Posted by hudkina

How is Indiana centralized if only 32% of the state's population lives in the Indianapolis CSA, while California is decentralized when 48% of the state's population lives in the Los Angeles CSA. Even Michigan only has 53% of the state's population living in the Detroit CSA.

Consider though the large population concentrations in Northern California & to a lesser degree, the Central Valley.

That all adds up to relatively decentralized state.

[Otto Racecar]

Originally Posted by hudkina

How is Indiana centralized if only 32% of the state's population lives in the Indianapolis CSA, while California is decentralized when 48% of the state's population lives in the Los Angeles CSA. Even Michigan only has 53% of the state's population living in the Detroit CSA.

Maybe I'm thinking about this in a different way. So if a state were to be "centralized" are you saying that the vast majority of the population has to be in one metro area? I guess I was thinking more along the lines of one major city or area in the state that holds the most influence and power unlike florida, ohio,california, texas. Indianapolis is the city that people think of when they speak of indiana. Theres really no major competition or rivalry with ft. wayne or evansville. Although the majority of the population is outside of indianapolis, indianapolis still is the only major player in indiana and people in indiana seem to be fine with that.If Ft.Wayne or Evansville had Fortune 500 companies or a specific industry that they were a major player in (ex. Akron-rubber) so that they could divy up some of the powerbase I would possibly see it differently. Also indiana's culture seems to be fairly consistent through out the state compared to ohio which people in cincy don't generally identify with people in cleveland. Yes evansville has a bit of a southern accent compared to indy but the people there seem to identify with indy in general. Thats what I think of as centralization. One area or city really having the power and represents the state without major rivalries from other cities or regions in the state .

[HomrQT]

Originally Posted by musiccity

Illinois can be both. Even though the center of life in the state is Chicagoland, the politics and government are in Springfield.

The politics and government of Illinois are in Springfield....

Sort of....

[hudkina]

Originally Posted by Otto Racecar

I guess I was thinking more along the lines of one major city or area in the state that holds the most influence and power unlike florida, ohio,california, texas.

I don't know. I would say Los Angeles is the clearly the dominant city in California, even if San Francisco is a large anchor at the other end of the state. Cleveland accounts for 25% of Ohio's population, Dallas accounts for 27% of Texas' population, and Miami accounts for 30% of Florida's population. Those are three clearly decentralized states. California is less-so.

[WeimieLvr]

Originally Posted by musiccity

DISCUSSION: What are the most centralized and decentralized states.



Centralized

Georgia - Georgia's capital Atlanta is by far Georgia's largest city and metro area and is also the center of Georgia's economy.

...plus Atlanta has about half of the state's population.

[Xusein]

CT is technically decentralized, because no individual metro is large enough to dominate the state.

The largest, Greater Hartford, only has a bit more than a third the state's population.

What is happening however, there's a pretty strong urbanized corridor developing on I-95 from the NY border to New Haven and then northward up I-91 to Hartford. Fairfield, New Haven, and Hartford Counties collectively have nearly 75% of the state's population.



The rest of the state is relatively rural, the only significant agglomeration outside this corridor is New London-Norwich in the southeast.

[bayviews]

Originally Posted by hudkina

I don't know. I would say Los Angeles is the clearly the dominant city in California, even if San Francisco is a large anchor at the other end of the state. Cleveland accounts for 25% of Ohio's population, Dallas accounts for 27% of Texas' population, and Miami accounts for 30% of Florida's population. Those are three clearly decentralized states. California is less-so.

LA is the largest metro area in CA & will remain so.

However, the Bay Area seems to be pulling ahead when it comes to economics & politics.

Frankly SoCal doesn't have anything as dynamic as the Silicon Valley.

[CITYofDREAMS]

Really? Los Angeles is the third largest economic center in the world and its cluster of entertainment-related industries in film, television, music and publishing is the nation’s single largest export sector and the most globally competitive... If that is not as dynamic I really don't know what else can be.

BTW almost half of California lives in the LA area like Hudkina just pointed out.

[bayviews]

Originally Posted by CITYofDREAMS

Really? Los Angeles is the third largest economic center in the world and its cluster of entertainment-related industries in film, television, music and publishing is the nation’s single largest export sector and the most globally competitive... If that is not as dynamic I really don't know what else can be.

BTW almost half of California lives in the LA area like Hudkina just pointed out.

Sure, we all know that LA & Southern California have a huge & varied economy & a big lead in population.

However, somehow it doesn't seem to be as dynamic as it was say in before the 1990s crash.

[hudkina]

I think the problem is that we aren't putting it on a scale. In California, with a population of 37,253,956 the Bay Area accounts for 20% of that population. The Bay Area has about as much influence on California as Pittsburgh has on Pennsylvania or even Tulsa has on Oklahoma. The difference is that Philadelphia (Penn-side) and Oklahoma City only account for about 35% of their state's population, while Los Angeles accounts for nearly half.

[Suburbanist]

Wyoming is quite a decentralized state. Cheyene and Casper, the two biggest cities, are far apart, and together both have just around 20% of WY population. Then you have some cities roughly half their size, like Laramie, Gillette, Rock Springs...

I concede it is a small state in terms of population, but still decentralized.

Nevada OTOH is extremely centralized: it is all about Las Vegas, and a secondary center around Reno, and nothing more.

[St.PauliBoy]

Minnesota is quite a centralized state.

More than half the population lives in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area along with the state government in St. Paul, most of the state's Fortune 500 companies in the Twin Cities, the greater share of universities and colleges, etc.