(Read Part 1 first, if you haven't already)...
So of course, the next thing I looked at were the ranks of the second largest cities by state. Here's what the top 10 of that list looks like:
| 2nd Largest City | State | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1. San Diego | California | 1,266,753 |
| 2. San Antonio | Texas | 1,214,725 |
| 3. Nashville-Davidson | Tennessee | 544,765 |
| 4. Tucson | Arizona | 507,658 |
| 5. Cleveland | Ohio | 461,324 |
| 6. Tulsa | Oklahoma | 387,807 |
| 7. Miami | Florida | 376,815 |
| 8. Colorado Springs | Colorado | 370,448 |
| 9. Saint Louis | Missouri | 332,223 |
| 10. Pittsburgh | Pennsylvania | 325,337 |
This makes a good list of the states with two or more population centers. Note that it's still mostly the same heavily populated states as the Largest Cities list, although Tennessee, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Missouri have broken onto the list with their two-each comparably-sized cities.
Note also that San Antonio has passed Dallas!
And then, looking at the bottom again:
| 2nd Largest City | State | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 40. Rapid City | South Dakota | 60,876 |
| 41. Missoula | Montana | 60,722 |
| 42. Gaithersburg | Maryland | 57,365 |
| 43. Bismarck | North Dakota | 56,344 |
| 44. Casper | Wyoming | 50,632 |
| 45. Huntington | West Virginia | 49,533 |
| 46. Lewiston | Maine | 35,922 |
| 47. Dover | Delaware | 32,808 |
| 48. Juneau | Alaska | 31,187 |
| 49. Rutland | Vermont | 17,103 |
The first thing you probably noticed is that the list only goes to 49. This is because of the special case of Hawaii. Hawaii has no incorporated cities: all urban government and services are provided by the county governments there. The only population center there recognized by the Census Bureau is Honolulu, which is Hawaii's only entry on any of these lists. Note also that the Largest Cities list ended at 50, not 51. As the District of Columbia isn't a state, the rather large city of Washington doesn't make the lists either.
Another notable entry on this list is Gaithersburg, Maryland at #42. Maryland and Alaska are the only two states to have one city of over 200,000 population, and no other cities above 100,000. The nearly 11:1 ratio of population between Baltimore and Gaithersburg is the third largest between the two largest cities of any state. Only Illinois with a 17.7:1 ratio between Chicago and Aurora, and the anomalous New York City:Buffalo ratio of 28.4:1 are larger.
To be continued...