AARP has an article titled “Pinpointing Affordable Cities” that offers the top 10 most affordable cities in the United States. First we need to define the word “city.” Even merriam-webster.com has a difficulty doing that. They call it “an inhabited place of greater size, population, or importance than a town or village.”
Wikipedia isn’t any better with this introduction, “A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement.[1][2] Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.”
Wikipedia’s link to the United States offers this disturbing definition. “The lack of a clear-cut definition of a city in the United States can lead to some counter-intuitive labeling; for example, before it was dissolved in 2002[49] Maza, North Dakota, with only 5 inhabitants, was a city as by North Dakota law any incorporated location is deemed a city regardless of size. California has both towns and cities but the terms “town” and “city” are considered synonymous. The nation’s top five largest cities are New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia.”
I choose to aribtrarily say that for a town to be a city it must have 1 million residence. Here then is the AARP list. Most of the places they identify are not cities by my definition. They will suffer from a lack of hospitals, doctors, art and music, employment opportunities, and other city venues.
1. Oklahoma City, Okla. has a population of about 560,000. It’s not a city.
2. Pittsburgh, Pa. has a population of about 311,000. It’s not a city.
3. Buffalo, N.Y. has a population of about 270,000. It’s not a city.
4. Rochester, N.Y. has a population of about 206,000. It’s not a city.
5. Nashville, Tenn. has a population of about 605,000. It’s not a city.
6. San Antonio, Texas has a population of about 1,373,000. It’s a city.
7. Houston, Texas has a population of about 2,257,000. It’s a city. The fourth largest in the country.
8. Louisville, Ky. has a population of about 262,000. It’s not a city.
9. Birmingham, Ala. has a population of about 230,000. It’s not a city.
10. Austin, Texas has a population of about 786,000. It’s not a city.
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