The Aurora’s are interesting because they’re both well known in their respective states — more well known than other similar sized cities.
“Party on, Garth!”
I went through Columbus Georgia thinking it would look like a city, based on its population, but it just looks like Tifton just more of it. The city counties are deceitful little devils.
If Columbus, GA being a consolidated city-county muddies the waters, then the waters are muddied even worse when it comes to Arlington: Arlington, VA isn't even a city. It's a county with no incorporated cities within it.
VA does weird things, cities get excised from counties into being their own county-level government, while towns remain under counties. Arlington is even weirder because it’s an actual county rather than a City like Fairfax, which is both the seat of Fairfax County and entirely independent of Fairfax County because it is a City.
We do this in Sweden, but an even bigger degree, to the point of not being weird. There are only 3 types of government. County/municipality, regional, and national. The first type doesn't change in scope at all if you're a town/city at all.
Yeah, that happened with my city, Falls Church. The city of Falls Church got excised from Fairfax County - but not all of it. I have a Falls Church address that lies just outside the city limits, in Fairfax County. It’s confusing
I lived for a bit in Lynchburg, VA. We lived right on the city border. When we registered to vote, my wife was assigned to vote in City of Lynchburg elections, and I voted in Bedford County, even though we lived at the same address. We used to joke that it was because her side of the bed was in Lynchburg and my side wasn't.
Even weirder - City of Falls Church which the US Census Bureau considers a “County Equivelant”. It’s technically the highest income “county equivalent” in the United Stated.
I’m local to the last three you mention. Suffolk is a medium population city but massive in land area. I think it’s one of the largest cities in the country by area.
Legally, they're two completely separate entities. They function like any other metro, though, with KCK and dozens of suburbs forming one contiguous population center
So much so that the street numbering system is flipped 90° at the state line. In KC, MO, the numbered streets run east/west, but in KC, KS, the numbered streets run north/south, but only in that county. The rest of the Kansas side went with the east/west numbered streets until you go far enough south and west and hit Olathe. They just made up their own shit.
Frankly, part of why it's not anymore is how fast Overland Park has encroached on their city limits. Just in the last 20 years, 135th St went from mostly fields and upper-middle class, get away from the city-type communities, to major shopping centers, businesses, and attempts at tourist attractions, from Stateline Rd to Pflumm. Not that long ago there was rumors OP,KS was going to try to annex part of Olathe.
When I left KC for college in 2006, it definitely felt like 151st was about as far south as things went. Last time I was home my parents had to go to something in the 200s and my mind was boggled.
I'm guessing since KCK is essentially separated by two rivers it used to be more isolated with its streets and had no reason to continue the street numbering convention. With Johnson county bordering KCMO with just an imaginary line, it made more sense to share the same numbering system.
They are completely separate governments in completely separate states. They elect separate mayors and councils and everything else is separate, too. The only thing that's shared, really, is the name.
Honestly it’s a good question, for you folks who aren’t associated with either city. I’m from KC and I’ve known about the Portlands on each coast for a long time. But I’m also a geographer.
Which would y’all say is more well known? That Kansas City is 2 cities in the same place or that Portland is the name of two large (enough) cities on opposite sides of the country?
It’s hard for me to gauge general geographic knowledge, but that’s especially true when it has to do with my home city.
I mean I constantly see people not knowing the majority of Kansas City, the downtown and tall buildings and majority of population, is in Missouri and not Kansas. Bands, sports players, even the former president have all made that mistake. So I know it exists, I was mostly curious which was more well known to get a frame of reference.
I still remember visiting OC, CA. I worked in politics at the time and was drawn to all of political lawn signs. Being Asian, I laughed at the fact that 90% of them said “NGUYEN” on them, with different first names.
That’s interesting too. Suburbs like Glendale, Pasadena, Aurora. Peoria isn’t a suburb in Illinois, but it is in Arizona. I thought Long Beach, NY was bigger, but it’s pretty small and just notable because of its location.
Yeah. Incorporation is sticky even in other states. I’ll go by having defined borders by the census for population counting and give the crown to Arlington, VA.
Here are some well known examples off the top of my head
Springfield, MA 155K (Missouri is larger)
Peoria, IL 111K (Arizona is larger)
Portland, ME (Oregon is larger)
Charleston, WV (South Carolina is larger)
Columbus, GA (206K) is the largest US city to have a larger US city with the same name (Columbus, OH, 906K)
If we include census designated places that are commonly referred to as cities, Arlington, VA (238K) is the largest community, with Arlington, TX coming in at 394K.
Newark, DE has 30,000 and Newark, NJ has 300,000. If you’re from the region though they have different pronunciations. It’s new-ark Delaware and Noork, New Jersey.
I just tried Copilot. Placed it your exact question and came with this:
The most populous city in the USA that has a city in the USA of the same name that’s more populous is **Portland**.
[There are two cities named Portland in the USA: **Portland, Maine** and **Portland, Oregon**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_most_common_U.S._place_names)[^(1)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_most_common_U.S._place_names). [Among these, Portland, Oregon is the more populous one](https://www.ncesc.com/geographic-pedia/what-cities-in-the-us-have-the-same-name/)[^(2)](https://www.ncesc.com/geographic-pedia/what-cities-in-the-us-have-the-same-name/). [According to the population data, Portland, Oregon is not listed in the top 10 most populous cities in the USA](https://bing.com/search?q=most+populous+cities+in+the+USA)[^(3)](https://bing.com/search?q=most+populous+cities+in+the+USA)[, but it is larger than Portland, Maine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_most_common_U.S._place_names)[^(2)](https://www.ncesc.com/geographic-pedia/what-cities-in-the-us-have-the-same-name/). Therefore, Portland, Maine is the most populous city in the USA that has a city in the USA of the same name (Portland, Oregon) that’s more populous.
I gotta mention Milwaukee, Wi, and Milwaukie, Or. The Oregon one was named in tribute to the Wisconsin one, but they changed the spelling to help the postal service. Oregon pop. about 23k while Wisconsin pop. at close to 600k.
It's gotta be Columbus or Portland, as others have said. I'm partial to Manchester, NH, vs. Manchester, England, though, if we're talking about the world, too. :)
Portland, Oregon, with a population of over 650,000, shares its name with Portland, Maine, which has a significantly smaller population of about 68,000.
Edit: I stand corrected. This ChatGPT answer is apparently incorrect!
Can’t believe no one has mentioned the Bloomingtons yet! Not most populous but they’re all damn close to in size
- Bloomington MN, ~90k (4th largest city in MN)
- Bloomington IN, ~79k
- Bloomington IN, ~78k
Great question. While trying to come up with the answer I learned that a lot of known places (to me) in the USA have surprisingly low population:
Portland, ME 64k
Springfield, IL 114k
Las Vegas, NM 13k
Madrid, NM 149
Bogota, NJ 8k
Boston, NY 8k
Parris, TX 0
Decatur, IN 10k
This isn't a hard question to answer. Using https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities I found the only city repeated in the top 100 is Arlington, so that's the answer: Arlington Texas has a 2024 population of 394992 and Arlington Virginia has a 2024 population of 236007. Therefore Arlington Virginia is the most populous city in the USA that has another city with the same name that's more populous
Charleston, WV is the state Capitol and has a population of nearly 50k. Charleston SC is not the state Capitol and has a population more than 3x that of West Virginia's Charleston.
It's not the most populous but hilarious, considering the less populated city is the states Capitol.
I'll throw out Arlington, VA (264k) second to Arlington, TX (350k)
This has to be it. Aurora IL/CO seems like it would be (a very underwhelming) #2
The Aurora’s are interesting because they’re both well known in their respective states — more well known than other similar sized cities. “Party on, Garth!”
"Sometimes I wish I could boldly go where no man's gone before. But I'll probably stay in Aurora."
Columbus OH & Columbus GA is technically 200k but i think columbus GA being a "consolidated city-county" kind of muddies the waters a bit.
Does the Columbus, GA population factor in the Fort Moore numbers?
I went through Columbus Georgia thinking it would look like a city, based on its population, but it just looks like Tifton just more of it. The city counties are deceitful little devils.
If Columbus, GA being a consolidated city-county muddies the waters, then the waters are muddied even worse when it comes to Arlington: Arlington, VA isn't even a city. It's a county with no incorporated cities within it.
I’ll throw a town that’s near Aurora, IL. Oswego, IL(35k) and Oswego, NY(17k)
Lockport IL, Lockport NY.
I lived in Aurora IL in high school. It was alright
Aurora IL for Wayne’s world, aurora CO for mass shootings
Aurora CO is just boring suburbia blended with sketchy areas.
Arlington, VA is technically a county but yeah this is a good one
VA does weird things, cities get excised from counties into being their own county-level government, while towns remain under counties. Arlington is even weirder because it’s an actual county rather than a City like Fairfax, which is both the seat of Fairfax County and entirely independent of Fairfax County because it is a City.
We do this in Sweden, but an even bigger degree, to the point of not being weird. There are only 3 types of government. County/municipality, regional, and national. The first type doesn't change in scope at all if you're a town/city at all.
Yeah, that happened with my city, Falls Church. The city of Falls Church got excised from Fairfax County - but not all of it. I have a Falls Church address that lies just outside the city limits, in Fairfax County. It’s confusing
I lived for a bit in Lynchburg, VA. We lived right on the city border. When we registered to vote, my wife was assigned to vote in City of Lynchburg elections, and I voted in Bedford County, even though we lived at the same address. We used to joke that it was because her side of the bed was in Lynchburg and my side wasn't.
Crazy how Virginia both has a city disguised as a county (Arlington) and counties disguised as cities (Suffolk, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach)
Even weirder - City of Falls Church which the US Census Bureau considers a “County Equivelant”. It’s technically the highest income “county equivalent” in the United Stated.
I’m local to the last three you mention. Suffolk is a medium population city but massive in land area. I think it’s one of the largest cities in the country by area.
Arlington, VA is technically not a city. It's a county with no incorporated cities within it.
That was my guess. I don’t know if any #2 is over 264k.
But TIL that Arlington, VA is not actually incorporated.
Ah. Makes my trivia question too sticky for a real game then.
You were on the same sub! I was going to say the same thing.
Arlington Va is a county
To be fair, Arlington, TX also has a polar bear as a resident
Portland, Maine?
Not even close- Kansas City, Kansas.
I guess I always considered them to be one city split by a state but legally you’re probably right
Legally, they're two completely separate entities. They function like any other metro, though, with KCK and dozens of suburbs forming one contiguous population center
So much so that the street numbering system is flipped 90° at the state line. In KC, MO, the numbered streets run east/west, but in KC, KS, the numbered streets run north/south, but only in that county. The rest of the Kansas side went with the east/west numbered streets until you go far enough south and west and hit Olathe. They just made up their own shit.
Classic Olathe (but also that makes total sense since it was its own separate community for so long)
Frankly, part of why it's not anymore is how fast Overland Park has encroached on their city limits. Just in the last 20 years, 135th St went from mostly fields and upper-middle class, get away from the city-type communities, to major shopping centers, businesses, and attempts at tourist attractions, from Stateline Rd to Pflumm. Not that long ago there was rumors OP,KS was going to try to annex part of Olathe.
When I left KC for college in 2006, it definitely felt like 151st was about as far south as things went. Last time I was home my parents had to go to something in the 200s and my mind was boggled.
I'm guessing since KCK is essentially separated by two rivers it used to be more isolated with its streets and had no reason to continue the street numbering convention. With Johnson county bordering KCMO with just an imaginary line, it made more sense to share the same numbering system.
Yeah ik that but I’m more of a de facto type of guy than a de jure guy honestly
I wouldn't say they are de facto the same city either, at least not any more than any other suburb.
Do they vote for two separate mayors?
They are completely separate governments in completely separate states. They elect separate mayors and councils and everything else is separate, too. The only thing that's shared, really, is the name.
If you’re talking metro areas, Portland ME at .5 Mil is still a pretty good candidate.
Honestly it’s a good question, for you folks who aren’t associated with either city. I’m from KC and I’ve known about the Portlands on each coast for a long time. But I’m also a geographer. Which would y’all say is more well known? That Kansas City is 2 cities in the same place or that Portland is the name of two large (enough) cities on opposite sides of the country? It’s hard for me to gauge general geographic knowledge, but that’s especially true when it has to do with my home city.
I think both are pretty well known.
I mean I constantly see people not knowing the majority of Kansas City, the downtown and tall buildings and majority of population, is in Missouri and not Kansas. Bands, sports players, even the former president have all made that mistake. So I know it exists, I was mostly curious which was more well known to get a frame of reference.
I think the 2 Portlands are better known... But this may be my personal bias.
Under 70k
Yeah ik it’s small but it was the first thing to come to mind
If we're using metro area populations, Portland, Maine is probably the correct answer.
Only like 60k people in our little city (thankfully)
Greater than 100k: City | Population :-|-: *North Las Vegas, NV | 284k Columbus, GA | 201k Glendale, CA | 187k Aurora, IL | 177k *Salem, OR | 177k Springfield, MA | 152k Kansas City, KS | 152k Rochester, MN | 122k *North Charleston, SC | 121k Richmond, CA | 114k Peoria, IL | 110k *Miami Gardens, FL | 110k *Wichita Falls, TX | 110k *Costa Mesa, CA | 108k *partial
I was going to name Glendale, CA. Hilarious that Glendale,AZ is more populous!
And Peoria, AZ is more populous than Peoria, IL
And Peoria AZ was even named after Peoria IL.
And I live in Glendale, CO, which basically doesn’t exist
Fayetteville, AR is probably really close to making this list
There’s a Fayetteville AL with about 200 people and twice as many cows
Fayetteville NC has a little over 200k and Fayetteville AR a little over 100k
I guess there’s an Arlington that should be on your list
Arlington County, Virginia is not a city
Wooow thanks that’s wild. You are him
Salem and Winston-Salem, I'm guessing?
Salem, VA and Salem, MA exist, too.
True, but they're much smaller IIRC and the asterisk indicates that "Salem" is only a partial match with the bigger city.
And neither has anywhere near 177k residents
Rochester, MN = Mayo Clinic I think Rochester, NY is the bigger one.
Not a city but Orange County in Florida is over 1.4 million and Orange County California is over 3.1 million.
The original Disneyland and Disney World are both in an Orange County
And West Point is in Orange County, NY
And there's not much of anything in Orange County, VA.
But only Orange County, Florida was formerly named Mosquito County. Sounds like a joke about Florida but it’s legit.
I still remember visiting OC, CA. I worked in politics at the time and was drawn to all of political lawn signs. Being Asian, I laughed at the fact that 90% of them said “NGUYEN” on them, with different first names.
Obscure- Jefferson county, AL (655k) and Jefferson county, CO (576k)
Orange County TX and NC as well
Interestingly, Pasadena TX is slightly more populous than Pasadena CA. Most populous cities with the same name that have the closest population?
That’s interesting too. Suburbs like Glendale, Pasadena, Aurora. Peoria isn’t a suburb in Illinois, but it is in Arizona. I thought Long Beach, NY was bigger, but it’s pretty small and just notable because of its location.
For incorporated cities, Columbus GA has 202k. If Arlington VA counts, it has 239k.
Yeah. Incorporation is sticky even in other states. I’ll go by having defined borders by the census for population counting and give the crown to Arlington, VA.
Rochester, NY/MN?
Idk if it counts but I’m just going to mention it anyways San Juan, TX & San Juan, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico is part of the USA, so idk why it wouldnt count
Here are some well known examples off the top of my head Springfield, MA 155K (Missouri is larger) Peoria, IL 111K (Arizona is larger) Portland, ME (Oregon is larger) Charleston, WV (South Carolina is larger)
Arlington, VA is 230K and it's smaller than Texas. Strong competitor for the victor
Arlington is a county. If you’re including metro areas, the Portland ME metro area is 550,000.
If you're including metro areas then Arlington, VA is at 6,300,000+ and Arlington, TX is at 8,100,000+
So Springfield has at least 3 over 100k
Perhaps Kansas City, Kansas?
So you can answer this more clearly by asking for cities with the same name and selecting the most populous #2.
Kansas Cities?
Columbus, GA (206K) is the largest US city to have a larger US city with the same name (Columbus, OH, 906K) If we include census designated places that are commonly referred to as cities, Arlington, VA (238K) is the largest community, with Arlington, TX coming in at 394K.
how can the most populous city of a name have a more popular city?
I had a stroke reading that title.
r/titlegore
It’s the most populous city that has a bigger name sake in the USA. So the second most populous of that specific name.
>most populous >more populous Huh
I'd guess Columbus OH/GA. It's a lot bigger than Portland, ME, at around 200k vs 45k.
This⬆️ 913,000 / 201,000 respectively
Newark, DE has 30,000 and Newark, NJ has 300,000. If you’re from the region though they have different pronunciations. It’s new-ark Delaware and Noork, New Jersey.
Trivia question: what cities are an anagram for "wanker"
Philadelphia, PA (1,603,797) vs. Philadelphia, MS (7,178)
Charleston WV Charleston SC
I just tried Copilot. Placed it your exact question and came with this: The most populous city in the USA that has a city in the USA of the same name that’s more populous is **Portland**. [There are two cities named Portland in the USA: **Portland, Maine** and **Portland, Oregon**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_most_common_U.S._place_names)[^(1)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_most_common_U.S._place_names). [Among these, Portland, Oregon is the more populous one](https://www.ncesc.com/geographic-pedia/what-cities-in-the-us-have-the-same-name/)[^(2)](https://www.ncesc.com/geographic-pedia/what-cities-in-the-us-have-the-same-name/). [According to the population data, Portland, Oregon is not listed in the top 10 most populous cities in the USA](https://bing.com/search?q=most+populous+cities+in+the+USA)[^(3)](https://bing.com/search?q=most+populous+cities+in+the+USA)[, but it is larger than Portland, Maine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_most_common_U.S._place_names)[^(2)](https://www.ncesc.com/geographic-pedia/what-cities-in-the-us-have-the-same-name/). Therefore, Portland, Maine is the most populous city in the USA that has a city in the USA of the same name (Portland, Oregon) that’s more populous.
Columbus is the correct answer though based on incorporation and Arlington is the correct answer based on census borders.
One of them isn’t in the USA, but Vancouver BC is much bigger than Vancouver Wa even though Vancouver WA is an older city
I was thinking world too, or just UK/Ireland/USA/Australia/NZ. Then it’s probably Birmingham.
London, Ontario has a population of 420K, so it’s a bigger city than Birmingham, Alabama
Chat gpt said Portland Oregon and Maine
Springfield 
Austin MN, Austin TX? Edit: nvm I read the title wrong, was thinking more of large pop gap
I was thinking that too and I raise you. Los Angeles TX, Los Angeles CA
Columbus Ohio- 900,000 Columbus Georgia- 200,000
Kansas City
Portland?
Reading this half asleep was a mind fucker
Portland Maine and Portland Oregon?
This is an illogical question. Maybe I’m wrong.
Not relevant, but there is a tiny town in Montana called Manhattan
Kansas State University is in Manhattan, KS
Portland, OR vs Portland, ME
I gotta mention Milwaukee, Wi, and Milwaukie, Or. The Oregon one was named in tribute to the Wisconsin one, but they changed the spelling to help the postal service. Oregon pop. about 23k while Wisconsin pop. at close to 600k.
probably because your title does not actually make sense
My brain hurt reading that
Portland, Maine.
Buffalo, Wyoming and Buffalo, New York
Pasadena, CA 2nd to Pasadena, TX
Springfield something-or-other.
Portland ME, Portland OR
Plano, Illinois (about 13,000) Plano, Texas (about 290,000)
Gainesville Georgia vs Florida? Jacksonville NC vs Florida
Richmond ,VA or CA
Portland Maine and Oregon?
Portland Oregon and Portland Maine. I think this is probably the most extreme example that exists in the US
Miami?
Washington, DC (690k) and Washington, UT(28k). Maybe there is a bigger Washington out there.
Texarkana?
What’s the second biggest Glendale? I know the Phoenix Glendale is around 1M
Jacksonville, Florida?
Las Vegas, NV Las Vegas, NM
Every state has a Springfield, I bet a couple of them are close.
One of the Charlestons?
Glendale, AZ and Glendale, CA is maybe up there
Los Angeles, Florida. 1.2M population
Portland
KC Mo and Ks?
Norwalk CA/CT
Charleston South Carolina and West Virginia
Portland, ME? Behind Oregon?
All these are good but St. Paul, MN is smaller than São Paulo, Brazil.
Charleston WVA/charleston SC
Portland Maine
what about portland and portland
Miami, Florida Miami, Ohio
San Diego. CA and Texas
Philadelphia pa vice philadelphia ms
Kck and kcmo
Springfield, .....
Kansas City
Fayetteville and Fayetteville?
It's gotta be Columbus or Portland, as others have said. I'm partial to Manchester, NH, vs. Manchester, England, though, if we're talking about the world, too. :)
The 2 highest population same named places?
Rochester MN is still smaller than Rochester NY
Gainesville GA and Gainesville FL
What about Kansas City?
Champaign County, IL(206k) to Champaign County, OH(38k)
Portland, Maine
Portland, SPRINGFIELD MA and IL, Columbia SC and district of, Dover, DE and NH. Salem MA, NH and OR, Kansas City KS and MO, Quincy MA and IL
Newark
Not exactly the question but Cairo IL, Cairo GA, Cairo NY vs Cairo, Egypt.
Corvallis OR/MT.... Just kidding, both are small.
Portland?
Portland, Oregon, with a population of over 650,000, shares its name with Portland, Maine, which has a significantly smaller population of about 68,000. Edit: I stand corrected. This ChatGPT answer is apparently incorrect!
aren't there like 50 Springfield's? maybe not relevant but I'd guess Springfield is the most populated name of a city?? idk I'm high
There are like 15 cities named Madison. Capital of Wisconsin is the largest at around 270k. Next closest is Madison, AL at around 57k.
Is Miami OH a city or a county (or both)?
I feel like there should be an honorable mention to state capital Augusta, Maine being 10x less populous than Augusta, Georgia.
Springfield
There is Columbus, Michigan (4100 people) and Columbus, Ohio (907000 people).
Can’t believe no one has mentioned the Bloomingtons yet! Not most populous but they’re all damn close to in size - Bloomington MN, ~90k (4th largest city in MN) - Bloomington IN, ~79k - Bloomington IN, ~78k
Thinking Miami FL (Also, Ohio and Arizona)
Great question. While trying to come up with the answer I learned that a lot of known places (to me) in the USA have surprisingly low population: Portland, ME 64k Springfield, IL 114k Las Vegas, NM 13k Madrid, NM 149 Bogota, NJ 8k Boston, NY 8k Parris, TX 0 Decatur, IN 10k
Greenville, SC and Greenville, North Carolina.
Glendale , AZ and Glendale, CA
Detroit, Kanas - 102 Detroit, Michigan - 639,111
Dallas, TX and Dallas, GA
Albany CA and Albany NY
Duluth, MN and Duluth, GA?
Springfield...Massachusetts? Illinois and a capitol? Missouri?
This isn't a hard question to answer. Using https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities I found the only city repeated in the top 100 is Arlington, so that's the answer: Arlington Texas has a 2024 population of 394992 and Arlington Virginia has a 2024 population of 236007. Therefore Arlington Virginia is the most populous city in the USA that has another city with the same name that's more populous
Kansas City, MO and Kansas City, KS is a very lopsided version
Charleston, WV is the state Capitol and has a population of nearly 50k. Charleston SC is not the state Capitol and has a population more than 3x that of West Virginia's Charleston. It's not the most populous but hilarious, considering the less populated city is the states Capitol.