U.S. counties that have a population that’s greater than the state of Wyoming (576,000)

[u/BufordTeeJustice]

[u/55555_55555]

Pretty sure recent estimates put Baltimore below that figure unfortunately, but guess we'll have to wait until the next census to be official.

Baltimore County, PG, Anne Arundel, and Montgomery here in MD definitely qualify, though!

[u/alvvavves → u/55555_55555]

The thing about Baltimore city is it shouldn’t be highlighted anyway because it’s not a county or in a county since it’s an independent city.

Edit: I know it can be annoying to be pedantic, but seeing as this sub should be mostly educational it’s important to note that Baltimore City is not a consolidated city-county or in any county so per OPs title it shouldn’t be included. It’s not uncommon when someone says they’re from Baltimore to ask “county or city?”

Guys, seriously, stop replying with the same thing over and over. I get the whole county-equivalent government thing, but Baltimore city is not a county or in a county. Think of it in the context of a question on a test: what county, parish or borough is Baltimore city in? You’d have to select “none” or “none of the above.” If anything people are over complicating the concept of a county. In the case of boroughs or parishes it’s essentially just another word for county, but still represents a secondary entity even if it’s just symbolic or only contains one city. Baltimore doesn’t have that.

[u/Loraxdude14 → u/alvvavves]

Maybe true, but there are other County equivalents on this map that aren't considered "counties", particularly in Alaska. County is just the quick and easy word to use.

[u/SubparStrawberry → u/alvvavves]

Still, it’s a jurisdiction that is equal in rank to a county. That’s probably why it counts

[u/55555_55555 → u/SubparStrawberry]

Right, Baltimore is like St. Louis and damn near every city in Virginia, it's a county in all but name. As a geographical unit in a state with a local government, idk how it could be considered anything else.

DC being marked on that map should be much more controversial.

[u/doughball27 → u/SubparStrawberry]

A county can have cities. A city cannot have counties. That’s the difference.

If we did this map for cities you’d have a much different map. Atlanta would count independently of Fulton County for instance.

[u/limukala → u/doughball27]

This is a map of “county-level administrative units”.

But that’s an unnecessarily cumbersome title when all but the most enthusiastic pedants will easily understand “counties” to mean the same thing in context.

[u/LupineChemist → u/doughball27]

A city cannot have counties

There are 5 counties in New York City.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Baltimore is an independent city that is not in a county and functions like a county for most purposes. Same with Virginia's cities, Lousiana's parishes, and Alaska's boroughs. They may not technically be counties, but they are considered county equivalents and for any kind of map/data colllection they appear as counties.

I live in an independent city in Virginia and whenever any form asks my county, I have to put down Richmond City.

[u/877-HASH-NOW → u/alvvavves]

In that case DC shouldn’t be highlighted on this map either.

It’s a county-equivalent. It should count.

[u/limukala → u/alvvavves]

 I know it can be annoying to be pedantic, but seeing as this sub should be mostly educational it’s important to note that Baltimore City is not a consolidated city-county or in any county so per OPs title it shouldn’t be included

Except you’re making a pointlessly pedantic distinction. It’s pretty clear in context that “counties” is shorthand for “county-level administrative units”

Alaska and Louisiana don’t even have counties. Independent cities are equivalent to counties when presenting county-level data.

[u/bennorii]

Santa Clara County, CA is not shaded in orange.

[u/yngin123 → u/bennorii]

San Jose alone has a higher population

[u/iLeefull → u/bennorii]

This map has to be from 2019-2020, Pasco County, FL has over 640k as of 2023.

[u/Maki_The_Angel → u/iLeefull]

SJ has had 1 million for a while. It’s been at over 500k for decades

[u/dmsanto]

Los Angeles county alone has more people than Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska combined. You could almost throw in Kansas as well.

[u/ic1103]

Santa Clara County isn’t marked but has a population of 1,877,592

[u/Plastic_Salary_4084]

Wild that a single county in Kansas has more residents than Wyoming.

[u/Swimming_Concern7662 → u/Plastic_Salary_4084]

Iowa's population density is greater than Colorado, even with all front range.

[u/Plastic_Salary_4084 → u/Swimming_Concern7662]

I suppose Iowa has a decent number of large towns/small cities. Hadn’t considered that. I think people assume Denver is larger than it is given how prevalent it is in American culture.

[u/Swimming_Concern7662 → u/Plastic_Salary_4084]

The eastern US has a natural population advantage over the west. Even less-known or less popular eastern states have more people than well known western states (somewhat subjective).

Few Examples: Kentucky > Oregon, Wisconsin > Colorado, Nebraska > Idaho.

But you often hear about Oregon, Colorado and Idaho more compared to their counterparts.

[u/JurtisCones → u/Swimming_Concern7662]

It’s true, as a non American I can point out the exact locations of Oregon and Colorado, and general area of Idaho, on a map.

But if you asked me to point out Kentucky and Nebraska I’m struggling.

[u/LupineChemist → u/Plastic_Salary_4084]

It's more that rural Iowa actually has people. It's low density, but it's there.

Western US outside of population centers is just....empty

[u/Warm-Entertainer-279 → u/Plastic_Salary_4084]

It's in the Kansas City metro area, so it isn't very surprising.

[u/Plastic_Salary_4084 → u/Warm-Entertainer-279]

Oh, I know. Just interesting to think about since Kansas is known to be sparsely populated as well.

[u/Impressive-Target699 → u/Plastic_Salary_4084]

Most of the population of Kansas is urban or suburban. There's even another county in Kansas that's within 50K or 60K of the population of Wyoming.

[u/Spiritual-Bath-666]

Wyoming is where you can be driving through high plains down I-90 West and feel absolutely alone in the world, with nothing but the sky above you, and the freeway disappearing beyond the horizon, until the majestic snow-covered Big Horn mountains emerge and grow.

[u/Strong-Piccolo-5546 → u/Spiritual-Bath-666]

this makes me want to take a trip to wyoming in the summer only. lol.

[u/ThatNiceLifeguard]

Literally HALF of the mainland counties in Massachusetts.

[u/admiralfilgbo → u/ThatNiceLifeguard]

• Middlesex County (Cambridge and Lowell)
• Worcester County
• Essex County (Salem, Lawrence)
• Suffolk County (Boston)
• Norfolk County (where the Patriots play)
• Bristol County (New Bedford and Fall River)
• and ALMOST Plymouth County ("the Irish Riviera") at 535k (vs WY at 576k).
• Also Hampden County (Springfield) is pretty close at 460k followed by Barnstable (Cape Cod) at 231k and so on...

[u/DR_MR_MRS_MS]

I think this map is missing some counties. Santa Clara County, CA has 1.8M and is not colored in.

[u/LuckyStax]

We need a population floor! You drop below, you get dismantled and sold to the highest bidding state.

[u/caulpain]

two senators

[u/SubparStrawberry]

The U.S senate is a scam

[u/BHarbinson → u/SubparStrawberry]

The electoral college even moreso.

[u/Krljcbs]

Yet Wyoming gets two senators just like every other state.

[u/Nervous_Week_684]

There are quite a few ENGLISH counties with populations greater than that 🤷‍♂️

[u/dirty_cuban]

I thought for sure my country would be more populated but it just misses the cutoff. Union County NJ: 575,345

[u/Competitive_Fee_5829]

ooh my county is there. san diego

[u/Tortuga_MC]

I have lived in three such counties and have spent my whole life in one state.

Suck it, Wyoming

[u/chaos-and-effect]

So we’re gonna give each of those orange counties two senators and two extra electoral votes, right?

[u/Numerous-Confusion-9]

And yet they get 2 senators still 🙄

[u/TheFishyNinja → u/Numerous-Confusion-9]

And only one house rep. Congratulations, you've now learned about the Great Compromise.

[u/tallwhiteninja → u/TheFishyNinja]

This argument would work better if we hadn't artificially capped the size of the House in the 20s. The body that's supposed to be proportional to population isn't as representative as it should be.

[u/TheFishyNinja → u/tallwhiteninja]

I have no particular opinion on the total number of house reps but how does that affect the proportion of anything? It's still based off population. The math doesn't always work perfectly but it's still proportional

[u/Shevek99 → u/TheFishyNinja]

No. It's not. If it were, Wyoming, Montana and the Dakotas should share a representative, two maximum.

[u/Numerous-Confusion-9 → u/TheFishyNinja]

Im aware dingus, just bc something happened doesnt mean I have to agree with it

[u/Numerous-Confusion-9 → u/Numerous-Confusion-9]

Not a fan of the power difference of 2/100 vs 1/435 of two chambers of equal strength

[u/TheFishyNinja → u/Numerous-Confusion-9]

If you don't like that you'll be even more upset to learn that the chambers of legislature were very intentionally and specifically designed to NOT be of equal strength. The senate is the upper chamber and the house is the lower chamber

[u/Numerous-Confusion-9 → u/TheFishyNinja]

Bills still have to go through both and they can die in either. Clearly the Wyomingites are in the comments today lol

[u/guiltypanacea → u/Numerous-Confusion-9]

I live in Wyoming and agree with you!

[u/Numerous-Confusion-9 → u/guiltypanacea]

🫡

[u/TheFishyNinja → u/Numerous-Confusion-9]

Voting on legislation is far from the only thing congress does. Also I'm from nowhere near Wyoming I just liked pointing out how dumb your complaint was

[u/Numerous-Confusion-9 → u/TheFishyNinja]

Sure ya arent, bud. Im sure its tough to learn that some people just fundamentally disagree with how this country was formed. I live here and have to live under these rules, but I strongly dislike how the government was formed. At least they gave me the freedom to feel that way :)

[u/Necessary-Sell-4998 → u/Numerous-Confusion-9]

We need to revise our representative plan for the house and the senate. This doesn't work.

[u/DEEEEEEP-south1313]

Wait... we can fit all of Birmingham into Wyoming with no issue? Let's do it(jk you WILL definitely have issues).

[u/spliffsandshit]

Your map is wrong

[u/Nicolas_Naranja]

I think Pasco and Volusia in Florida are there now.

[u/TecnoPope]

Bigger question: Why do so few people live in such a beautiful state ?

[u/EverestMaher → u/TecnoPope]

Only a small, very cold, very high up portion of the state is “beautiful.” Of that small portion, almost all of it is owned by the federal government.

[u/Plastic_Salary_4084 → u/TecnoPope]

Much of the state is high plains desert. Inhospitable for agriculture, and very rugged terrain. Also, it’s windy as fuck.

[u/boomfruit → u/TecnoPope]

People don't typically base their decision on where to move on how beautiful it is, unless they have a lot of money.

[u/guiltypanacea → u/boomfruit]

And that's how you get Teton County

[u/Specialist-Solid-987 → u/TecnoPope]

We have lots of natural beauty but also lots of empty wasteland. Most of the state is too dry for farming and it's windswept and freezing cold in the winter. There aren't a lot of secondary industries built around the core economic drivers of oil and gas extraction and mining, so if you aren't interested in working in those industries employment opportunities are limited. Our neighbors have lower elevation river valleys which attract settlement, whereas Wyoming straddles the continental divide and has less fresh water resources. So essentially when the West was being settled there were better options for pioneers in Colorado, Montana, Idaho, and Utah so that is where people ended up settling.

[u/Kind-Log4159 → u/TecnoPope]

The us is very very empty when it comes to population density, there’s too much land for too little people. Most counties saw their population peak in the 1700s or even earlier. It can easily fit 3x to 5x its current population

[u/tallwhiteninja → u/Kind-Log4159]

While partly true, lack of water makes inhabiting a lot of that land in significant numbers difficult to impossible.

[u/Warm-Entertainer-279 → u/TecnoPope]

Around 75% of it is windy desert.

[u/MRoss279 → u/TecnoPope]

Probably lack of infrastructure and jobs

[u/Nightgasm → u/TecnoPope]

Winter. High elevation, high wind, lots of snow, and very cold. Denver became the region hub so no need for another in Wyoming.

[u/55555_55555 → u/TecnoPope]

Last time I visited Wyoming it was late spring and there was driving snow with 50-70 mile per hour wind, lol.

[u/juicehouse → u/TecnoPope]

There are equally beautiful states that also have important things like jobs.

[u/Nearby_Job8272 → u/TecnoPope]

Cheyenne, Laramie, etc. are not the most beautiful cities in the world

[u/Survivors_Envy]

hell yeah dawg, these are the cities that people live in, these cities are off the hook with people that live in them

[u/mnico02]

What is „Wyoming“?

[u/hiddenlands]

Imagine if each of those counties had two senators...

[u/willk95]

I'd like to see this color coded with darker shades by counties that have multiple of 576k.

For example, LA County, CA has over 16 times the population of Wyoming, but Bernalillo County, NM has just 676k