Obviously if you were born in a state like New York, you have a better idea of the communities, however everybody thinks of NYC when they think New York. What state in the US is only relevant because of a single city? Ex. Seattle in Washington, Chicago in Illinois, to some degree LA in California

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  7. New York has the highest percentage of residents living in its’ most populous city. Alaska is second, with nearly 40% of the state living in Anchorage.

  8. Probably Nevada with Las Vegas. Not really the state’s fault that most of it is a desert that’s owned by the federal government.

  9. Minneapolis for Minnesota

    Omaha for Nebraska

    Oklahoma City for Oklahoma

    Boise for Idaho

    New Orleans for Louisiana

    Chicago for Illinois

    Indianapolis for Indiana

    Nowhere for Mississippi.

  10. I recently saw a news story about this. I don’t remember precise data, but basically if Illinois lost Chicago it would instantly become one of our poorest states in terms of economic output/production. Just the southern counties alone would rank only slightly better than American Samoa and Puerto Rico.

  11. Isn’t Providence literally larger than Rhode island?

    Like that has to be it right?

  14. Can you say more about what determines a state’s “relevance”? I think you are just gonna get a lot of comments about how Washington has a couple other large-ish cities and therefore Seattle is not an example. The idea that California is only “relevant” because of LA is kind of absurd. So I am not sure how to interpret your question.

  16. Anchorage aka Los Anchorage for Alaska … more than half the state lives here

  18. It’s a toss up between New York, Washington, maybe Oregon, Illinois, maybe nevada, Hawaii, Idaho, or maybe Utah

  21. Illinois has gotta be high on the list, if not number one. 12 million people in the state, 3 million in the city of Chicago alone. 65% of the population is in the immediate Chicago region, which is 6 out of 102 counties. The rest of the state is corn and small towns sprinkled about

  22. The top 3 counties in Indiana in terms of growth are Indianapolis/Marion County and two of the surrounding suburban counties. Much of the rest of the state is either losing population or, at best, stagnant. Unfortunately it isn’t even entirely an urban/rural thing either as most of The Region (Northwest Indiana/Chicago suburbs) are losing population too outside of Porter County. This state would be in much worse shape if it wasn’t for Indianapolis and its suburbs.

  24. 62% of Arizonans live in Maricopa County (metro Phoenix) and 73% of Nevadans live in Clark (Las Vegas) so I think it’s safe to say that those states would be much smaller without those cities drawing people in. Utah is a little less lopsided but around a third of the state lives in Salt Lake County (home to Salt Lake City)

  25. New Orleans, Louisiana.

    And to that end, Louisiana carries so much of the United States in terms of energy production.

  27. More than half of all Georgians live in the Extended Atlanta Universe. Without it, Georgia is a collection of smaller universes that probably could easily be integrated into other states.

  28. As an Illinoisan living in Chicago I can 100% answer this question. It is us!

    And I’m curious to see why you think California is carried by LA? I would say between them and Texas they are the states with the most major cities.

  29. Clark County in NV, which is essentially the Las Vegas metro area with a couple small town outliers, is 7% of the land mass, 73% of NV population

    Vegas being the iconic city it is, internationally even, I think they win this one

  30. Probably Las Vegas in Nevada, besides the Vegas metropolitan area and the Carson area, Nevada is desolate sparing a few tiny communities

  32. Probably Alaska, with Anchorage basically being everything.

    You listed California, which is probably the LEAST carried by a single city. Sure, LA is big. San Francisco/San Jose metro is the world’s tech capital. San Diego is a military hub with massive trade and biotech industries. Let’s not get started about how the Central Valley is one of the most important agricultural regions on Earth.

  34. It’s bizarre that you think California is even close to being an example of this.

  35. Georgia. Without Atlanta and it’s surrounding metro, Georgia would just be another Alabama.

  37. >to some degree LA in California

    Not really. The San Francisco Bay Area is important to the country as a whole, let alone for California.

  38. New Yorker here. I wouldn’t say NYC “Carries” me but it does make the rest of the state suffer since they control the whole state when it comes to politics. Of course they vote for whoever benefits them and them alone.

  41. Atlanta. 60% of the population lives in the Atlanta metropolitan area. It’s hugely important economically as a commercial airline hub. It is capable of hosting major world events like Olympics, World Cup, super bowls, etc….

  43. >A lot of people are wondering why California is on here, in places in East Asia like SK, LA is the most well known city in the state. Some people know about SF, Compton is non existent. People underestimate the global reach of Hollywood.

    Your edit is kind of funny. Like why did you call out Compton? That’s just a suburb of LA. This seems more a reflection of ignorance than any reasonable argument for California being among the states most dominated by a single city.

  44. Kind of surprised I’ve not seen Colorado (Denver) or Washington (Seattle). My vote goes for Chicago though.

  45. > People underestimate the global reach of Hollywood.

    how well known is “Silicon Valley?”

    wait until you learn where the website you’re asking this on is from

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