MY TOP 15 NEW ENGLAND CITIES

Boston, Hartford, Providence, New Haven, Stamford, Worcester, Portland, Springfield. Metro area definition with quantity of people who do business in a city core is highly important. Springfield's metro area is a little bigger than Portland's (692,000 compared to 519,000) but lags far behind in visitors. And core city size is not nearly as important. Otherwise, El Paso, Texas is a bigger city than Boston or Miami. And the exciting newcomer is definitely Portland with its substantial new development on the waterfront including new headquarters for WEX, Inc., a billion dollar revenue international company. Moreover, Portland has impressive tourism along with insane numbers of cruise ship passengers scheduled this summer and fall. Far more than any of these cities save Boston. I don't even recognize it from ten years ago, like Nashville. And Boston in 2019 going up a level with new Wynn Casino, The Hub on Causeway, Four Seasons Tower (and area), Seaport District additions.
 
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Boston, Cambridge, Salem, Portland, Providence, Burlington (VT), Portsmouth, Lowell, Worcester.

Sorry but I don't like CT.
 
tysmith95 said:
Boston, Cambridge, Salem, Portland, Providence, Burlington (VT), Portsmouth, Lowell, Worcester.

Sorry but I don't like CT.
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I kinda agree. Economy faltering and GE left for Boston.
 
TC_zoid said:
Boston, Hartford, Providence, New Haven, Stamford, Worcester, Portland, Springfield. Metro area definition with quantity of people who do business in a city core is highly important. Springfield's metro area is a little bigger than Portland's (692,000 compared to 519,000) but lags far behind in visitors. And core city size is not nearly as important. Otherwise, El Paso, Texas is a bigger city than Boston or Miami. And the exciting newcomer is definitely Portland with its substantial new development on the waterfront including new headquarters for WEX, Inc., a billion dollar revenue international company. Moreover, Portland has impressive tourism along with insane numbers of cruise ship passengers scheduled this summer and fall. Far more than any of these cities save Boston. I don't even recognize it from ten years ago, like Nashville. And Boston in 2019 going up a level with new Wynn Casino, The Hub on Causeway, Four Seasons Tower (and area), Seaport District additions.
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As we recently discussed in the "Portland, ME New Construction" thread, the amount of development going on in Portland right now surpasses any other city in New England outside of Boston. I would say that Portland is well on its way to becoming New England's "second city"
 
As big of a fan as I am of Portland, I think it has a long way to go to obtain the same national clout as Providence, Hartford, New Haven, Worcester and Springfield. These are classic New England legacy cities with population bases that Portland will never achieve due to small (23 sq mi) city limits.

I am onboard in the belief that metropolitan (CSA) populations are now becoming a more realistic snapshot of an urban center's size and importance due to the unequal variations in city limit counts across the country. Cities to the south and west traditionally have much larger land areas and many have combined city and county populations due to aggressive annexation. No chance with this happening in Greater Portland.

I'm content with Portland competing with Manchester for the hub of Northern New England which has become more of a toss up over the past decade. It's interesting that Providence, Hartford, Worcester, Bridgeport, New Haven, Stamford and Springfield are so similar in size and regional importance!
 
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Portlander said:
As big of a fan as I am of Portland, I think it has a long way to go to obtain the same national clout as Providence, Hartford, New Haven, Worcester and Springfield. These are classic New England legacy cities with population bases that Portland will never achieve due to small (23 sq mi) city limits.

I am onboard in the belief that metropolitan (CSA) populations are now becoming a more realistic snapshot of an urban center's size and importance due to the unequal variations in city limit counts across the country. Cities to the south and west traditionally have much larger land areas and many have combined city and county populations due to aggressive annexation. No chance with this happening in Greater Portland.

I'm content with Portland competing with Manchester for the hub of Northern New England which has become more of a toss up over the past decade, It's interesting that Providence, Hartford, Worcester, Bridgeport, New Haven, Stamford and Springfield are so similar in size and regional importance!
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I have spent at least ninety percent of my time over the last 20 years in either L.A. or New York City, of which has given me a rather "best of" of experience. I can assure you on this list the only cities that can surpass or compete with Portland in things cultural (rest., bars, music, museums, etc.) are Boston and Providence. I've taken clients from L.A. and NYC to Portland and they can't believe it. Manchester, Springfield or Worcester? They would fire me. Ha. And Portland recently opened two modern F.B.O.'s at its airport. These cater to the private jet crowd (I've seen over 30 private jets parked at the airport). That metric says a lot. It's where the rich and powerful want to be. And Portland gets substantially more visitors than those cities. In fact, only Boston and its areas have more hotel rooms than Portland and its. That's another key metric for a city -- who uses it if even for only a short stay. Manchester? Really? You gotta get out more, bro.
 
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Interesting perspective and refreshing to hear. Not in my nature to go against accolades involving my hometown and Portland has had it's share of them during the past two decades. And bro, I do get out often and was actually walking down Elm Street along with a visit to the Mall of New Hampshire last month : )
 
My favorite New England cities are 1.Portland, ME 2.Boston 3. Worcester 4.Burlington VT 5.Providence 6.Hartford, CT 6.Gloucester MA 7.Portsmouth NH 8.Concord NH 9.Manchester NH 10.Springfield MA

I currently live in Manchester NH. This city does have character and some culture but would love to have same vibe and pedestrian traffic as Portland. Portland has a West coast feel and is unlike any other city in the North East. It is definitely feels more urban and busy than Manchester. Manchester wishes it could really be "Manchvegas" not a bore.
 
Seanflynn78 said:
My favorite New England cities are 1.Portland, ME 2.Boston 3. Worcester 4.Burlington VT 5.Providence 6.Hartford, CT 6.Gloucester MA 7.Portsmouth NH 8.Concord NH 9.Manchester NH 10.Springfield MA

I currently live in Manchester NH. This city does have character and some culture but would love to have same vibe and pedestrian traffic as Portland. Portland has a West coast feel and is unlike any other city in the North East. It is definitely feels more urban and busy than Manchester. Manchester wishes it could really be "Manchvegas" not a bore.
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My understanding is that Manchester is "best in show", or at least tied with Lowell, when it comes to a faded Merrimack Valley milltown having aggressively restored/renovated its old textile factories from their 1970s broken windows abyss to modern "live/work/play" lofts for the yuppies. But even with that, it will probably always suffer--unfairly?--for being less "pristine" and bucolic and less of a gateway to the White & Green Mountains than Concord (surely it has some advantage for being at the I-89/I-93 junction). The opiod crisis surely ain't helped in with Manchester's image, either--even if Concord has perhaps suffered as proportionately/severely. And admittedly Concord's downtown is so charmingly walkable--even moreso than Elm St. in Manchester, perhaps-- culminating in the incredibly intimate scale and grace of the Capitol. But in which city is the Merrimack River's course more appealing and is the overall riverway urban fabric more delightful? I'd argue Manchester for having the Amoskeag Falls thundering through and that pretty drive up the west bank on I-293 and those pedestrian bridges...
 
tobyjug said:
Barb, don't know about Stamford: is it nice? Haven't stopped in years, looks blah from the highway when pressing the accelerator to makeup for time lost (or about to be lost) in the New Haven- Bridgeport miasma.
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I'd say it's pretty nice. Definitely the fastest developing city in CT with the most amount of genuinely urban development. Of course the architecture leaves a little to be desired but I think it's the only smaller New England city genuinely building highrises. New Haven is my "favorite" CT city but not my "top" as it has been pretty stagnant for a while.

I'm not too familiar with Northern New England. Should definitely check out Manchester, Portland, and Burlington (if I get up there).
 
tysmith95 said:
I mean they have some nice suburbs, but most of their cities are shitholes.
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Ehh, I'm inclined to agree, but New Haven is pretty nice. Norwalk is improving rapidly too. Also I'd say Massachusetts has nicer suburbs on average, but some individual towns in Fairfield County are among the top worldwide.
 
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