You could do the same with LA. "Greater LA" also includes the Inland Empire, Orange County, Riverside/San Bernadino. Total population (according to Wikipedia) is around 18 million.
I agree that you can draw the line arbitrarily to support whichever city you prefer as "winning". My sense is that a) if the City of Los Angeles consolidated as NYC did over 100 years ago it would have the highest official population in the US, b) if you do a more fuzzy "metro area" analysis the result is up for grabs depending on how you choose to draw the borders.
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You could do the same with LA. "Greater LA" also includes the Inland Empire, Orange County, Riverside/San Bernadino. Total population (according to Wikipedia) is around 18 million.
I agree that you can draw the line arbitrarily to support whichever city you prefer as "winning". My sense is that a) if the City of Los Angeles consolidated as NYC did over 100 years ago it would have the highest official population in the US, b) if you do a more fuzzy "metro area" analysis the result is up for grabs depending on how you choose to draw the borders.