Comments on: Cities that span two or more states

Question: Cities that span two or more states

xmutex — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 10:54:38 -0800

I am trying to find a list of cities that span two or more states (e.g. Kansas City MO/KS). Anyone?

By: stupidsexyFlanders

stupidsexyFlanders — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:00:40 -0800

the quad cities (moline, rock island, bettendorf and ???) straddle the Mississippi, not sure if that counts. (illinois & iowa)

By: repoman

repoman — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:02:09 -0800

I might be wrong, but I think K.C KS & K.C MO are separate cities, if that makes a difference.

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:02:10 -0800

You may need to define what you mean by "city." Legally, Kansas City KS and Kansas City MO are two separate cities--each has its own mayor, etc. If you mean legal cities, there may not be any. On the other hand, there are many metropolitan areas which span more than one state, but that may be too broad of a definition.

By: trox

trox — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:04:56 -0800

Bristol TN/VA.

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:05:52 -0800

St. Louis, MO/IL
Memphis/West Memphis, TN/AR
Texarkana, TX/AR
Florala, FL/AL
Niagara, NY/Ontario

Istanbul spans two continents.

By: geoff.

geoff. — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:05:54 -0800

In the same state, St Louis goes both ways. Oddly their development is more east-west while Kansas City (due to early 20th Century development of Mission Hills, KS and the Plaza) moved north-south along the state line.

Does the DC/Virginia region count? I assume you realize that KCK and KCMO are the same in name and geographic proximity only.

By: geoff.

geoff. — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:08:34 -0800

If you mean legal cities, there may not be any.

There are none, in fact the Kansas City bistate tax was the first of its kind (to renovate the Union Station). This issue is really big in KC actually, as the wealth has generally moved to Kansas, which generally wants all the benefits of a large city but without the taxes and obligation. As of late the suburbs have even tried to compete with KC directly by proposing and building convention centers and courting minor league teams.

By: grabbingsand

grabbingsand — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:09:33 -0800

Augusta (GA) and North Augusta (SC) might as well be the same city.

By: COBRA!

COBRA! — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:15:42 -0800

If you're going by metro area, you can use Fargo-Moorhead (ND/MN), Duluth-Superior (MN/WI), and Omaha-Council Bluffs (NE/IA). You could even get crazy and run with International Falls-Fort Frances (MN/Ontario).

By: Netzapper

Netzapper — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:24:29 -0800

They aren't named the same, but one might consider Philadelphia/Camden a contiguous metro region separated only by water and the state line. Of course, you would consider it thus only if you were in Camden... Philadelphians pretty much ignore Camden other than to buy cheap(er) liquor and go to the aquarium.

By: mendel

mendel — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:25:16 -0800

Ottawa, ON and Hull/Gatineau, QC act like the rest of those even though their names don't correspond.

By: pieoverdone

pieoverdone — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:26:52 -0800

No, St. Louis does not expand over to Illinois. I suppose you could consider the Metro East Illinois area sort of a suburb, but in NO WAY is E. St. Louis part of St. Louis.

By: o2b

o2b — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:28:57 -0800

Lake Tahoe, NV/CA sits onthe border. On one side of the street is shops, on the other is casinos. I found it amusing.

By: sauril

sauril — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:34:38 -0800

Lloydminster Alberta/Saskatchewan is one city but, that's in Canada so I don't know if that counts.

By: myopicman

myopicman — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:38:08 -0800

Flin Flon, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

By: spilon

spilon — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:39:43 -0800

McCaysville GA and Copperhill TN are essentially the same city, except for the blue line painted diagonally across the street (and the IGA parking lot) which lets you know which side of the border you're on. That's important, 'cause you can only buy beer and fireworks on the TN side.

By: flipper

flipper — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:42:40 -0800

Since we haven't been very good at providing lists and instead just giving examples, I can join in the fun. I think that Lloydminster is the best Canadian example. It's on the border between Alberta and Saskatchewan, and according to the website, it's a single municipality and counted as a city in each province.

It's a specific point of pain for me, because the retail software I'm currently working on has to be compliant with different provincial legislations. The store in Lloydminster is a special case that often causes problems because of its unique location.

(On preview, beaten to the punch by Sauril. But mine has a link! Nyah!)

By: BT

BT — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:45:53 -0800

And yes, they are two separate cities, but Laredo, TX and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico form another border-crossing metropolitan area as well.

By: gnomeloaf

gnomeloaf — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:47:09 -0800

Delmar, Maryland/Delaware.

"Delmar is two incorporated towns: Delmar, Delaware, located in Sussex County and Delmar, Maryland located in Wicomico county. The towns share a central administration, police department, public works department, and sewer/water facilities which are jointly owned and operated."

By: neilkod

neilkod — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:02:15 -0800

Wendover, Utah
Wendover, Nevada

By: amarynth

amarynth — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:05:39 -0800

Williamson, WV and KY. Although I think technically, it might be South Williamson, KY.

By: ackptui

ackptui — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:07:06 -0800

Beloit WI / South Beloit IL

By: m@

m@ — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:08:34 -0800

Not what you're looking for but Weirton, West Virginia is a city that borders two states.

By: samw

samw — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:39:15 -0800

Newport, WA / Oldtown, ID

By: xmutex

xmutex — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:58:03 -0800

Sweet. Thanks. Keep 'em coming.

And no, I didn't realize KC, MO and KC, KS were really legally separate. Learn something new every day.

By: fixedgear

fixedgear — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 13:11:46 -0800

Texahoma, TX/OK.

By: duck

duck — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 14:29:49 -0800

I don't think Niagara Falls ON/NY should count because though they have the same name, and are located pretty much across the border from one another, they don't function as a single city the way that the other examples do.

By: ..ooOOoo....ooOOoo..

..ooOOoo....ooOOoo.. — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 14:38:31 -0800

New Pine Creek, Oregon...or California. It's kinda both.

By: luckypozzo

luckypozzo — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:55:48 -0800

Dubuque, Iowa
East Dubuque, Illinois

By: dilettante

dilettante — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 18:24:03 -0800

Bluefield, VA/WV

By: entropy

entropy — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 19:31:58 -0800

Las Vegas, New Mexico
Las Vegas, Nevada

By: entropy

entropy — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 20:29:31 -0800

Sorry, those 2 don't actually span states.

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 20:36:06 -0800

Minneapolis & St. Paul.

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 20:36:57 -0800

Oh, wait. That's not two states.

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 21:17:39 -0800

Geneva, Switzerland and Annemasse, France

Ha, two nation states!

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 22:44:19 -0800

Lake Tahoe, NV/CA sits onthe border. On one side of the street is shops, on the other is casinos. I found it amusing.

Not just that, but the California/Nevada border runs through the Calneva casino.

By: rob511

rob511 — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 02:11:26 -0800

A couple of notes on the above:
• Apparently, the town of Wendover (NV/UT) is an interesting example of states' rights in action. It is in an area where a variant form of Mormonism allowing polygamy is practiced sub rosa, and of course, Nevada allows gam-, er gambling while Utah most assuredly does not. There are six casinos on the Nevada side of town, and the bulk of their customers do not have Nevada license plates....
• Four Corners (AZ/CO/NM/UT) is more a geographical anomaly than a town, but there are buildings there, so perhaps it counts. (The site is within the Navajo Nation, and is administered by the tribe.)

By: Clay201

Clay201 — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 02:19:58 -0800

Georgia seems to be racking up an awful lot of these. Let me help...

Columbus, Georgia and Phenix City, Alabama.

By: Framer

Framer — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 03:28:22 -0800

If the towns are in two states they're going to be two different jurisdictions. For some federal purposes, however, something called a Metropolitan Statistical Area has been devised, that creates overlays that often straddle two (or more) states. The Bureau of the Census uses these, as does HUD. Sometimes they don't match, but that's another story.

Here's a .pdf from the Census that lists all Metropolitan Statistical Areas. A quick scroll down the list of names shows quite a few that have two states listed (Wilmington DE-MD-NJ).

By: pracowity

pracowity — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 11:27:26 -0800

I agree that you should take Niagara Falls off the list. We never considered the two places to be a single city. The main reason is that there's an international border between them that costs you time and money and a government inspection going and coming back every time you want to visit the other side, so you tend to stay where you are unless exchange rates make shopping on the other side too attractive to avoid. Also, Canadians and Americans don't exactly feel as if they're the same people who just happen to live on different sides of a line.

By: coolsara

coolsara — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 12:28:45 -0800

Nogales, Arizona, United States and
Nogales, Sonora, Mexico
are right across the line from one another

By: bright cold day

bright cold day — Sun, 28 Aug 2005 18:55:39 -0800

An Australian example: Albury, New South Wales and Wodonga, Victoria -- AKA Albury-Wodonga.