cross-posted from: https://lemmy.skoops.social/post/727
crossposted: https://lemmy.skoops.social/post/665
Oh boy...
this post was submitted on 27 May 2025
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Usually this is because the capital doesn't generally change over time while the relative size of cities often does, especially on the scale of a century or more.
That's completely wrong. Many states moved their capital away from population centers on the coast into more geographically central locations inland. Other states deliberately planned their capitals to be in central locations when it was already clear where the population centers were going to be.
If anything the capital city only grows and becomes the population center. Population never drifts away from the capital.
Tell that to Albany, NY. Population is about 1.2% of NYC.
Or to Sacramento, CA which is the fourth largest city in the state.
Then there are states where the population doesn't really concentrate like that, like WV. Biggest city is the capital, but that's not saying much. That's largely a result of the geography, where most of the state is forested mountains, with people wherever there's a flat spot. It's beautiful, but wildly impractical for large population centers. The only reason Charleston is still the biggest city is the three-way interstate junction that meets at it, and that's thanks to Robert C Byrd using his influence to help his constituents.
What point of mine are you trying to refute here? Sacramento and Albany were never the population centers of their states as your theory suggests. They were selected because of their central geographic location as with the vast majority of US state capitals.
Its like your hung up on me saying "population drifts towards the capital" because it generally does but rarely overcomes any major metropol on the coast.