do other metro areas besides New York have accent variation within

[freepcrusher]

the area? As I just alluded to, New York has sort of an insider-outsider feel to it with Manhattan (and the parts of Brooklyn near Manhattan) being full of outsiders and with there being no accent. In Brooklyn and Queens - that's where you find much of the descendants of the population of New York City in 1950 and where you'll find the whole stereotypical New York accent.

My guess is that you'll see this in some southern metro areas. Like in Atlanta, I would say much of the descendants of the population that lived inside the 285 50-60 years ago have probably moved outside the 285 while the people living inside the 285 now are mostly from out-of-state. So in places like Cobb County you have what you call the "townies" - people who have lived in the metro area for at least three or more generations.

[Thunderbird is the word]

Boston has some accent variation I think along class lines.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Boston has some accent variation I think along class lines.

I think Cincinnati has this.

[Bismarck]

Indy is basically the transition point between southern tinged and slightly upper Midwestern accents so there is a decent mix here but not really in a way that could be mapped or anything.

[King of Kensington]

How about Westchester vs. Long Island?  That phenomenon may be going on there as well.  It seems that Manhattanites (whether or not native to NYC) tend to move to Westchester or to a lesser extent NJ - rather than LI if they move to the suburbs.  The same is true of those who relocate to the NYC area and head straight to the suburbs.  LI seems to have a more "insular" reputation, being made up people from Brooklyn and Queens and their descendants. 

[TJ in Oregon]

Cleveland has an east side vs. west side accent difference. It only comes up in a handful of words though, such as roof and Cuyahoga.

[King of Kensington]

I've heard the Cuyahoga River is said to be the border between the Northeast and Midwest.  Demographically there's a sort of logic to that (i.e. Jewish/Italian in the eastern suburbs, more Slavic in the western suburbs).

[DINGO Joe]

New Orleans has well-documented accent variation by neighborhood that is ancestral and not from new arrivals.  Also, pretty much any of the culturally Southern metros that have doubled in size since 1965 will have substantial accent variation by default.  But if Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Charlotte, etc. stopped growing rapidly, they would likely converge on a single local accent by the late 21st century, so I'm not sure they really count.

New Orleans is/was a port city with quite a few immigrants coming through, Italians , Irish, Germans, Slavs and even Islenos (Canary Islanders).  And, of course, the continental French and Cajuns were in and about the city.   The Italians became the dominant backbone of working class whites and their "Yat" accent remains most prominent and basically sounds like the lost tribe of Brooklyn with some locally added vocabulary. 

There also remains considerable differences in African-American accents in the city, with lighter skinned (Creole) having distinctive speech patterns compared to country delta African Americans who migrated to the metro as agriculture jobs dried up.  Personally, I played basketball in high school and the Creole A-A were easy to understand, one spoke whiter than I did, and one delta A-A teammate I played with for 4 years and still could only understand half of what he said.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

In Nashville, you have a big difference between upper-class Southern accents and lower-middle class Southern accents.  They are VERY different.  The same is mostly true around the South.  Plus, some people have more or less of an accent.

[Santander]

In Delaware, everyone at 7-11 and Dunkin' Donuts has a slight Indian accent.

[VPH]

There's a difference in accents in Wichita. If you look at Eastborough (super rich city within the city of Wichita), people there don't speak with much of an accent. However, both in blue collar areas and suburbs, you're more likely to hear an almost 'country' accent.