Took a stab at Illinois. Struggled with Rockford vs Springfield vs Champaign-Urbana, on whether they are urban or mini metros. Mostly based on my own perceptions, I determined Rockford (Winnebago County) to be urban and Springfield (Sangamon County) and Champaign just barely miss the cut. With all the new high rises in Champaign as well as the fairly dense downtown core, I could definitely see the argument for urban though. I'm somewhat comfortable leaving Sangamon as a mini metro.
I don't have the minimum number of posts to link a photo, so here's the url:
ibb.co/e0KiyF
I know there are some arbitrary constraints with this, but it's weird to see Rockford considered urban...
... while Peoria is not:
Yeah I see where you're coming from. Although I always thought the Peoria skyline pic was a bit deceiving about Peoria. Having spent a bit of time there, I never though it felt urban at all. They have some large buildings that make it look more urban than it really is in photos, again, in my opinion. On the ground, I actually think Champaign is easily more urban.
Rockford I've only driven through so I don't know much about it. Based on its size and maybe a subconscious bias about it being in northern IL rather than central, I labeled it urban. But I'd be way more likely to move it down to mini metro than bump Peoria up to urban.
