[crumpets]

>I personally appreciate the headline saying "town" in a colloquial sense

But that's the problem. It's not a "town" in a colloquial sense for anyone who grew up outside of major metro areas. If 170k is not enough, then there are no cities in Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, nor South Dakota.

[mrosett]

Well, I'm inclined to agree with that claim...

[kortilla]

And you would be wrong. There are many cities in those states that contain all of the components of larger cities (universities, self-governance, public transit, international airports, etc).

The difference between 100k and 1 million residents is much less significant than the difference between 10k and 100k.