I went ahead a put the 49k figure back in, what made me take it out before is that I've been burnt by population figures on city websites in the past, they typically round up and include any surrounding municipalities.  But if you say its reliable  
 I'll trust you.  We might be better off with a figure though in some sort of city report 'not meant for public eyes.'  As far as the city swelling to 270,000, that fact seems to be pure PR by the Joplin City chamber of commerce, there may be some population increase, but the labor force isn't even that big in the whole 9-county area of southwest Missouri: http://ded.mo.gov/researchandplanning/regional/southwest/index.stm.  When I've been to Joplin it certainly looks a bit bigger than you might expect a 50,000 person town to look, but its not 100,000 people bigger than Springfield.  The 40-mile radius that the website also gives is kinda misleading, as 40 miles is all the way to Arkansas,  and a third of the way to KC.  Thoughts?   |