That’s because municipal boundaries are arbitrary, and a poor way to analyze human settlement patterns. Most of those small cities still lie within larger metro

That’s because municipal boundaries are arbitrary, and a poor way to analyze human settlement patterns. Most of those small cities still lie within larger metro areas. If you look at this list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area?wprov=sfti1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area?... 226 million people live in the 108 metro areas over 500k as of the 2020 census. Fairview NJ may “only” have a population of 15k, but that doesn’t mean it is too small for public transportation.