Other states with similar total populations, have similarly sized largest cities. The exception being Nevada and Las Vegas, but I think it is pretty obvious why that city is larger and the rest of the state is mostly empty. Also cities are pretty arbitrary in terms of size relative to their metro areas. Some take in much of the surrounding metro area and some metro areas are all divided up.


Nevada 2,700,551 Las Vegas 583,756
Utah 2,763,885 Salt Lake City 186,440
Kansas 2,853,118 Wichita 382,368
Arkansas 2,915,918 Little Rock 193,524
Mississippi 2,967,297 Jackson 173,514