Where It’s At: Walking the perimeter of this city = Walking from Philadelphia to Denver

If you were to walk the perimeter of this U.S. city’s city limits, you would cover 1,562 miles (2,513 km), which is roughly the same distance as walking from Philadelphia to Denver.*

Here’s what that distance looks like:

And the answer is:

Well, of course, Houston.  Isn’t everything big in Texas?  The city covers an area of 672 square miles (1,739 sq km), and all those little (big) tendrils shown by the dark blue lines above make its perimeter add up to this whopping 1,562 miles!  Want to zoom in and see the details?  Explore the city limits of Houston here.

So, Houston takes the prize for the longest perimeter of any city in the United States.  If you’re curious, #2 is Buckeye, AZ at 646 miles (1,039 km), and #3 is Charleston, SC at 619 miles (997 km).

Bonus trivia:  If Houston has the longest perimeter, does it also have the largest area?  

No.   That distinction goes to Jacksonville, FL at 875 square miles (2,265 sq km).  (If you include boroughs in this calculation, the winner is Sitka, AK at 2,870 sq mi of land area (7,433 sq km))

Want to explore your city?  Check out the What City Am I In? tool on this website.

* this is the “as the crow flies” distance from Philadelphia to Denver.  If you were to actually walk from Philadelphia towards Denver along legal routes, according to Google Maps, you’d make it to about the eastern border of Colorado.