New York City / Mexico City

[SoothingDave]

I went to high school in a place called Harrison City, but it is not even a "city" in the legal sense of the word. It is a village in a township. Local government was by the township.

[milan2003_07]

There is no logic.

You are right that, in general what one would call a "town" is smaller than what one would call a "city." But that's only in general.

In my experience in the US, a "city" is a legal entity. A town is not. A township is. A borough is. A village isn't.

But how can it happen that a city's population proves to be smaller than a town's one? Or maybe the status of the town was awarded when the population was small and when it had increased this status wasn't changed? Otherwise it's hard to understand what's the difference between "city" and "town" in practice.

By the way in Russian we have only word to speak about both a city and a town. This noun doesn't at all distinguish between the two. However this doesn't prevent us understanding whether we're speaking about a small or a big place. Of course specification is needed, but still there exists only one word for both types of residential areas.

[SoothingDave]

What I am saying is that in the US "town" has no legal definition. It has no population.

My home state is divided into counties. Each county is further divided into cities, townships and boroughs.

Your local government, the organization that runs your police and writes laws is either a township, a borough or a city. Nobody lives in a "town." The word is used to describe settlements of various sizes. Places have "downtown" areas. A person might say they live "two towns over."

But as far as government goes there are no "towns."

Townships are large in area and tend to be less populous. As settlements grow in townships, they can become self-governing apart from their originating township. They usually become boroughs. If they continue to grow they may become legally cities.

That is the legal definition.

Now in the use of language any type of settlement may become known as Carson City or Cape Town. I could say I was going into town to see a football game. Or I could say I was going to the city.

But in general, one thinks of a town as smaller than a city. But names are names. They do stick to areas early on in their development.

So my advice is to not get to worried about the names places have. If a large place has "town" in its name, or a small place "city" don't fret. This is natural.

[milan2003_07]

That's interesting, but I wonder if it's the same in England.

[SoothingDave]

I'm sure it's not.

[milan2003_07]

I'm sure it's not.

Well, we need some BE speaker to confirm this. Who knows, probably they say in a similar or the same way.

[5jj]

That's interesting, but I wonder if it's the same in England.

In the United Kingdom (UK), a city is a town which has been known as a city since time immemorial or which has received city status by letters patent—which are normally granted on the basis of: Population (>300,000), metropolitan character, governance, importance and / or a Royal connection. Prior to 1907 the criteria was simply the establishment of a new Anglican Cathedral.

From: City - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[SoothingDave]

Certainly that is how "townships" were laid out during the initial westward expansion (into Ohio, for example). But my home state of PA has townships that are in no way square or regular.

Many other states are governed locally by county government directly in any "unincorporated" areas.