Albuquerque, New Mexico

Baltimore (Penn Station), Maryland

Albuquerque ( AL-bə-kur-kee; Navajo: Beeʼeldííl Dahsinil [pèːʔèltíːl tɑ̀xsɪ̀nɪ̀l]; Eastern Keres: Arawageeki; Jemez: Vakêêke; Zuni: Alo:ke:k'ya; Jicarilla Apache: Gołgéeki'yé), also known locally as Duke City and abbreviated as ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico and the 32nd-most populous city in the United States, with a census-estimated population of 558,545 in 2017. It is the principal city of the Albuquerque metropolitan area, which has 915,927 residents as of July 2018. Albuquerque's Metropolitan statistical area is the 60th-largest in the United States. The Albuquerque MSA population includes the cities of Rio Rancho, Bernalillo, Placitas, Corrales, Los Lunas, Belen, and Bosque Farms, and forms part of the larger Albuquerque–Santa Fe–Las Vegas combined statistical area, with a total population of 1,171,991 in 2016. The city was named in honor of Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, 10th Duke of Alburquerque, who was Viceroy of New Spain from 1702 to 1711. The growing village was named by provincial governor Francisco Cuervo y Valdés. The Duke's title referred to the Spanish town of Alburquerque, in the province of Badajoz, near the border with Portugal. Albuquerque serves as the county seat of Bernalillo County, and is in north-central New Mexico. The Sandia Mountains run along the eastern side of Albuquerque, and the Rio Grande flows through the city. Albuquerque has one of the highest elevations of any major city in the U.S., ranging from 4,900 feet (1,490 m) above sea level near the Rio Grande to over 6,700 feet (1,950 m) in the foothill areas of Sandia Heights and Glenwood Hills. The civic apex is found in an undeveloped area within the Albuquerque Open Space; there, the terrain rises to an elevation of approximately 6880+ feet (2,097 m). Albuquerque is home to Kirtland Air Force Base, Sandia National Laboratories, the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History, Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, the University of New Mexico, Central New Mexico Community College, Presbyterian Medical Services, Presbyterian Health Services, the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque Biological Park, the Petroglyph National Monument, and the New Mexico Technology Corridor, a concentration of high-tech private companies and government institutions. Albuquerque is also the home of the International Balloon Fiesta, the world's largest gathering of hot-air balloons, taking place every October.Albuquerque and its metropolitan cities and municipalities constitute the southernmost end of the Southern Rocky Mountain Front megaregion of the United States. The population of this geographic region, which incorporates other major Mountain West cities such as Denver and Colorado Springs, is 5,467,633 according to the 2010 United States Census.

Baltimore ( BAWL-tim-or) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the 30th most populous city in the United States, with a population of 602,495 in 2018 and also the largest such independent city in the country. Baltimore was established by the Constitution of Maryland as an independent city in 1729. As of 2017, the population of the Baltimore metropolitan area was estimated to be just under 2.802 million, making it the 21st largest metropolitan area in the country. Baltimore is located about 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Washington, D.C., making it a principal city in the Washington-Baltimore combined statistical area (CSA), the fourth-largest CSA in the nation, with a calculated 2018 population of 9,797,063.Baltimore is also the second-largest seaport in the Mid-Atlantic. The city's Inner Harbor was once the second leading port of entry for immigrants to the United States. In addition, Baltimore was a major manufacturing center. After a decline in major manufacturing, heavy industry, and restructuring of the rail industry, Baltimore has shifted to a service-oriented economy. Johns Hopkins Hospital (founded 1889) and Johns Hopkins University (founded 1876) are the city's top two employers.With hundreds of identified districts, Baltimore has been dubbed a "city of neighborhoods." Famous residents have included writers Edgar Allan Poe, Edith Hamilton, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, Ogden Nash, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dashiell Hammett, Upton Sinclair, Tom Clancy, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and H. L. Mencken; musicians James "Eubie" Blake, Billie Holiday, Cab Calloway, Tori Amos, Frank Zappa, Tupac Shakur, Robbie Basho, Bill Frisell, Philip Glass, and Ric Ocasek; actors and filmmakers John Waters, Barry Levinson, Divine, David Hasselhoff, Don Messick, John Kassir, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Mo'Nique; artist Jeff Koons; baseball player Babe Ruth; swimmer Michael Phelps; radio host Ira Glass; Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall; Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi; and United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson. During the War of 1812, Francis Scott Key wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner" in Baltimore after the bombardment of Fort McHenry. His poem was set to music and popularized as a song; in 1931 it was designated as the American national anthem.Baltimore has more public statues and monuments per capita than any other city in the country, and is home to some of the earliest National Register Historic Districts in the nation, including Fell's Point, Federal Hill, and Mount Vernon. These were added to the National Register between 1969 and 1971, soon after historic preservation legislation was passed. Nearly one third of the city's buildings (over 65,000) are designated as historic in the National Register, which is more than any other U.S. city. According to FBI data from 2017, Baltimore had a per capita murder rate of 55.8 per 100,000 population.