Camel humps past bull in size of cities.

• Position: Triad

The rivalry between Durham and Winston-Salem is nothing new. The two cities once dominated the U.S. tobacco industry, with American Tobacco Co. in Durham squaring off against--and for a time controlling--R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in the Twin City. Durham no longer has any major tobacco operations, but the competition continues. Both cities have well-respected private universities, Duke in Durham and Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, and major medical centers. Durham is part of the state's high-tech hotbed, while both are pushing for biotechnology supremacy.

Since 2000, they also have been battling to determine which is the state's fourth-largest city--behind Charlotte, Raleigh and Greensboro--swapping the lead three times in yearly Census Bureau estimates. The most recent came early this year, after Winston--Salem appealed the 2007 estimate, issued in mid-2008. It claimed the bureau hadn't counted an annexation completed in 2006, along with some new subdivisions. In January, the bureau added 8, 184 residents to the city's total, pushing its population to 223, 532 and past Durham's 217, 847.

There's more to it than pride, Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines says. "The concern we have is that a lot of funding is tied to population. We wanted to have an accurate count of the number of folks that...