Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You're correct but unrealistic homers always amuse me. If Chicago can say Houston isn't in their league, then LA & NYC can say Chicago isn't in their league.
In what ways are Chicago and Houston similar? Do a US tier list, you wont have Houston and Chicago in the same section.
I don't know what criteria you're looking for, and not a slight against Chicago, but I would certainly call them peer cities by many metrics.
Both have similar population levels (Chicago a bit more). They, along with the metro areas, have comparable GDPs (again Chicago a bit more). O'Hare and Bush have similar daily flight numbers (yet again Chicago a bit more). Both have comparable amounts of manufacturing. Energy is Houston's dominant industry; I'm guessing finance for Chicago? Houston obviously has a significant medical, research, and biotech community; frankly I don't know how Chicago compares there. Tourism, at least pre-Covid, Chicago more than doubles Houston.
And if Philly is considered a peer city, then I would include Miami for sure. Their international investment and tourism alone...
I don't know what criteria you're looking for, and not a slight against Chicago, but I would certainly call them peer cities by many metrics.
Both have similar population levels (Chicago a bit more). They, along with the metro areas, have comparable GDPs (again Chicago a bit more). O'Hare and Bush have similar daily flight numbers (yet again Chicago a bit more). Both have comparable amounts of manufacturing. Energy is Houston's dominant industry; I'm guessing finance for Chicago? Houston obviously has a significant medical, research, and biotech community; frankly I don't know how Chicago compares there. Tourism, at least pre-Covid, Chicago more than doubles Houston.
And if Philly is considered a peer city, then I would include Miami for sure. Their international investment and tourism alone...
Dallas and Atlanta, I'd agree.
Chicago Metro pop - 9.7 million
Houston Metro pop - 7 million
Chicago has almost 3 million more people, thats more than a BIT more.
Chicago GDP - 714 billion
Houston GDP - 489 billion
O'hare is the 3rd busiest in the nation, Bush isn't even top 10.
Houston's economy is dominated by oil/energy. Chicago has the most diverse economy IN THE COUNTRY. Also Chicago has the most Fortune 500 companies outside of New York.
Who the hell visits Houston? LMAO. Pre-covid, Chicago was breaking records YEARLY for tourists. Our downtown is beautiful unlike the dump that is downtown Houston. Houston tourism numbers in the gutter. Visitors don't want to see a city that is 99% surface parking lots, parking garages, power lines, feeder roads, vacant lots, ugly buildings, and strip malls. Chicago is world-renowned for its architecture. The city has arguably the best urban planning in the country with the most alleys of any city in America. This is why Chicago is one of the most cleanest major cities and is far more clean looking than NY or LA. The architectural boat tour was named the most popular tour in THE COUNTRY.
Chicagoans don't think about Houston. We're looking at New York, LA, Boston, SF, DC, etc. as our competition. Oh and one last thing. Chicago is 234 sq miles. Houston is 665 sq miles, almost triple. Chicago is far more dense and urban, Houston is constructed like a suburb. Name 1 tourist attraction in Houston...I'll wait... Houston is a city people move to for cheap housing and jobs, THATS IT. Chicago is actually a destination city that has a plethora of amenities to offer. The beach by Houston (Galveston) is disgusting and brown. Chicago has beautiful blue Lake Michigan right there.
Does Houston have dense urban neighborhoods like Wicker Park or Lakeview? Houston's most urban neighborhood, Montrose, is filled with surface parking and one story buildings. Oak Park and Evanston, two Chicago suburbs, look far more urban than Montrose. Houston peers are Atlanta, Dallas, and Phoenix, not Chicago.
The only thing I agree with you on is Miami being a peer city. Beautiful city, probably the best in the south. But yeah, as you can see, Chicago is on a whole nother level.
Oh, and one last thing, Houston is experiencing the biggest surge in crime of any city in America right now. It's head to head with Chicago for murders right now. Just wanted to point that out, everybody know Chicago has a crime problem, but of course with Houston this is barely being discussed on the media (can't say a city in a conservative state is dangerous, lol...)
Houston's economy is dominated by oil/energy. Chicago has the most diverse economy IN THE COUNTRY. Also Chicago has the most Fortune 500 companies outside of New York.
Who the hell visits Houston? LMAO. Pre-covid, Chicago was breaking records YEARLY for tourists. Our downtown is beautiful unlike the dump that is downtown Houston. Houston tourism numbers in the gutter. Visitors don't want to see a city that is 99% surface parking lots, parking garages, power lines, feeder roads, vacant lots, ugly buildings, and strip malls. Chicago is world-renowned for its architecture. The city has arguably the best urban planning in the country with the most alleys of any city in America. This is why Chicago is one of the most cleanest major cities and is far more clean looking than NY or LA. The architectural boat tour was named the most popular tour in THE COUNTRY.
Chicagoans don't think about Houston. We're looking at New York, LA, Boston, SF, DC, etc. as our competition. Oh and one last thing. Chicago is 234 sq miles. Houston is 665 sq miles, almost triple. Chicago is far more dense and urban, Houston is constructed like a suburb. Name 1 tourist attraction in Houston...I'll wait... Houston is a city people move to for cheap housing and jobs, THATS IT. Chicago is actually a destination city that has a plethora of amenities to offer. The beach by Houston (Galveston) is disgusting and brown. Chicago has beautiful blue Lake Michigan right there.
Does Houston have dense urban neighborhoods like Wicker Park or Lakeview? Houston's most urban neighborhood, Montrose, is filled with surface parking and one story buildings. Oak Park and Evanston, two Chicago suburbs, look far more urban than Montrose. Houston peers are Atlanta, Dallas, and Phoenix, not Chicago.
The only thing I agree with you on is Miami being a peer city. Beautiful city, probably the best in the south. But yeah, as you can see, Chicago is on a whole nother level.
Oh, and one last thing, Houston is experiencing the biggest surge in crime of any city in America right now. It's head to head with Chicago for murders right now. Just wanted to point that out, everybody know Chicago has a crime problem, but of course with Houston this is barely being discussed on the media (can't say a city in a conservative state is dangerous, lol...)
Houston is narrowing the gap in population, but realistically, I think Chicago is a tier (or half or whatever) above on whatever global city criteria (which varies of course).
Yeah Houston still needs a couple more million people to catch up to Chicago (And chicago is growing now, no more declining) but besides population, chicago is in a whole nother tier.
I compared the cost of living versus the average income and Chicago does win out over the cities you mentioned, especially over NYC. But it would lose the same "bargain" comparison with Dallas and Houston.
For me, where I used to live (Seattle), has a higher income to cost, much prettier, less crime, and a much better climate than Chicago and is a much better bargain even if it's not considered a "World Class city."
We have good friends from the UK that just visited Chicago and will be visiting us for a week starting Tuesday, I'll solicit their opinion of Chicago other than it was "bloody cold."
So you resurrected this thread just to slam Chicago? Have them visit you in July and August in Phoenix and then see what they say other than "unbearable and hot". At least Chicago is world class. BYW it is 41 tomorrow and 51 on Wednesday here.
Houston's economy is dominated by oil/energy. Chicago has the most diverse economy IN THE COUNTRY. Also Chicago has the most Fortune 500 companies outside of New York.
Who the hell visits Houston? LMAO. Pre-covid, Chicago was breaking records YEARLY for tourists. Our downtown is beautiful unlike the dump that is downtown Houston. Houston tourism numbers in the gutter. Visitors don't want to see a city that is 99% surface parking lots, parking garages, power lines, feeder roads, vacant lots, ugly buildings, and strip malls. Chicago is world-renowned for its architecture. The city has arguably the best urban planning in the country with the most alleys of any city in America. This is why Chicago is one of the most cleanest major cities and is far more clean looking than NY or LA. The architectural boat tour was named the most popular tour in THE COUNTRY.
Chicagoans don't think about Houston. We're looking at New York, LA, Boston, SF, DC, etc. as our competition. Oh and one last thing. Chicago is 234 sq miles. Houston is 665 sq miles, almost triple. Chicago is far more dense and urban, Houston is constructed like a suburb. Name 1 tourist attraction in Houston...I'll wait... Houston is a city people move to for cheap housing and jobs, THATS IT. Chicago is actually a destination city that has a plethora of amenities to offer. The beach by Houston (Galveston) is disgusting and brown. Chicago has beautiful blue Lake Michigan right there.
Does Houston have dense urban neighborhoods like Wicker Park or Lakeview? Houston's most urban neighborhood, Montrose, is filled with surface parking and one story buildings. Oak Park and Evanston, two Chicago suburbs, look far more urban than Montrose. Houston peers are Atlanta, Dallas, and Phoenix, not Chicago.
The only thing I agree with you on is Miami being a peer city. Beautiful city, probably the best in the south. But yeah, as you can see, Chicago is on a whole nother level.
Oh, and one last thing, Houston is experiencing the biggest surge in crime of any city in America right now. It's head to head with Chicago for murders right now. Just wanted to point that out, everybody know Chicago has a crime problem, but of course with Houston this is barely being discussed on the media (can't say a city in a conservative state is dangerous, lol...)
This is a good point. "Big city bad" has been a staple at Fox News and with other conservative commentators since at least the early 2000s. And probably longer. That's just when I first started noticing it. The moral of the story is always "see, this is what Democrats will do to you if you don't keep voting for us!" And sadly, implicit in that also is that "you should move to non diverse areas to get away from Them."
So because Texas is a Republican state (for now anyway), I'm not surprised that you don't hear much about Houston's issues. Doesn't fit into any active narrative. But this being said, Chicago is certainly giving Fox News a lot of fodder. We're practically writing the stories for them. Whether Houston is technically worse or not sort of doesn't matter.
This is a good point. "Big city bad" has been a staple at Fox News and with other conservative commentators since at least the early 2000s. And probably longer. That's just when I first started noticing it. The moral of the story is always "see, this is what Democrats will do to you if you don't keep voting for us!" And sadly, implicit in that also is that "you should move to non diverse areas to get away from Them."
So because Texas is a Republican state (for now anyway), I'm not surprised that you don't hear much about Houston's issues. Doesn't fit into any active narrative. But this being said, Chicago is certainly giving Fox News a lot of fodder. We're practically writing the stories for them. Whether Houston is technically worse or not sort of doesn't matter.
I agree. Although most of the crime in Chicago occurs in a handful of neighborhoods on the south/west sides, the level of crime and violence in this city is still at disgusting levels, definitely not defending that. This time next year, (HOPEFULLY) we should have a new mayor who could steer things in the right direction.
But like you said, Chicago (and other democrat cities like SF, Philly, LA, New York) have become punching bags for the right meanwhile a city in one of their dear republican states had the highest increase of crime of any city in America and of course its crickets from them...
Overall, I just wish for a more peaceful city and country...stop killing and robbing each other, we should be helping build each other up.
I agree. Although most of the crime in Chicago occurs in a handful of neighborhoods on the south/west sides, the level of crime and violence in this city is still at disgusting levels, definitely not defending that. This time next year, (HOPEFULLY) we should have a new mayor who could steer things in the right direction.
But like you said, Chicago (and other democrat cities like SF, Philly, LA, New York) have become punching bags for the right meanwhile a city in one of their dear republican states had the highest increase of crime of any city in America and of course its crickets from them...
Overall, I just wish for a more peaceful city and country...stop killing and robbing each other, we should be helping build each other up.
Our current Mayor and especially our States Attorney need to go. I am still baffled that Foxx got voted back in. The restorative justice concept cannot work in our current climate, which the knuckleheads of this school seem to be now acknowledging (albeit temporarily for election purposes). We need to get back to law and order and letting our police do their jobs.
The problem we tend to have is too many candidates and it ends up diluting the vote coupled with low turnout. Fox News and their supporters love to talk about how we voted in Lightfoot but she actually only got 17.5% of the vote in the first round, with a poor 35% turnout. I really hope this time is different.
If you want to ignore cities in North America that are outside the U.S. but don't support your premise (Toronto and MC), then so be it.
I'm personally not a big fan of Texas cities, but there's no denying that Dallas-Ft.Worth (~2.2 million combined) with a modestly smaller population than Chicago anchoring a modestly smaller metro area in population (~7.5 million), are still hugely important players on the national level and (emerging more and more) on the international level (last time I checked Dallas was listed as the highest-level beta city). Dallas (and Texas, for that matter) absolutely conjure an iconic image of cowboy Americana around the world.
I love Chicago and think it's a great city, but I think it's clear your argument about Chicago being a special metropolis inland and away from the coasts (which isn't exactly true given it's connection via the Great Lakes) making it unique isn't true in North America (see e.g., TO and MC). Given the massive growth in Dallas, and the likelihood that it will reach the same stature as Chicago on the metro level in the near decades, will also make your argument untrue within the U.S.
I just wonder whether these overly ebullient posts aren't really doing Chicago a disservice, as they paint a picture of "everything is peachy keen; nothing is wrong in the Windy City; we are a unique metropolis unto ourselves while maintaining affordability and keeping parity among our peers (which isn't really true)."
I don't know...maybe I'm being to harsh on Chicago or on you...but I just rarely see a post by you that truly acknowledges Chicago has issues and that continuing the status quo won't continue Chicago's dominance over middle America nor will it sustain Chicago's greatness further into the 21st century.
Lol...was reading through this thread and man are people reaching. Dallas has like 20 suburbs competing with it for business, relocations, recreation, etc. It will never be Chicago. Chicago doesnt have that problem with competing suburbs, Downtown Chicago is the core. And besides that, anybody who lived/visited both cities will let you know these 2 cities are nothing alike.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
