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This has the potential to be educating for us all. So hear me out.
First of all I want to avoid wasting time so listen, the US is great for what all 50 states contribute to it, and all that. I acknowledge that, I guess.
Now lets start this thing. Remove the 5 largest states in the US and the 5 largest economies and by default that will also eliminate their cities from the question so NYC, LA, Chicago, the Bay, Dallas, Houston, Miami, San Diego, Tampa, Orlando, San Antonio, Sacramento, Austin, El Paso, Jacksonville, Fresno, Bakersfield, yada yada, etc etc are all out of the US in this equation. Actually lets add Chicago metro parts of WI, NYC metro parts of CT, NYC metro parts of NJ, and Chicago metro parts of IN to the remove list since NYC and Chicago have suburbs dependent on them in those states.
That leaves the US's largest metros as these
Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, DC-MD-VA-WV CSA 8,718,083
Boston-Worcester-Manchester, MA-RI-NH CSA 7,601,061
Philadelphia-Camden-Vineland, PA-NJ-DE-MD CSA 6,562,287
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Gainesville, GA-AL CSA 5,712,148
Detroit-Warren-Flint, MI CSA 5,207,434
Seattle-Tacoma-Olympia, WA CSA 4,269,349
Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ MSA 4,263,236
Minneapolis-St. Paul-St. Cloud, MN-WI CSA 3,655,558
Denver-Aurora-Boulder, CO CSA 3,157,520
I didn't list anything smaller than Denver but you're welcome to use them if you want.
Their sizes will remain as they appear here, that is not up for debate, but their roles to the US have changed now.
Some questions
With the Bay as the US's tech capital and now gone, which remaining metro takes over as the US's new tech capital? Seattle? Boston? Pick only 1
LA as US's Hollywood now gone, which of the remaining metro takes over as the new Hollywood? Atlanta? DC? Pick only 1
NYC as the US's finance hub gone, which remaining metro takes over as the US's lead financial hub? Boston? DC? Phily? Pick only 1.
Chicago as the US's largest intermodal port gone, which remaining metro takes over as the US's largest intermodal port? Atlanta? Denver?
Houston and Dallas as the US's #1 and #2 energy cities gone, which remaining metro takes over as the US's energy capital? New Orleans? OKC? Tulsa?
Miami the US gateway to Latin banks and culture gone, which remaining metro takes over as the US's gateway to the Latin world?
With the 5 largest states gone and their cities removed from the US, as well as their suburbs in states like WI, CT, NJ, and IN also gone the half of the US's 14 largest cities have disappeared leaving roles for remaining cities in the US to fill. Well lets get it started, what cities will inherit what responsibilities? What city will be seen as the country's premier city?
D.C. would become the premier city of the country.
As much as I hate Seattle and saying anything good about it, it will become the tech capital of the country. Boston will become the financial capital. Atlanta will become the logistics capital and the country's Hollywood. I dont know what cities could fill the shoes of Miami, Houston, and Dallas. Maybe Philly the new energy capital? Because they're the largest refining center left.
You forgot to ask whose taking over the Mickey Mouse responsibilities with Orlando and OC gone. LOL
Man this really goes to show how much weaker the country becomes without its 5 largest and most prominent states. The slump is enough to drag us behind China but the US would still have an impressive count of cities.
D.C. would become the premier city of the country.
That easy? Really? I don't disagree but I think Boston can make a very strong argument too.
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As much as I hate Seattle and saying anything good about it, it will become the tech capital of the country.
Isn't Boston a larger tech corridor?
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Boston will become the financial capital.
Indeed. This one was easy.
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Atlanta will become the logistics capital and the country's Hollywood.
DC is a huge media center but that's just because of the government. Atlanta is a stronger pop culture place.
Looks like Atlanta has the most to gain from all of this. It's role will multiply.
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Houston, and Dallas.
OKC and Tulsa -> Dallas and Houston in energy
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Maybe Philly the new energy capital?
Any energy companies based there? How favorably would Phily's chances be against an OKC or Tulsa?
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I dont know what cities could fill the shoes of Miami
San Juan, Puerto Rico
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You forgot to ask whose taking over the Mickey Mouse responsibilities with Orlando and OC gone. LOL
Right, sure, I guess.
The US would lose all of its Universals, Disney's, and Seaworlds. So where would the best remaining theme park be?
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Man this really goes to show how much weaker the country becomes without its 5 largest and most prominent states. The slump is enough to drag us behind China but the US would still have an impressive count of cities.
The US would still be a country of 205M, yes weaker but still powerful. The US has a lot of good cities left that can fill the shoes of the cities removed from question a little.
D.C. has the largest economy left, it's also the nations capital, not to mention the second largest financial center left (Boston first), the most recurring city in the media, and probably has the most Fortune 500's left (Maybe Minneapolis is ahead?). So I'm pretty sure it has more than enough reasons to be the premier city with all the cities that are left.
I would put Boston in second place and a pretty close second at that.
I never thought about San Juan but that's probably the closest we can get to Miami and its location is almost perfect to be the replacement. PR will surge if San Juan inherits Miami's role. I also think Honolulu and Seattle will take over for LA and SF on the Pacific Rim, only problem with Honolulu is its distance from the mainland.
Don't forget New Orleans, it would by a mile be the largest port in the country and it's prominence would only grow from there.
For tech I give the nod to Seattle. My reason is that it has more tech headquarters than D.C. and Boston, even though it has less concentration than them. Remember all of the SV companies are no longer in the country, so Seattle will undoubtedly have the next largest tech base for headquarters. Amazon, Bungie, Microsoft, etc
D.C. has the largest economy left, it's also the nations capital, not to mention the second largest financial center left (Boston first), the most recurring city in the media, and probably has the most Fortune 500's left (Maybe Minneapolis is ahead?). So I'm pretty sure it has more than enough reasons to be the premier city with all the cities that are left.
Like I said, DC could be the premier city but its arguable. I wouldn't be surprised if Boston made a strong case.
True DC has the largest economy but Boston has the second largest. Boston leads the US in biotech research and Mass General a hospital with over 7,000 beds where the first face removal surgery was performed along with Boston's powerful healthcare system should put it in contention. If not just that there's also the education capital status with Harvard, MIT, Brown, Boston College, Boston University, Tufts, Northeastern, and a slew of other schools. Boston is also a seaport and DC isn't. These things while they may seem "small" compared to being the capital go a long way, Boston attracts the brightest minds, creates the best healthcare system, handles the US's finances on its back, and becomes the gateway port for the North Atlantic region.
DC does not pull away from Boston in NYC style, if DC inherits the premier city status, basically becoming the NYC of the US, then Boston would easily be the LA, and Atlanta the Chicago.
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I never thought about San Juan but that's probably the closest we can get to Miami and its location is almost perfect to be the replacement. PR will surge if San Juan inherits Miami's role.
With no Miami, San Juan would be the obvious choice remaining to be the gateway to the Latin nations. It would multiply its connections with the Latin nations and similarly to Miami, it may become the Latin financial center.
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I also think Honolulu and Seattle will take over for LA and SF on the Pacific Rim, only problem with Honolulu is its distance from the mainland.
Seattle k, sure. That could work. It's practically a days worth of shipping time closer to Asia than anything else left in the US.
Honolulu wont work. You would have to ship from the US to Hawaii and then ship to Asia. How does that work out? A more logical thing would be to make the airports in Hawaii into a gateway trading post between the Americas and Asia. Seaport could work only if you involve the Latin nations trading with Asia, Honolulu would serve as a meeting point for the US, Canada, Latin nations, and Asian nations and the port could be successful but just US to Asia makes no sense. You have to ship from Seattle to Honolulu and Honolulu to some place like Japan, why stop in Honolulu to begin with?
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For tech I give the nod to Seattle. My reason is that it has more tech headquarters than D.C. and Boston, even though it has less concentration than them. Remember all of the SV companies are no longer in the country, so Seattle will undoubtedly have the next largest tech base for headquarters. Amazon, Bungie, Microsoft, etc
Don't get me wrong, I like Boston but I just don't see it pulling ahead of D.C. to be this country's premier city. Boston would make a great second city though.
Just remembered Las Vegas. I think it can soundly become the Hollywood of America with the absence of LA and NYC. Las Vegas already is in the running to be the entertainment capital of the world with LA, it already has a big film industry and name brand.
Yeah. With no Florida, Texas, or California it limits how many places can become the "gateway" to Latin America to only Puerto Rico.
Honolulu already is in the running for "gateway" to Asia but with no California or it along with Seattle are going to become the only gates. Maybe D.C. too considering the large Asian population there.
Really is an interesting thread though, thinking about it the US would still be a force.
Arizona? Most Latin Americans that come to the US are Mexican.
Could work but most banks based in Miami are from places like Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Cuba. Then Miami's also got those TV networks from some of these countries there. Arizona and New Mexico are good choices to fill in for California and Texas with Mexico.
I think AZ and NM could fill in towards Mexico and PR for the Caribbean and South American countries.
It's worth noting that Philadelphia would become the largest city proper and MSA in the United States, even if not the largest CSA. Also, the absence of New York less than 100 miles away would tremendously enhance its profile.
What a snoozefest this country would be. Id move back to Sao Paulo.
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