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First order, yes, it is okay to use CSA for this thread, if you don't want to then yes, it is also okay to use MSA as an alternative too.
I usually think of these three places are on the same level in this regard, more or less, even with the size differences. None of them have surpassed 1 million foreign borns yet. I was contemplating putting Detroit in here as well, but its total foreign born numbers are just a shade shy of 500,000 and that is a distant gap from these three cities and more closer to Phoenix, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Denver, and San Diego at this point in time, in my personal opinion. So I excluded it from this thread and decided on just these three cities.
The ACS data pool is still using the old CSA definitions. So Seattle's population for it is 4.3 million, Philadelphia's is 6.5 million, and Atlanta's is 5.8 million (these are the pre-2013 definitions - don't know why they are still using it). So keep their total populations in mind when you look at the following numbers, since smaller places will punch above their weight in categories they beat out the larger places, so on.
I also realize that cosmopolitanism, internationalism, globalism, and diversity are all four different (but similar) things and I am not asking for which city would win out in all 4 categories as I don't think any city clean sweeps and takes all four of them. I am asking which city is overall the best rounded in all categories and is the most prominent overall in terms of the combined factors of cosmopolitan/international/global/diverse.
For Globalism: factors to consider are seaport, airport, airlines services by carriers, destination services, multinational or global corporations, magnet for knowledge industry based visa workers, so on.
For Diversity: factors to consider would be racial diversity which is just strictly Black, White, Asian, Indigenous and/or Native American, and while "Hispanic or Latino" is not a race but rather an ethnicity, it is more logical to place that one here with the others.
For Cosmopolitanism: factors to consider are foreign languages, religions and faiths, bi-racial or multi-racial families and relationships, festivals or annual events that showcase cultural diaspora (Chinese New Years, Saint Patricks Day, so on). Background would fall in here too (such as for example being a Chechen Russian national versus other Russian nationals, so on). Social integration also falls into the cosmopolitan camp as well. Now the objective isn't to find every representative for every group but more focus on how people mix and interact with others of different backgrounds and the relative ease in that. A cosmopolitan city is one that comes off as one designed for literally anyone to prosper, enjoy, or thrive in and not a city where it feels like only certain groups are advantageous. I also usually include LGBT people into cosmopolitanism but that isn't crucial for this thread (you can include it if you want to though).
For Internationalism: factors to consider are nationalities and ethnicity. This is not race. Not the same thing. For example, "Chinese" is a nationality or ethnicity and not a "race."
Total Overseas born population:
1. Atlanta: 755,810
2. Seattle: 665,124
3. Philadelphia: 635,606
Continents:
Overseas Born in Europe:
1. Philadelphia: 119,518
2. Seattle: 113,210
3. Atlanta: 72,009
Overseas Born in Asia:
1. Seattle: 320,307
2. Philadelphia: 245,658
3. Atlanta: 216,983
Overseas Born in South America:
1. Atlanta: 50,581
2. Philadelphia: 34,145
3. Seattle: 14,856
Overseas Born in Africa:
1. Atlanta: 71,553
2. Philadelphia: 55,370
3. Seattle: 45,393
Overseas Born in Oceania:
1. Seattle: 10,014
2. Atlanta: 1,387
3. Philadelphia: 1,204
Overseas Born in North America:
1. Atlanta: 263,865
2. Seattle: 156,173
3. Philadelphia: 106,884
Regions within Regions
Born in Northern Europe:
1. Seattle: 24,447
2. Philadelphia: 19,212
3. Atlanta: 15,465
Born in Western Europe:
1. Seattle: 20,979
2. Philadelphia: 20,459
3. Atlanta: 16,918
Born in Southern Europe:
1. Philadelphia: 24,807
2. Seattle: 4,978
3. Atlanta: 4,817
Born in Eastern Europe:
1. Seattle: 62,759
2. Philadelphia: 54,864
3. Atlanta: 34,748
Born in Eastern Asia:
1. Seattle: 109,087
2. Atlanta: 72,090
3. Philadelphia: 70,148
Born in Southeast Asia:
1. Seattle: 138,706
2. Philadelphia: 68,388
3. Atlanta: 52,824
Born in South Asia:
1. Philadelphia: 92,642
2. Atlanta: 81,370
3. Seattle: 59,055
Born in Western Asia (Asia Minor/Middle-East):
1. Seattle: 13,290
2. Philadelphia: 12,351
3. Atlanta: 10,249
Born in North Africa:
1. Philadelphia: 9,024
2. Atlanta: 6,384
3. Seattle: 2,618
Born in Central Africa:
1. Atlanta: 2,719
2. Philadelphia: 1,851
3. Seattle: 800
Born in Eastern Africa:
1. Seattle: 33,890
2. Atlanta: 22,950
3. Philadelphia: 7,516
Born in Western Africa:
1. Philadelphia: 31,580
2. Atlanta: 31,512
3. Seattle: 5,514
Born in Southern Africa:
1. Atlanta: 3,769
2. Philadelphia: 1,968
3. Seattle: 1,596
Born in Australia or New Zealand:
1. Seattle: 3,873
2. Philadelphia: 1,122
3. Atlanta: 936
Born in Fiji, Polynesia, and Micronesia:
1. Seattle: 1,974
2. Philadelphia: 259
3. Atlanta: 236
Born in Unspecified Oceania:
1. Seattle: 4,190
2. Atlanta: 375
3. Philadelphia: 29
Born in Caribbean America:
1. Atlanta: 79,382
2. Philadelphia: 72,827
3. Seattle: 5,171
Born in Central America:
1. Atlanta: 60,975
2. Philadelphia: 27,756
3. Seattle: 20,994
Born in Anglo America (Canada, Belize, British Virgin Islands):
1. Seattle: 29,911
2. Atlanta: 12,224
3. Philadelphia: 7,233
Born in Mexico:
1. Atlanta: 189,589
2. Seattle: 105,126
3. Philadelphia: 71,576
In each case the numbers used were the most recent available numbers, except for languages, that is one year older than the most current ones (I just didn't want to spend time re-doing them when I had done them using the numbers from the year prior).
Make arguments for which city is the most diverse, the most cosmopolitan, most international, most global (the 4 aren't the same thing) and which one is overall the most when all factors are assessed.
Here are some statistics to get this thread started. Obviously I could have posted the separate nationalities and foreign language ones too but I think to get this thread started, this is more than enough.
Your definition of "International" and "Diversity" are a bit different, but trying to split the two would require research online. It can be difficult to tell if a person is Chinese or Korean by simply glancing at them on the street. The same can be said of Nicaraguan or El Salvadoreans. Very hard (at least for me to accurately describe your "International" criteria off the top of my head)
You did pick three cities that make for a healthy debate. Good choices.
Diversity would go to Atlanta they seem to have more of a greater number of variety of races when the percentages are broken down overall. Philly is second only because Seattle is 70% white with all other races splitting the remaining 30%.
Global I have to go with Seattle. They have the most variety of foreign airlines and a busy active port for not only container traffic but bulk shipping as well. It's the largest grain shipping port on the west coast.
My vote goes to Philly for cosmopolitan. Yeah Philly isn't as diverse as Atlanta but it's Downtown is impressive which gives it a big city vibe.
Your definition of "International" and "Diversity" are a bit different, but trying to split the two would require research online. It can be difficult to tell if a person is Chinese or Korean by simply glancing at them on the street. The same can be said of Nicaraguan or El Salvadoreans. Very hard (at least for me to accurately describe your "International" criteria off the top of my head)
You did pick three cities that make for a healthy debate. Good choices.
Diversity would go to Atlanta they seem to have more of a greater number of variety of races when the percentages are broken down overall. Philly is second only because Seattle is 70% white with all other races splitting the remaining 30%.
Global I have to go with Seattle. They have the most variety of foreign airlines and a busy active port for not only container traffic but bulk shipping as well. It's the largest grain shipping port on the west coast.
My vote goes to Philly for cosmopolitan. Yeah Philly isn't as diverse as Atlanta but it's Downtown is impressive which gives it a big city vibe.
Your definition of "International" and "Diversity" are a bit different, but trying to split the two would require research online. It can be difficult to tell if a person is Chinese or Korean by simply glancing at them on the street. The same can be said of Nicaraguan or El Salvadoreans. Very hard (at least for me to accurately describe your "International" criteria off the top of my head)
I think there is a big difference between "diversity" and "internationalism." Noticeable enough difference too.
For example, if we looked at Sacramento, we would find it to be a very diverse city - perhaps the most diverse in all of the United States - but not an international city though.
Where you live, San Francisco is BOTH diverse and international. At the conclusion of World War II, San Francisco was the chosen location for the Treaty of San Francisco, I would say a very culturally significant international event personally, Sacramento on the other hand is not capable of fostering a diplomatic event of this scale.
Officially signed by representatives of 48 nations that were at the delegation in September of 1951.
For Globalism I will give it to Atlanta due to their airport and size, this is maybe a quick answer, but I feel it's the correct one.
For cosmopolitanism, I give it to Seattle. While the Foreign Born numbers are lower than Atlanta, the metro has 2 million people less at the same time. Those Foreign Born people make up a greater share of the metro without being too far lower to fall into the "sometimes quantity is a quality of its own" category.
For diversity, I give the edge to Seattle as well.
Philadelphia is dead last in all categories, it's just too much in the shadow of NYC to make relevant global connections or to attract immigrants.
Even if Atlanta and Seattle were technically more diverse etc I would still pick Philly. Unlike Seattle / Atlanta where yes, somewhere nearby in a suburban house or the car next to you at the stop light there is more diversity etc, in philly you actually live it when you sit with them on the subway or brush past them on the street on your walk to get groceries etc.
I'm not saying Atlanta and Seattle are actually more diverse etc, in Center City philly virtually everyone I know has either lived outside of the country for a year + or is foreign born. It's essentially an international type haven.
I think this question is a bit difficult because "diversity" may not go hand in hand with "international" or "cosmopolitan". After all, Tokyo isn't all that diverse, but no one would argue that it isn't cosmopolitan. Laredo, TX is technically "international" but it isn't all that diverse or cosmopolitan. It's a hard question to answer.
Diversity = Atlanta would take the cake.
International = by percentage, Seattle has the highest percentage of foreign born, not to mention is relatively near to Canada, so I believe that would win out
Cosmopolitan = hard to measure since it seems relatively intangible.
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