How Would You Rank the 5 Major Northeastern Cities in Order from Most Important to Least Important? (map, compared)

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

Originally Posted by rainrock

1.NYC
2.Philadelphia
3.Boston
4.Baltimore
5.Washington

Based on Importance over the countrys 240 years..

Thats a pretty ridiculous way of looking at whats most important in the Northeast. This is 2015, not 1776.

Here is what I think most would agree on:

-New York is most important
-Washington DC is 2nd most important
-Baltimore is least important

You can go ahead and argue which is more important between Philly and Boston.

[Blimp]

The ordinal ranking is very, very clear from just observing the rates of gentrification and housing price movements over the past 15 years.

1. New York
2. DC
3. Boston
4. Philadelphia
5. Baltimore

That's what everyone prefers, in order. Inarguable. I am a contrarian though, so I probably rank them:

1. Philadelphia
1. Baltimore
[2. Brooklyn/Queens]
3. DC
4. Manhattan
5. Boston

The best parts of Baltimore and Philly are a lot like Queens. Low-rise, safe, nice authentic cheesesteaks or crabs and dive bars on the corner. People think they're dangerous because of the ghettos, but that doesn't cover the whole city. Just most of it (and less of it each year).

[HumpDay]

Originally Posted by yankeesfan27

Here's the order I'd put them in:
1. NYC (I think this one's pretty obvious infact I think it's up there with London for the most important city in the world. Financial capital of the world basically)
2. Washington DC (Only ranked so highly because it's the nation's capital)
3. Philadelphia (Lots of history and probably the best local cuisine of any city in the country; cheesesteaks, soft pretzels, and who can forget Wawa hoagies. I only put it ahead of Boston because of its much larger size and population. Gets overlooked though and has an inferiority complex because of its location between NYC and DC but still manages to have its own identity).
4. Boston (Also lots of history and the cultural capital of New England. Most sports crazed town in the whole country and the higher education capital of the world. Global city when it comes to technology, bioengineering, education, medicine, science. Too isolated to be in anyone else's shadow. This city really has its own identity).
5. Baltimore (In DC's shadow and doesn't really have its own identity at all. Only things worth seeing here are the Aquarium and Fort McHenry and the Aquarium is very overrated. The whole city isn't safe including the Inner Harbor these days).
This list is definitely up for debate so let me know what you think the order is.
Here's what I think the next 5 most important cities in the Northeast are that round out the top 10. I'm just posting this for sh!ts and giggles:
6. Providence, RI
7. New Haven, CT
8. Hartford, CT
9. Newark, NJ
10. Wilmington, DE

Sorry Wilmington, I don't think they should number 10.
How is Providence above Hartford and New Haven. I'm extremely surprised to see New Haven above Hartford. If I had to redo your list I would put Newark at 6, Hartford at 7, Providence at 8, and New Haven at 9. Newark is the way it is because of NYC. Hartford has one of the highest GDP out of these 4 as well more jobs. Though I may be wrong. Does Newark have more jobs? The Hartford area does have more large well known companies such as Aetna, Cigna, Travelers, The Hartford, Pratt and Whitney, Otis Elevators, UTC, and many more. Providence can't compete with that though Providence does have a better night scene and more foot traffic. Though that's very irrelevant to the topic. Newark does have a lot going on right now. Its very close to NYC which is obviously number 1. Its very important to NYC's economy as well as many surrounding cities such as Stamford and White Plains.

Where's Buffalo?

[Mutiny77]

Assuming DC and Baltimore are included, my order would go like this:

NYC
DC
Boston
Philly
Baltimore

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by peterlemonjello

Thats a pretty ridiculous way of looking at whats most important in the Northeast. This is 2015, not 1776.

That list wouldn't even look like that in 1776. Philly would be at the top, then NYC, then Boston, then probably some towns that have since been annexed by either of those three.

[MassVt]

Originally Posted by yankeesfan27

They're in the Northeast but they're not in the Northeast Corridor. I was specifically talking about the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington. I don't know much about Syracuse but how exactly is Syracuse important? Pittsburgh definitely i would put that at least on par with Bmore if not slightly ahead and Buffalo is probably slightly behind Bmore in national prominence.

Don't forget the capitol district of Albany/Schenectady/Troy in NY--pretty large in its own right..

[MrKnight]

1. NYC
2. DC
3. Boston
4. Philly
5. Baltimore (IMHO should not even be included)

[Craziaskowboi]

Hey, what an original idea for a topic! Just kidding.

[stanley-88888888]

Originally Posted by dynamo fan

I was wondering about Buffalo and Pittsburgh too. I guess he just meant Atlantic coastal Northeastern cities.

Also Baltimore is very distinctive from DC. It is a shame it gets grouped in with it in so many threads here on CD.

this is like complaning to people from andromeda that the moon is very distinctive from the earth.

[floridanative10]

DC shouldnt even be included in any northeast poll but I guess if people are going by that northeast corridor train route it could be. DC is a former southern swamp that was chosen for its southern location to placate the southern gentry after the revolution, named after one of the most famous southerners of all time George Washington, we are in the subtropical humid climate zone and this climate is about as different as can be from boston, buffalo, rochester, pittsburgh or nyc.

A winter like bostons last year or alot of the northeast would literally shut down washington dc, traffic at rush hour would just be a national emergency type situation. Our weather is alot more like richmonds than boston,buffalo, pittsburgh, etc