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Take the 25 largest cities in the nation, and tier them into 5 categories:
Tier 1: Very desirable
Tier 2: Desirable
Tier 3: Moderately desirable
Tier 4: Not desirable
Tier 5: Very undesirable
Keep in mind a couple things:
- this is based on what you think the NATIONAL perception of each city is, and not necessarily YOUR perception.
- the criteria is up to you and whatever you think Americans find desirable. It might be warm weather, pop culture, amenities, wages, notoriety, or whatever else you think embodies perception in the eyes of US citizens.
- try to consider recency. For example, some “it” cities from the 2000s may not be as well-regarded anymore, and some nondescript cities have exploded in popularity in the past couple years.
- this can be based on living and/or visiting. You’re just trying to determine tiers of a city’s overall perception.
- please do not bash cities in this thread. Even if, for example, you feel NYC is highly regarded but it’s a miserable place to live in, you don’t need to bring out a city’s negative qualities. We do that enough around here, and I’ve unfairly been guilty of it too.
With that in mind, here is the list of cities:
1. New York City
2. Los Angeles
3. Chicago
4. Dallas
5. Houston
6. Washington, DC
7. Miami
8. Philadelphia
9. Atlanta
10. Phoenix
11. Boston
12. San Francisco
13. Detroit
14. Seattle
15. Minneapolis
16. San Diego
17. Tampa
18. Denver
19. St. Louis
20. Baltimore
21. Charlotte
22. Orlando
23. San Antonio
24. Portland
25. Sacramento
Tier away.
Last edited by _Uncommon_; 08-12-2020 at 04:09 PM..
1. New York City T2
2. Los Angeles T2
3. Chicago T4
4. Dallas T1
5. Houston T2 (I would rate T3)
6. Washington, DC T3
7. Miami T4
8. Philadelphia T3
9. Atlanta T1 (I would rate T3)
10. Phoenix T2
11. Boston T2
12. San Francisco T2
13. Detroit T4
14. Seattle T2 (T1 before COVID)
15. Minneapolis (T3)
16. San Diego T1
17. Tampa T4
18. Denver T1
19. St. Louis T3
20. Baltimore T3
21. Charlotte T2
22. Orlando T3
23. San Antonio T3
24. Portland T2 (I would rate T3)
25. Sacramento T3 (I would rate T2)
To me anything in Tier 5 would have to be REALLY bad like Gary, Indiana.
1. New York City T3
2. Los Angeles T3
3. Chicago T4
4. Dallas T1
5. Houston T2
6. Washington, DC T3
7. Miami T3
8. Philadelphia T4
9. Atlanta T1
10. Phoenix T3
11. Boston T3
12. San Francisco T3
13. Detroit T5
14. Seattle T2
15. Minneapolis T3
16. San Diego T1
17. Tampa T2
18. Denver T1
19. St. Louis T5
20. Baltimore T5
21. Charlotte T1
22. Orlando T3
23. San Antonio T3
24. Portland T1
25. Sacramento T4
In general, I think that there's very little consensus on cities nationally. Even popular cities like LA and NYC can't be higher than Tier 3 because a large percentage of the country wouldn't consider moving to either under any circumstances. Chicago slightly worse because it gets even more negative publicity.
I put at Tier 1 the places where people often tell me that they want to move. Sacramento is underrated, but no one ever says that they'd love to move there. No one I know anyway.
You can't really discount where people are actually moving, but even some of those are considered a sacrifice. What you get is better than what you may not like.
Tier I:
New York, LA, DC, Boston, San Fran, Seattle, San Diego, Atlanta
Tier II:
Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Miami, Portland, Minneapolis, Denver, Orlando, Charlotte, Tampa, Phoenix, Philly
Tier III:
the rest
Tier IV & V:
none of these cities deserve below Tier 3, as all are at least moderately desired places to live, even if they have their setbacks. Now if we get picky and pick out different groups then it fluctuates, but for now i'm riding with this
I will do a tier on whatever I feel other's perceptions are (NOT from C-D. But from what I've heard others say on my travels, others whom I've talked to, and what I generally see in my observations in media). Then I will do a tier on my view; 2 separate tiers. These are in no particular order within tiers. I've lived in Charlotte, Orlando, Columbus, and Boston. I'm ranking them in my personal tier on 1. rankings I've done over the years in my research/data and 2. visiting all of these cities many times over the decades. BOTH sets of tier are about actually LIViNG in these metros. There is a level of subjectivity here, so, as with other posters views, this is just my take:
Other's View
----------------
Tier 1 - Very Desirable
---------------------------
Atlanta
Chicago
Phoenix
San Diego
Denver
Tier 2 - Desirable
---------------------
Dallas
Charlotte
Tampa
Houston
Philadelphia
Minneapolis
Sacramento
Tier 3 - Moderately Desirable
----------------------------------
Orlando
San Antonio
Washington, DC
Miami
Tier 4 - Not Desirable
--------------------------
Los Angeles
Boston
Tier 5 - Very Undesirable
------------------------------
Detroit
St. Louis
New York City
San Francisco
Seattle
Baltimore
Portland
My View
-----------
Tier 1 - Very Desirable
--------------------------
Dallas
Atlanta
Tampa
Charlotte
Orlando
Tier 2 - Desirable
---------------------
Chicago
Houston
Philadelphia
Phoenix
San Antonio
Tier 3 - Moderately Desirable
-----------------------------------
Washington, DC
San Diego
Tier 4 - Not Desirable
--------------------------
Los Angeles
Miami
Boston
Detroit
Minneapolis
Denver
St. Louis
Sacramento
Tier 5 - Very Undesirable
------------------------------
New York City
San Francisco
Seattle
Baltimore
Portland
Just to add my own more detail to my tiers.
Tier 1: Very desirable - All types of people are attracted
Tier 2: Desirable - Nearly all types of people are attracted to there
Tier 3: Moderately desirable - Some types of people are attracted to there
Tier 4: Not desirable - a couple types of people are attracted to there
Tier 5: Very undesirable - no one really wants to go there
From my late 20s / early 30s northeast millennial perspective..
1. New York City- T1, a place that go getters feel the need to be
2. Los Angeles- T1, Southern California is Southern California and I know many people who have made their way west to there
3. Chicago- T2, the metropolis of the midwest. High appeal to college educated types
4. Dallas- T3, Texas but not austin (that's where the cool people go)
5. Houston- T3, same as Dallas
6. Washington, DC- T2, similar to NYC, younger professionals are attracted. Missing a bit of the hipster culture that boosts NYC to T1
7. Miami- T3, imo, more of a place people dream about vacationing rather than living.
8. Philadelphia- T3, a mix of the other NE cities, attracts the more artist/hipster types. Professional draw is more in the science/research realm like Boston than the type A DC/NYC corporate ladder climber
9. Atlanta- T3, the ATL is the big city of the south. Outside the south, its appeal drops off pretty immensely, but still known for having big companies and lots of jobs.
10. Phoenix- T4, Fair or not, outside of the partying that goes on at ASU, AZ and PHX is viewed mainly as a place people retire too.
11. Boston- T2, in the same boat as DC, but more research/science/academia focus
12. San Francisco- T1, there is a reason why it's the most expensive place in America
13. Detroit- T5, the motor city, notorious for it's crime and decay has made a marked turn in this last decade. It has appeal to the more hipster midwestern types. It's also a bigger city in a bigger metro than someothers, so the recovery in theory could be greater.
14. Seattle- T2, home of Amazon and Microsoft the PNW is held in high regard.
15. Minneapolis- T4, known for it's brutally cold winters, target, prince, and the Mighty Ducks, I have never known anyone who has brought it up as a place to move. The George Floyd riots is obviously the big news out of there
16. San Diego- T2, smaller lesser known city in southern california. Known for beautiful beaches, large zoo, and the Navy, people like San Diego
17. Tampa- T3, people might disagree with me that Mia and Tampa should be in the same category, but to me the type of person attracted to Florida isn't particularly concerned with where as long as they have beautiful beaches, sunshine, etc.
18. Denver- T2, I never have been to Denver but know several people who have moved there over the years. Colorado has made quite a brand for itself as a progressive outdoorsy place.
19. St. Louis- T5, I hate to put any on tier 5, and to me personally STL is higher, but St Louis and really MO as a whole, is a pretty big unknown to a lot of Americans. They have the arch, a slightly known crime stigma, and that's about it.
20. Baltimore- T4, Baltimore has been on the decline for a bit now. There was a time when leaders in DC and Philadelphia where looking to Baltimore as an example of somewhere to emulate, but crime has rocked the city. However, it's still more put together than somewhere like Detroit and it has some attraction to the grittier hipster professional.
21. Charlotte- T3, attracts the younger professional type that wants to live in a cookie cutter apartment complex with a pool. There is nothing wrong with that, but Charlotte isn't known for being 'cool'
22. Orlando- T3, Florida. Disney World. Universal. Sunshine.
23. San Antonio- T4, a bit of an unknown for such a large city. A notch lower in appeal vs. Dallas and Houston. Two lower than Austin
24. Portland- T3, same reasons Seattle is popular but with less of the large scale professional business attraction
25. Sacramento- T4, a lesser known city that I believe is possibly underrated. People want to move to California, but Sacramento isn't really the place people want to go.
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