Wow, I know exactly where the OP is coming from. The same 5 cities get mentioned in every single thread. However, it corresponds to another relevant list:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/10896672-post1.html
Combined Statistical Areas by Total Gross Product, 2008
1. New York-Newark-Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA CSA $1.434 Trillion
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT Metro Area $81,389
Kingston, NY Metro Area $4,679
New Haven-Milford, CT Metro Area $37,643
New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA Metro Area $1,264,896
Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, NY Metro Area $21,029
Torrington, CT Micro Area
Trenton-Ewing, NJ Metro Area $24,458
2. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, CA CSA $866.095 Billion
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA Metro Area $717,884
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA Metro Area $35,080
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA Metro Area $113,080
3. Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, DC-MD-VA-WV CSA $533.542 Billion
Baltimore-Towson, MD Metro Area $133,012
Lexington Park, MD Micro Area
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metro Area $395,747
Winchester, VA-WV Metro Area $4,783
4. Chicago-Naperville-Michigan City, IL-IN-WI CSA $526.895 Billion
Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI Metro Area $520,672
Kankakee-Bradley, IL Metro Area $3,094
Michigan City-La Porte, IN Metro Area $3,336
5. San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA CSA $508.418 Billion
Napa, CA Metro Area $7,434
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA Metro Area $310,825
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metro Area $146,687
Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA Metro Area $9,903
Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA Metro Area $20,229
Vallejo-Fairfield, CA Metro Area $13,340
Like it or not, these are the most economically powerful areas in the country, as of this point. People tend to have strong opinions about big cities one way or another. Even more so when you have so many metropolitan areas that have economies and populations larger than a lot of countries.
However, it would be nice to get a little bit of variety in threads. We should be more creative in what we are comparing instead of the old "skyline, diversity, and public transportation" rebouts we get time and time again.
Just as a note, the top 5 metro areas ALONE are 27% of the US GDP
Top 5 total: $3,868,950,000,000
US GDP total: $14,300,000,000,000
Top 5 % of GDP: 27.0%
That speaks VOLUMES about the power of the big metro areas.
Or another way to look at it, these areas combined:
Table of United States Combined Statistical Areas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Top 5 population total: 65,
726,606
US Total (http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html): (broken link) 309,357,242
Top 5 % of population: 21.2%
Basically,
the top 5 produce 127% more in terms of GDP than their figures in population.
I do want to see more cities compared, but we should also widen our scope of comparison. It will keep this forum more exciting