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Chicago is way too big to be playing victim.
Leave the inferiority complexes to the mid sized cities.
No one is picking on Chicago.
I re-read the original post and still think Chicago is less worldly than SF, DC and Houston. Heck, I would put it behind Boston too.
Tier 1:
NYC
LA
Tier 2:
SF
HOUSTON
DC
Tier 3:
Boston
Miami
Chicago
Atlanta
Dallas-Fort Worth
I
Chicago is in good company in Tier 3. Anyone of those cities can go up against just about any major city around the globe and come out on top.
PS, I went to school with a guy whose first name was Nguyen. He pronounced it WIN and he spoke a good bit of Spanish, went to a lot of the Muslim religious celebrations and his best friend was Congolese
Orlando area feels very cosmopolitan for what it is.
After living there for 9 years and coming to NYC Area, sometimes parts of Orlando felt more worldly and interconnected than here. (ie., I-Drive, the Florida Mall Area, Disney area, Lake Buena Vista, etc)
Tampa doesn't at all. Very different vibe.
I'm going to lambast you here but in a friendly way about Orlando.
Did you forget the Mills Avenue area (Asian) or the Union Park area (Puerto Rican/Latino) areas?
Top 10 Most Cosmopolitan Cities in the United States
Tier 1
New York City
Los Angeles
Tier 2
San Francisco
Houston
Chicago
District of Columbia
Tier 3
Boston
Miami
Dallas
Atlanta
No chance Houston and SF are on the same level. SFBA is FAR more cosmopolitan IMO. This is from someone who's a native Houstonian, I have no bias either way on this topic but it's very clear which area is much more cosmopolitan just having lived here in the Bay Area for a couple of years now.
I'd put SFBA closer to NY and LA than Houston easily.
Honestly by OP's criteria none of the cities really stand out. You don't really see East Asians at Diwali or Arabs at Chinese New Year celebrations for example in even the most integrated cities. Aside from St Patrick's or Cinco de Mayo people mostly stay in their own lane. All ethnicities will have greater knowledge of the prominent local group in the area so black or brown New Yorkers would know about Yom Kippur and Houstonians know how to pronounce Nguyen, but nothing really deep.
I heavily disagree with this. My parents live in Sugar Land and we’ve seen lots of East Asians at Diwali celebrations and have seen lots of non East Asians at Chinese new year celebrations. Obviously it’s not the same as the number of Indians at a Diwali festival but there definitely are a good bit of other races and ethnicities at these ethic celebrations.
No chance Houston and SF are on the same level. SFBA is FAR more cosmopolitan IMO. This is from someone who's a native Houstonian, I have no bias either way on this topic but it's very clear which area is much more cosmopolitan just having lived here in the Bay Area for a couple of years now.
I'd put SFBA closer to NY and LA than Houston easily.
Does the specification of "SFBA" mean that the city or metro of San Francisco by itself wouldn't be more cosmopolitan?
I heavily disagree with this. My parents live in Sugar Land and we’ve seen lots of East Asians at Diwali celebrations and have seen lots of non East Asians at Chinese new year celebrations. Obviously it’s not the same as the number of Indians at a Diwali festival but there definitely are a good bit of other races and ethnicities at these ethic celebrations.
We either didn't go to the same events or have different definitions of 'a lot'. Unless you have been to many similar events in different cities you can't really say this kind of cross-cultural patronage is more prevalent in very large, diverse cities like Houston. It might be even more common in diverse college towns. In any case I think this is the type of anecdotal data point that is relevant to OP's question.
We either didn't go to the same events or have different definitions of 'a lot'. Unless you have been to many similar events in different cities you can't really say this kind of cross-cultural patronage is more prevalent in very large, diverse cities like Houston. It might be even more common in diverse college towns. In any case I think this is the type of anecdotal data point that is relevant to OP's question.
You’re right that it is the most common in college towns. It does happen in big cities though in my experience from the different festivals and events I’ve been to. I’m Indian and I’ve been to many different Diwali and Holi celebrations in multiple cities (Atlanta, Houston, Chicago) and while obviously the Indian population is much larger than the non Indian population, it’s not unnatural to see people of different ethnicities and cultures at these celebrations (even wearing Kurta-Pajamas and Sarees to Diwali).
Does the specification of "SFBA" mean that the city or metro of San Francisco by itself wouldn't be more cosmopolitan?
No I just included the entire Bay Area. If you go city proper to city proper, it's even an even further gap to me. Houston proper has come a long ways but I'd actually argue the most cosmopolitan sides of Houston are on along the outskirts. Places like Katy, Sugar Land, Pearland, Woodlands all have bigger cosmopolitan feel to me than the city of Houston itself. SF on the other hand feels very much cosmopolitan in the city proper even as small as that is but as a whole lots of towns along East Bay and the Peninsula/South Bay equally do as well.
No I just included the entire Bay Area. If you go city proper to city proper, it's even an even further gap to me. Houston proper has come a long ways but I'd actually argue the most cosmopolitan sides of Houston are on along the outskirts. Places like Katy, Sugar Land, Pearland, Woodlands all have bigger cosmopolitan feel to me than the city of Houston itself. SF on the other hand feels very much cosmopolitan in the city proper even as small as that is but as a whole lots of towns along East Bay and the Peninsula/South Bay equally do as well.
San Jose/the South Bay is the perfect example of how "cosmopolitan" and "urban" don't always go together. It's the most generic, Mayberry city you could imagine, but the strip malls are filled with various Asian cuisines --- including chains from China --- and much of the population is upper-middle-class Asians who probably fly across the ocean to visit family from time to time.
I'm not sure what people are now arguing in this thread.
It's clear to me that there's so many factors that drive "cosmopolitanism," and cultural diversity is only one layer. Factors including diversity of economy, social class/background, religion, and political orientation are all layers, as well.
People are also really relying on personal anecdotes and perceptions that really aren't rooted in facts or objective statistics. That's not a good basis for comparison in any case.
At any rate, this has absolutely become an opinion-only thread. Certainly no one can claim to have any authority on this topic when even the most "well traveled" people will have only scratched the surface on this topic when visiting any given city.
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