What are the ten most recognized U.S. cities for foreigners? (unemployment, buying)

[kearf]

1. New York City
2. Los Angeles (Hollywood, Beverly Hills)
3. Las Vegas
4. Washington DC
5. San Francisco
6. Chicago
7. Boston
8. Seattle
9. Miami
10. Detroit

[j_bohm_dk]

Most of the foreign postings seem reasonable (as an educated man I know a lot of city names, but that doesn't really count). But I would like to add San Fransisco to the list of famous cities (more famous than Orlando or the twin cities).

As for why people outside the US know Houston more than Dallas, it is not the oil industry (only a few businessmen care about the postal HQ addresses), its the space program and all those "Houston to Spaceship" conversations in both real and Hollywood space dramas. The launchpad in Florida is much less present in the exciting parts of the missions.

Crawford TX may currently be more famous than Dallas TX because it has temporarily taken over the role of Camp David in world politics, but that will pass after the next election (as none of the current candidates are from there).

SF is famous from its frequent appearance in Hollywood productions.

Atlanta is famous for CNN and Coca-Cola (the 1996 Olympics was just a passing through circus). It also appeared in "Gone with the wind", the movie version of which had its fame boosted by the difficulty of getting to see it in the middle of WW2.

Chicago is still more famous for the 1920/30s gangster activities, than for the Sears tower or other good reasons.

Boston is famous because it was the place of the first attack against English forces by the US (the "Tea Party") and for being mentioned as a neighbor city in movies and TV shows set in New York or DC. Philadelphia shares that status as a frequent "extra" in screenplays.

Inland state capitals such as the twin cities, Little Rock etc. rarely register on the radar of foreigners. The first I remember hearing of Little Rock was when Clinton became president.

[Minnehahapolitan]

Originally Posted by tvdxer

What about Minneapolis?! Or how about St. Paul?! Duluth?!

A friend was in India and said he was from Mpls. The guy asked how the racing was before my friend figured out he mixed it up with Indianapolis. I felt kinda bummed after hearing that one.

[SEAandATL]

I've known people get Atlanta confused witih Atlantic City, and not just in foreign countries, but here in San Diego as well.

[jhassler]

Originally Posted by dullnboring

I think it varies by country too since some cities have large communities of people from various nations and therefore their friends and families back home become somewhat familiar with them. For example, I'll bet that Minneapolis is one of the better-known American cities in Somalia, or St. Louis in Bosnia.

Definitely would agree w/ Bosnians readily identifying St. Louis. The population of Bosnians in South STL City (remember...we don't be long to St. Louis County) has just exploded over the last 10 years. You can find tons of cool little Bosnian shops and restaurants by taking a 5 minute drive around your neighboring streets.

[dullnboring]

Originally Posted by jhassler

Definitely would agree w/ Bosnians readily identifying St. Louis. The population of Bosnians in South STL City (remember...we don't be long to St. Louis County) has just exploded over the last 10 years. You can find tons of cool little Bosnian shops and restaurants by taking a 5 minute drive around your neighboring streets.

Not to get too off-topic, but it's really interesting to me due to just how unnoticed this transformation has gone by the rest of the country. Most people have no clue of the massive influx of Bosnians into St. Louis. I myself hadn't heard of it until several years ago, and it seemed so random to me. The most commonly cited figure I've heard is that there are now over 35,000 Bosnians living within the city of St. Louis. That means that over 10% of the city is now Bosnian Muslim immigrants, an astonishingly dramatic change for even the most cosmopolitan of cities, let alone one such as St. Louis with traditionally low levels of immigration.

Back on topic, sort of. When I was in Bulgaria, I couldn't believe just how many people, when I told them I was from the DC area, immediately mentioned Ocean City or places like Rehoboth Beach. These are small beach communities (at least in terms of year-round population) on the Maryland and Delaware coasts that are traditional getaways for the DC-Baltimore crowd, that in the past 10 years, due to a shortage of American teens willing to do the work, have imported tens of thousands of college students, mostly from Eastern Europe, Bulgaria in particular for whatever reason, to work in the summer at the Boardwalk shops, amusement parks, hotels, restaurants, etc. I guess word has spread about the available work. I went to Ocean City a few weeks ago and every single person working behind a counter at the Boardwalk I encountered had some sort of accent.

[dgz]

Originally Posted by mjewell

It's something that a lot of Houstonians complain about - can you believe that Dallas is on all the national weather maps and Houston only shows up when there's a storm about to hit? We're the 4th largest city in the USA!

The popular theory is that the soap opera "Dallas" was such a hit in the 80s.

Yes, even when I've been in some pretty remote areas, and I've mentioned living in Dallas, people bring up the TV show.

[Saron]

1. Los Angeles
2. New York
3. Miami
4. Las Vegas
5. San Francisco
6. Detriot
7. Dallas
8. Chicago
9. Washington DC
10 Seattle

[CroatWebWanderer]

My current links to some US cities:

New York City “cool”

LA “movies”

Houston “space shuttle”

Seattle “Grey’s Anatomy”

Chicago “ M. Jordan”

San Francisco “gay”

Washington DC “”politics”

Salt lake City “mormon”

Black Oak “grisham”

Miami “Cubans”

New Orleans “Katrina”

Las Vegas “casinos”

Atlanta “CNN”

Detroit “cars”

[thomas.cl]

Originally Posted by Mooseketeer

Washington
New York
Chicago
San Francisco
Boston
Philadelphia
Los Angeles
New Orleans
Miami
Las Vegas

That would be my guess anyway.

yep mine too (well maybe not Boston)

Orlando
Dallas
Washington D.C.