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Please explain how current day Detroit is more important than current day Seattle.
I'm not saying current day Detroit is more important than current day Seattle. It's just that Detroit was so far ahead of Seattle, Minneapolis, etc.. in terms innovation, its cultural legacy, world recognition, etc... that even after it's fall from being an economic powerhouse and perhaps a tier 2 city / metro, it has dropped to a position where it is still a very important city /metro. IMO, it's at the top of tier 4 cities / metros that include the likes of Seattle, Minneapolis, Denver, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, etc... Will Seattle surpass it, more than likely.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dapper23
The HQ location of a company doesn't mean much. Economic importance is far more related to GDP.
Take Boeing for example... around 50% of its employees worldwide are in the Seattle area, yet Chicago claims its HQ.
Corporate HQ doesn't mean much - you can't be serious. Corporate headquarters employ high-skilled people (executives, senior management, accountants, finance and IT specialists). This means well-educated, talented, and highly-paid employees. HQs also attract other businesses (think consultants, lawyers, financial services, tech companies) so are helping local economies. Finally, cities benefit from corporate philanthropy, which beyond important when it comes to keeping and attracting people.
Rogead cites organizations that specialize in different areas (ie economic function, global interaction, etc...) and you counter with some pedestrian ranking from the Business Insider and it's from 2011.
I'm not sure where you got your Fortune 500 numbers from, but Philadelphia has 10. This article lists 12, because 2 are in Allentown and the Philadelphia Media Market covers Allentown although it is not a part of the Metro.
I'm not saying current day Detroit is more important than current day Seattle. It's just that Detroit was so far ahead of Seattle, Minneapolis, etc.. in terms innovation, its cultural legacy, world recognition, etc... that even after it's fall from being an economic powerhouse and perhaps a tier 2 city / metro, it has dropped to a position where it is still a very important city /metro. IMO, it's at the top of tier 4 cities / metros that include the likes of Seattle, Minneapolis, Denver, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, etc... Will Seattle surpass it, more than likely.
I'm not saying current day Detroit is more important than current day Seattle. It's just that Detroit was so far ahead of Seattle, Minneapolis, etc.. in terms innovation, its cultural legacy, world recognition, etc... that even after it's fall from being an economic powerhouse and perhaps a tier 2 city / metro, it has dropped to a position where it is still a very important city /metro. IMO, it's at the top of tier 4 cities / metros that include the likes of Seattle, Minneapolis, Denver, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, etc... Will Seattle surpass it, more than likely.
I am bias I admit but actually looking at some stats today there is no way STL and Pittsburgh are in the same tier, (Denver is kind of in the middle). The first 3 have 200 billion dollar economies with populations above 3 million (with Detroit's population way ahead). Seattle and Minneapolis punch above it's weight economy wise. The last 3 are all under 3 million in population and have 100 billion dollar economies. The last 3 are more with the Baltimore, Charlotte, and Portland crowd.
Just from a general perception of prowess, reputation, and current climate, I'd say the T50 are:
1. New York City
2. Los Angeles
3. Washington, D.C.
4. San Francisco / Oakland
5. Chicago
6. Miami
7. Boston
8. Philadelphia
9. Atlanta
10. Houston
11. Seattle
12. Dallas / FTW
13. San Diego
14. Phoenix
15. Minneapolis
16. Denver
17. Baltimore
18. Las Vegas
19. Detroit
20. Austin
21. Portland
22. Pittsburgh
23. St. Louis
24. San Antonio
25. Tampa
26. Kansas City
27. San Jose
28. Charlotte
29. Sacramento
30. Nashville
31. Cincinnati
32. Orlando
33. Cleveland
34. Indianapolis
35. Columbus
36. Milwaukee
37. New Orleans
38. Salt Lake City
39. Jacksonville
40. Raleigh
41. Memphis
42. Oklahoma City
43. Louisville
44. Providence
45. Richmond
46. Buffalo
47. Virginia Beach
48. Hartford
49. Honolulu
50. Albuquerque or Birmingham or Omaha or Rochester or Tucson
Just from a general perception of prowess, reputation, and current climate, I'd say the T50 are:
1. New York City
2. Los Angeles
3. Washington, D.C.
4. San Francisco / Oakland
5. Chicago
6. Miami
7. Boston
8. Philadelphia
9. Atlanta
10. Houston
11. Seattle
12. Dallas / FTW
13. San Diego
14. Phoenix
15. Minneapolis
16. Denver
17. Baltimore
18. Las Vegas
19. Detroit
20. Austin
21. Portland
22. Pittsburgh
23. St. Louis
24. San Antonio
25. Tampa
26. Kansas City
27. San Jose
28. Charlotte
29. Sacramento
30. Nashville
31. Cincinnati
32. Orlando
33. Cleveland
34. Indianapolis
35. Columbus
36. Milwaukee
37. New Orleans
38. Salt Lake City
39. Jacksonville
40. Raleigh
41. Memphis
42. Oklahoma City
43. Louisville
44. Providence
45. Richmond
46. Buffalo
47. Virginia Beach
48. Hartford
49. Honolulu
50. Albuquerque or Birmingham or Omaha or Tucson
Not a bad list....I may put Rochester NY at 49 or 50 though due to being second in GDP in NY State. Grand Rapids may sneak in there as well.
This is something that is interesting to me, as this forum has members from all over the nation, and even Canada. What are the Top 50 U.S. Cities as of right now, in 2015?
Cities change over time and lose/gain prominence. There was a time Detroit was certainly a top 10 city, and most everyone agrees today it is probably closer to 20 than 10...
When thinking of this topic, I'm not asking about "tiers", per se, although if that's how you choose to categorize in order to answer, that's cool. Also, im not particularly asking for cities to be placed in order, unless you feel like an order is necessary. I'm already of the impression that there are only 11 true "major" cities (NY, Chi, LA, SF, DC, Boston, Philly, ATL, Miami, Houston, Dallas in no order) in the country today, so my biggest thing is the most important regional cities next. And 50 is a large number, I only settled on that as an even-out because there are 50 states. If you want to shrink the pool, be my guest...
The criteria I judge are the normal factors: economy, education, influence in pop culture, finance and wealth, diversity of economy, diversity of population, historic significance, etc. A new wrinkle I never considered before is a city's potential within the next decade, how that influences their ranking. And because most of us are American on here, this gives me a chance to see what the general American socio-demographic nerd views our cities, rather than what we read in publications...
So is Birmingham a top 50 city? Oklahoma City? Rochester? Newark or Jersey City? Oakland? All comments are helpful; nothing is out of bounds here as I'm simply trying to gauge American perspective on the importance of our cities...
I think your top tier is sort of arbitrary. Once you are in Atlanta/Dallas territory, you might as well open that tier up to Seattle, Detroit, Phoenix, San Diego, Minneapolis and Denver. Once those cities are in, you are opening yourself up to Cleveland, St. Louis, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Tampa, San Antonio, Orlando, etc. And so on, and so on.
But to answer your question, I will try to rank them. I think that there is a good amount of fluidity in these rankings....one can argue (effectively) that one of these cities on my list should be above or below another. And, generally, I am going to "tier" them instead of rank them one-by-one, to dispel controversy as much as possible, and also because there are so many big cities in the US that ranking them one-by-one is ranking them on relatively arbitrary minutia. Anyway:
1. New York
2. Washington, DC (Mostly because it is the capital, and we do have one of the most powerful governments in the world).
3. Los Angeles (Entertainment industry at the very least has it eek out Chicago, for me.
4. Chicago
5. San Francisco
6. Philadelphia
7. Houston
8. Boston
9/10/11/12: Dallas
9/10/11/12: Miami
9/10/11/12: Atlanta
9/10/11/12: Seattle
13/14/15/16: Minneapolis (as a metro area with St. Paul. Although I think Minneapolis ranks near here just on its own. Maybe I'll do an asterisk with St. Paul further down)
13/14/15/16: Phoenix
13/14/15/16: Denver
13/14/15/16: San Diego
17/18/19/20: Cleveland
17/18/19/20: Portland
17/18/19/20: Detroit
17/18/19/20: St. Louis
21/22/23/24: Tampa (again, ranks near here with or without St. Petersburg)
21/22/23/24: Baltimore
21/22/23/24: Pittsburgh
21/22/23/24: Cincinnati
25/26/27/28: New Orleans
25/26/27/28: Las Vegas
25/26/27/28: Orlando
25/26/27/28: Kansas City
29/30/31/32: Milwaukee
29/30/32/32: San Antonio
29/30/31/32: Charlotte
29/30/31/32: Buffalo
*Raleigh goes right around here. I missed it the first time, and I'm too lazy to push everybody else down (already done that a few times...)
33/34/35/36: Salt Lake City
33/34/35/36: Indianapolis
33/34/35/36: San Jose
33/34/35/36: Memphis
37/38/39/40: Santa Fe (for the history. Albuquerque is bigger though, so could fit here, too)
37/38/39/40: Albuquerque (Screw it, haha)
37/38/39/40: Nashville
*St. Paul, MN, ranks right around here
37/38/39/40: Sacramento
41/42/43/44: Columbus
41/42/43/44: Oklahoma City
41/42/43/44: Honolulu
*St. Petersburg, FL is right around here
41/42/43/44: Birmingham
45/46/47/48: Louisville
45/46/47/48: Omaha
45/46/47/48: Jacksonville
45/46/47/48: Providence
49/50: Lexington
49/50: Charleston, SC
A few honorable mentions: Madison, WI; Hartford, CT; Syracuse and Rochester, NY; Montgomery, AL; Mobile, AL; Little Rock, AR; Boise, ID; Anchorage, AK; El Paso, TX; Tucson, AZ; Rochester, MN (just because of Mayo); Des Moines, IA; Norfolk, VA; Oakland, CA; Savannah, GA
And I know I'm missing a few, and that there might be an obvious one I didn't think about, so please don't flame me.
Just from a general perception of prowess, reputation, and current climate, I'd say the T50 are:
1. New York City
2. Los Angeles
3. Washington, D.C.
4. San Francisco / Oakland
5. Chicago
6. Miami
7. Boston
8. Philadelphia
9. Atlanta
10. Houston
11. Seattle
12. Dallas / FTW
13. San Diego
14. Phoenix
15. Minneapolis
16. Denver
17. Baltimore
18. Las Vegas
19. Detroit
20. Austin
21. Portland
22. Pittsburgh
23. St. Louis
24. San Antonio
25. Tampa
26. Kansas City
27. San Jose
28. Charlotte
29. Sacramento
30. Nashville
31. Cincinnati
32. Orlando
33. Cleveland
34. Indianapolis
35. Columbus
36. Milwaukee
37. New Orleans
38. Salt Lake City
39. Jacksonville
40. Raleigh
41. Memphis
42. Oklahoma City
43. Louisville
44. Providence
45. Richmond
46. Buffalo
47. Virginia Beach
48. Hartford
49. Honolulu
50. Albuquerque or Birmingham or Omaha or Rochester or Tucson
Since San Jose is ranked separately, I wouldn't place it ahead of Chicago. Six through thirteen could be shuffled depending on who's making the list. Good list however
I think your top tier is sort of arbitrary. Once you are in Atlanta/Dallas territory, you might as well open that tier up to Seattle, Detroit, Phoenix, San Diego, Minneapolis and Denver. Once those cities are in, you are opening yourself up to Cleveland, St. Louis, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Tampa, San Antonio, Orlando, etc. And so on, and so on.
But to answer your question, I will try to rank them. I think that there is a good amount of fluidity in these rankings....one can argue (effectively) that one of these cities on my list should be above or below another. And, generally, I am going to "tier" them instead of rank them one-by-one, to dispel controversy as much as possible, and also because there are so many big cities in the US that ranking them one-by-one is ranking them on relatively arbitrary minutia. Anyway:
1. New York
2. Washington, DC (Mostly because it is the capital, and we do have one of the most powerful governments in the world).
3. Los Angeles (Entertainment industry at the very least has it eek out Chicago, for me.
4. Chicago
5. San Francisco
6. Philadelphia
7. Houston
8. Boston
9/10/11/12: Dallas
9/10/11/12: Miami
9/10/11/12: Atlanta
9/10/11/12: Seattle
13/14/15/16: Minneapolis (as a metro area with St. Paul. Although I think Minneapolis ranks near here just on its own. Maybe I'll do an asterisk with St. Paul further down)
13/14/15/16: Phoenix
13/14/15/16: Denver
13/14/15/16: San Diego
17/18/19/20: Cleveland
17/18/19/20: Portland
17/18/19/20: Detroit
17/18/19/20: St. Louis
21/22/23/24: Tampa (again, ranks near here with or without St. Petersburg)
21/22/23/24: Baltimore
21/22/23/24: Pittsburgh
21/22/23/24: Cincinnati
25/26/27/28: New Orleans
25/26/27/28: Las Vegas
25/26/27/28: Orlando
25/26/27/28: Kansas City
29/30/31/32: Milwaukee
29/30/32/32: San Antonio
29/30/31/32: Charlotte
29/30/31/32: Buffalo
*Raleigh goes right around here. I missed it the first time, and I'm too lazy to push everybody else down (already done that a few times...)
33/34/35/36: Salt Lake City
33/34/35/36: Indianapolis
33/34/35/36: San Jose
33/34/35/36: Memphis
37/38/39/40: Santa Fe (for the history. Albuquerque is bigger though, so could fit here, too)
37/38/39/40: Albuquerque (Screw it, haha)
37/38/39/40: Nashville
*St. Paul, MN, ranks right around here
37/38/39/40: Sacramento
41/42/43/44: Columbus
41/42/43/44: Oklahoma City
41/42/43/44: Honolulu
*St. Petersburg, FL is right around here
41/42/43/44: Birmingham
45/46/47/48: Louisville
45/46/47/48: Omaha
45/46/47/48: Jacksonville
45/46/47/48: Providence
49/50: Lexington
49/50: Charleston, SC
A few honorable mentions: Madison, WI; Hartford, CT; Syracuse and Rochester, NY; Montgomery, AL; Mobile, AL; Little Rock, AR; Boise, ID; Anchorage, AK; El Paso, TX; Tucson, AZ; Rochester, MN (just because of Mayo); Des Moines, IA; Norfolk, VA; Oakland, CA; Savannah, GA
And I know I'm missing a few, and that there might be an obvious one I didn't think about, so please don't flame me.
What metrics are you using to rank them?
My ranking using GDP, population, and overall influence.
I'm excluding the NY and LA mega-cities because they are in leagues of their own.
Tier 1: Chicago, Washington, Houston, Dallas. 400B+ economies
Tier 2: SF, Philly, Boston, Atlanta, Miami, Detroit, Seattle, Minneapolis, Phoenix. 200B+ economies and with 3 million or more metro.
It gets pretty messy after this and I don't have that much time so I'll just say.
Tier 3: San Diego at the top and the rest with a 100B+ economy with more than 2 million population.
Tier 4: Metros that don't have 2 million but punch above it's weight in GDP with a 100B economy.
Tier 5: Economies with 50B or more and metros of 1M or more. That list robably goes past 50 and stops somewhere around Birmingham or Buffalo.
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