Most Powerful City in the South....Not Named Atlanta Dallas Houston or Miami (best, state)

[BlueRedTide]

Dallas Houston Miami or Atlanta. Can We have a discussion of Southern Cities without mentioning those 4. Is that Possible? Outside the "Big 4" The Most Influential/Powerful City in the South IS!?

-Most American influence
-Most Global Influence
-What City if it disappeared would affect the most lives

-Most powerful city in the South IS!?________

[po-boy]

Originally Posted by BlueRedTide

-Most American influence
-Most Global Influence
-What City if it disappeared would affect the most lives

-Most powerful city in the South IS!?________

I think it is pretty tough to say which city is next after the "Big Four." IMO there are several candidates:

Charlotte: From an economic standpoint the Charlotte metro is probably the most powerful. I believe it has the highest GDP of any of these cities (though Tampa is close). I think it is the second most populous of these metros (after Tampa). It is well known as a financial hub w/ the Bank of America HQ and the East coast operations of Wells Fargo. The airport is top ten in the US. It is rapidly growing. GaWC ranks it as a Gamma +. It is not, however, widely recognized for historical or cultural importance.

Tampa: From an economic standpoint Tampa is the other major candidate. It is the largest of the metros and has the second highest GDP after Charlotte. Tampa's port is one of the top 10 in the country. It is also ranked as Gamma +.

New Orleans: From a cultural and historic standpoint, NOLA is the clear winner. It was long the most important city in the South (when the current Big Four were either non-existent or small settlements) and it has made important contributions in music and food. These days New Orleans is still an important city with an economy centered on its port, energy, and tourism.

Austin: Capital of one of the largest states in the Union, also an educational, technology, and cultural center.

Raleigh: Another state capital, it is also an educational and technology center.

Nashville: Like Austin and Raleigh, Nashville is a state capital. It has an excellent university, but is not an educational center on the same level as the other two. It obviously has huge cultural influence in the musical industry and is also important in healthcare, manufacturing and publishing.

Norfolk/VA Beach: OP has these listed separately, but I think they function as one metro. Huge port and military center.

Several other places have arguments as well: Charleston (history), Orlando (size and tourism), Memphis (music), Richmond (history and economy), etc.

I'm currently leaning towards either Charlotte for the size of its economy and population, or New Orleans for its port and incredible cultural combinations. Before I vote I'm going to read some more responses and see if anyone can convince me one way or the other.

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

In my opinion, its Charlotte because of the large financial ties.

[BullochResident]

Can't single it out, but Tampa, NOLA, Nashville, Charlotte, and Raleigh/Durham definitely have large footprints over the region.

[MrKnight]

Orlando puts up a good fight as well, if Charlotte is mentioned then Orlando should also be mentioned, both cities are very comparable as metro regions and in some areas (such as tourism, conventions, healthcare, higher education) Orlando beats out Charlotte easily..

[Trafalgar Law]

Originally Posted by BlueRedTide

-Most American influence

All of the above. All are American cities, therefore it is standardized that all of them are directly influenced by the country they were established in and vice versa (the place these cities influence the most when they become influential cities most prominently is none other than America -- the country that hosts them).

So like a billion way tie here for every city in the American South in regards to "most American influence." All are equally American.

Originally Posted by BlueRedTide

-Most Global Influence

This is without a shred of doubt Orlando. Tampa Bay Area is larger by 1.5 million people (4.5 million to 3 million) but Orlando is far more global.

One way to see how global a city is to see where in the world the city serves as a nexus and gateway to and from with the use of its airports and seaports (or even land-crossing bridges or passes (like an international border or so)).

Here are the top contending cities outside of the "Big 4 or 5" (for those that wish to include Washington, D.C. as apart of the American South (nothing wrong with that, by the way)).

Number of International Airports, 2015:
- Tampa Bay Area: 3 (Tampa International, Saint Petersburg-Clearwater International, Sarasota-Bradenton International)
- Orlando: 2 (Orlando International and Orlando-Sanford International)
- Austin: 1 (Austin-Bergstrom International)
- Charlotte: 1 (Charlotte Douglas International)
- San Antonio: 1 (San Antonio International)
- Raleigh-Durham: 1 (Raleigh-Durham International)
- New Orleans: 1 (Louis Armstrong New Orleans International)
- Nashville: 1 (Nashville International)

Foreign Flag Carriers, 2015:
- Orlando: 27 foreign flag carriers
- Tampa Bay Area: 8 foreign flag carriers
- San Antonio: 4 foreign flag carriers
- Austin: 3 foreign flag carriers
- Charlotte: 3 foreign flag carriers
- New Orleans: 3 foreign flag carriers
- Raleigh-Durham: 1 foreign flag carrier
- Nashville: 1 foreign flag carrier

Continents Serviced, 2015
- Orlando: 4 (Europe, Asia, North America, South America)
- Charlotte: 3 (Europe, North America, South America)
- Tampa Bay Area: 2 (Europe, North America)
- Austin: 2 (Europe, North America)
- Raleigh-Durham: 2 (Europe, North America)
- San Antonio: 1 (North America)
- New Orleans: 1 (North America)
- Nashville: 1 (North America)

Moving on from airport information, there are also things like foreign born percentage of metropolitan areas which tells you how many people and what percentage of people of an overall area is actually not from the United States but from outside of its borders. Foreign born, more or less, will denote cities that actually are pulling in people from outside of American soil, it's simple to understand, the more American borns you have, the more "American" based you are as that is all your city's culture really knows organically. The more foreign borns you have, the more and more your city's economical and social environment is influenced by people, ideas, or concepts from outside of America but for the cities in this thread, none of them are like world-beaters or anything in this department, so keep that in mind.

All places within the census designated "American South" are underlined, the ones that I want people to focus on (meaning the ones that qualify for this thread) are underlined and in bold.

Born overseas (by percentages):
- Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL: 38.21%
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA: 36.44%
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA: 34.07%
- San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA: 29.69%
- New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA: 28.99%
- San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA: 23.40%
- Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX: 21.94%
- Las Vegas-Paradise, NV: 21.75%
- Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV: 21.61%
- Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA: 21.32%
- Honolulu, HI: 19.33%
- Sacramento--Arden-Arcade--Roseville, CA: 17.94%
- Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL-IN-WI: 17.78%
- Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX: 17.51%
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA: 16.93%
- Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH: 16.79%
- San Antonio–New Braunfels, TX: 16.68%
- Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL: 16.40%
- Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX: 14.94%
- Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ: 14.51%
- Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA: 13.25%
- Tucson, AZ: 12.94%
- Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA: 12.47%
- Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL: 12.45%
- Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO: 12.10%
- Salt Lake City, UT: 11.78%
- San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX: 11.71%
- New Orleans–Metairie-Kenner, LA: 11.62%
- Raleigh-Cary, NC: 11.42%
- Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC-SC: 12.27%
- Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD: 9.79%
- Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI: 9.73%
- Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI: 8.70%
- Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN: 5.03%

Orlando also seems to shut the competition down in the tourism sector, which it absolutely annihilates. The only "Southern" city that surpasses it there is Miami/Fort Lauderdale and that is it.

Overseas Tourism, 2014:
- Orlando: 4.13 million
- Tampa Bay Area: 551,000
- New Orleans: 344,000
- Austin: Not Available
- San Antonio: Not Available
- Charlotte: Not Available
- Raleigh-Durham: Not Available
- Nashville: Not Available

Originally Posted by BlueRedTide

-What City if it disappeared would affect the most lives

Uh, what?

Originally Posted by BlueRedTide

-Most powerful city in the South IS!?________

Based off your criteria, which didn't include things that actually are important to discussing "importance" of a city like Gross Domestic Product, Total Personal Income, key industries, foreign investment, venture capital funding, angel investing, educational facilities, graduate schools, market capitalization, Fortune 500 and 1000, top privately held corporations, government, research and development, logistics, trade, human capital, purchasing power, among other factors. We cannot answer the question.

We cannot answer the question because you never made relevant criteria apart of this thread. All you did was give three sub-categories and one question, the question is vague as hell and expect people to say either their favorite city or the one they live in (don't ever expect anything less than that on City-Data, ever) OR off-topic discussions about what the South even is and what areas are in it (pretty standard).

Given the criteria you have given (which really isn't much at all -- at all), the answer is Orlando as it rounds up your criteria the best. In reality, the most important of the bunch actually requires looking at real factors to make the decision of which is most important. From the information you asked for, Orlando, though.

[cdw1084]

The answer here is Charlotte. I think Tampa and Nashville are right behind but Charlotte has the edge overall.

[Pyroninja42]

Who the heck voted Savannah?

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by Pyroninja42

Who the heck voted Savannah?

And Mobile

[Pyroninja42]

Nah man, Mobile's a friggin' juggernaut. Watch out, NYC. Alabama's coming for your throat.