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-It's the largest city in America. Mexico City is the largest in NA, but NYC is the most powerful, the most recognized, and the most cosmopolitan city on the continent!
-The most famous buildings such as the Freedom Tower and the Empire State Building are located here, as well as the Statue of Liberty, and not to mention the most famous skyline is in NYC!
-It's the media, the fashion, the advertising, and the financial and economic capital of the world, if not the continent!
-It's a global hub, meaning the United Nations is located here, as well as having the most consulates and embassies here, more than in any city in NA!
-When you ask people around the world which city is the most famous, some will say London, and others will say Paris, but the first American city that will roll of people's tongues will be NYC, and that's no argument!
It's actually Washington DC, with 177 embassies or missions. Then Ottawa at 130. Then New York at 117. Then Mexico City at 87, then Los Angeles with 66.
NYC. It's not in the middle of the continent, but it's not in some extreme corner either.
-major airports with relative proximity to the entire continent and Europe
-Easy rail and road connection to some of North America's other great cities
-Super diverse community that probably has a community, and often a sizeable one, of almost every people group in the continent
-Financial hub of the continent (and the world)
-Largest or second largest city in the continent
-Somewhat centrally located on the eastern half of Canada and the US (short flight and/or drive to Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Philly, DC, and even cities in the eastern interior like Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta).
I could see making a non-absurd case for LA, Chicago, Mexico City, Toronto, DC, and SF, but that's it. NYC by a mile.
I voted NYC. There's no contest. #1. Also, consider that Greater NYC includes the southern "panhandle" of New York State, the western 1/4-1/3 of Connecticut, about 2/3 of New Jersey, and even a little of Pennsylvania. Given the fact that New Jersey is so interconnected to both NYC and Philadelphia, and that the Philly exurb of Trenton, NJ is considered to be part of NYC's CSA, you could make the argument that Philadelphia is more closely connected to NYC than anywhere else on the East Coast.
NYC is followed by, in order:
(2) Los Angeles/San Diego/Tijuana (LA/SD/TJ)--the conurbation of Southern California and northern Baja California--including Orange County, Inland Empire, Ventura County, Coachella Valley, and Santa Barbara in "Alta" California, and Rosarito and Ensenada in northern Baja. If San Diego/Tijuana were removed from the Southern California clumping, then L.A. would still be right behind Mexico City; San Diego and Tijuana, whether separate or collectively couldn't begin to compete on their own. However, in 2017, I think between Greater L.A. and its outlying cities, San Diego, and Tijuana and its outlying cities, there's too much economic interconnectivity to disregard it as being one giant regional economy. This is the only region of North America that could even begin compete with NYC.
(3) Mexico City, including the Federal District and State of Mexico. This isn't as powerful as a capital as Washington, but it is far more robust demographically and culturally, and even as a player in the financial world, than Washington. However, since it is still the capital of a developing country, albeit a largely populated capital in a country with an gradually improving economy, it can't compete economically with NYC and LA/SD/TJ yet.
(4) Washington, including Baltimore and, increasingly arguably, Richmond and Hagerstown. The economic and population growth there for the last several decades has been impressive.
(5) Toronto, including the whole Golden Horseshoe region. For a medium-sized metropolis on the international scale, Greater Toronto packs a massive punch.
(6) San Francisco, including the overall Bay Area, the CSA counties of Monterey (cities of Monterey, and Salinas), Solano (cities of Vallejo, Fairfield and Vacaville), and San Joaquin (cities of Stockton, Tracy, Manteca, and Lodi), and, arguably, the adjacent regions of Sacramento, Stanislaus County (cities of Modesto, Turlock and Riverbank), and Merced County (cities of Merced and Atwater). All of these places are dependent, to varying degrees, on the core city and inner metropolis of San Francisco.
(7) Chicago, including Rockford, northwest Indiana and extreme southeast Wisconsin. The inner city crime and political corruption continue to really hurt this place, but the thriving Loop and affluent, prosperous suburbs more than make up for the economic and social travesties of most of Chicago's south and west sides (which are best to be avoided unless you're already very familiar with those areas).
Mind you, none of these are the "top dog" in North America, but fall immediately in line behind NYC.
The next tier falling in line would be, in order:
(8) Boston, including Providence and Manchester
(9) Dallas/Fort Worth, including Denton
(10) Houston, including Galveston, Conroe and Beaumont
(11) Atlanta, including Athens, Gainesville, and perhaps Macon, at least in a few years
(12) Miami, including Broward and Palm Beach Counties
(13) Seattle, including Tacoma and Olympia
(14) Detroit/Windsor, including Ann Arbor, Flint and Toledo
(15) Vancouver, including Surrey and Burnaby
(16) Monterrey, NL
The rest? Nah. Again, no other city than NYC can really be presented as "the face" of North America, other than possibly LA/SD/TJ. The 15 cities I listed after NYC are all respectable, though. I'm sure a case could be presented that, say, Austin/San Antonio, Phoenix, or Minneapolis/St. Paul could join the ranks with, or replace, Seattle, Vancouver, and Monterrey, but I don't think they're quite "there" just yet.
Last edited by EclecticEars; 06-17-2017 at 12:12 PM..
I voted NYC. There's no contest. #1. Also, consider that Greater NYC includes the southern "panhandle" of New York State, the western 1/4-1/3 of Connecticut, about 2/3 of New Jersey, and even a little of Pennsylvania. Given the fact that New Jersey is so interconnected to both NYC and Philadelphia, and that the Philly exurb of Trenton, NJ is considered to be part of NYC's CSA, you could make the argument that Philadelphia is more closely connected to NYC than anywhere else on the East Coast.
NYC is followed by, in order:
(2) Los Angeles/San Diego/Tijuana (LA/SD/TJ)--the conurbation of Southern California and northern Baja California--including Orange County, Inland Empire, Ventura County, Coachella Valley, and Santa Barbara in "Alta" California, and Rosarito and Ensenada in northern Baja. If San Diego/Tijuana were removed from the Southern California clumping, then L.A. would still be right behind Mexico City; San Diego and Tijuana, whether separate or collectively couldn't begin to compete on their own. However, in 2017, I think between Greater L.A. and its outlying cities, San Diego, and Tijuana and its outlying cities, there's too much economic interconnectivity to disregard it as being one giant regional economy. This is the only region of North America that could even begin compete with NYC.
(3) Mexico City, including the Federal District and State of Mexico. This isn't as powerful as a capital as Washington, but it is far more robust demographically and culturally, and even as a player in the financial world, than Washington. However, since it is still the capital of a developing country, albeit a largely populated capital in a country with an gradually improving economy, it can't compete economically with NYC and LA/SD/TJ yet.
(4) Washington, including Baltimore and, increasingly arguably, Richmond and Hagerstown. The economic and population growth there for the last several decades has been impressive.
(5) Toronto, including the whole Golden Horseshoe region. For a medium-sized metropolis on the international scale, Greater Toronto packs a massive punch.
(6) San Francisco, including the overall Bay Area, the CSA counties of Monterey (cities of Monterey, and Salinas), Solano (cities of Vallejo, Fairfield and Vacaville), and San Joaquin (cities of Stockton, Tracy, Manteca, and Lodi), and, arguably, the adjacent regions of Sacramento, Stanislaus County (cities of Modesto, Turlock and Riverbank), and Merced County (cities of Merced and Atwater). All of these places are dependent, to varying degrees, on the core city and inner metropolis of San Francisco.
(7) Chicago, including Rockford, northwest Indiana and extreme southeast Wisconsin. The inner city crime and political corruption continue to really hurt this place, but the thriving Loop and affluent, prosperous suburbs more than make up for the economic and social travesties of most of Chicago's south and west sides (which are best to be avoided unless you're already very familiar with those areas).
Mind you, none of these are the "top dog" in North America, but fall immediately in line behind NYC.
The next tier falling in line would be, in order:
(8) Boston, including Providence and Manchester
(9) Dallas/Fort Worth, including Denton
(10) Houston, including Galveston, Conroe and Beaumont
(11) Atlanta, including Athens, Gainesville, and perhaps Macon, at least in a few years
(12) Miami, including Broward and Palm Beach Counties
(13) Seattle, including Tacoma and Olympia
(14) Detroit/Windsor, including Ann Arbor, Flint and Toledo
(15) Vancouver, including Surrey and Burnaby
(16) Monterrey, NL
The rest? Nah. Again, no other city than NYC can really be presented as "the face" of North America, other than possibly LA/SD/TJ. The 15 cities I listed after NYC are all respectable, though. I'm sure a case could be presented that, say, Austin/San Antonio, Phoenix, or Minneapolis/St. Paul could join the ranks with, or replace, Seattle, Vancouver, and Monterrey, but I don't think they're quite "there" just yet.
I like your list. I disagree however with your last statement. "Austin/San Antonio, Phoenix, or Minneapolis/St. Paul could join the ranks with, or replace, Seattle, Vancouver, and Monterrey"
Even if these cities were "there", Seattle is a tier ahead. It has become a thriving urban metropolis with many urban areas within the metro, high GDP, multicultural, better weather (subjective), innovation, and the location brings in so many people for the beauty and nature alone (volcanoes, beaches, rainforests).
I think these other cities are worth mentioning, but I don't think they could join ranks with or replace Puget Sound.
I like your list. I disagree however with your last statement. "Austin/San Antonio, Phoenix, or Minneapolis/St. Paul could join the ranks with, or replace, Seattle, Vancouver, and Monterrey"
Even if these cities were "there", Seattle is a tier ahead. It has become a thriving urban metropolis with many urban areas within the metro, high GDP, multicultural, better weather (subjective), innovation, and the location brings in so many people for the beauty and nature alone (volcanoes, beaches, rainforests).
I think these other cities are worth mentioning, but I don't think they could join ranks with or replace Puget Sound.
Actually, you're right. In my list, I originally had Detroit/Windsor ahead of Seattle, then I switched their places. However, I didn't reflect that change in the accompanying explanation that you've pointed out. As I thought about it while I was making this list, I, too, thought that Seattle is a tier ahead of Detroit, Vancouver and Monterrey, let alone Austin/SA, PHX, or M/SP.
I apologize. Thank you for calling me out on my error.
Well, at least it's better than voting for Louisville.
It honestly blows my mind that, in this poll, Chicago has more votes than Mexico City or L.A. Chicago certainly packs a massive punch and is well-known and -respected internationally; but, nowadays, it's not quite on the same tier as a metropolis as Mexico City, L.A., or, arguably and I believe, DC, Toronto, or SF.
Still, Chicago is 10,000,000 times more worthy of as a contender than Louisville.
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