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Inspired by the Southern City Tiers thread. I've personally been to half of what I consider to be the Top 20 Northeast cities...
Like some others, I don't consider DC or Baltimore to be totally Northeastern cities; however, I recognize the consensus opinion is that they both are and I'd agree that they are both more Northern-leaning than Southern-leaning, so they both are included here...
Also, while I of course recognize similarities that Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Rochester have with the Great Lakes Midwest, I do not consider those cities Midwestern and I think the consensus follows that they are Northeastern cities...
Newark's inclusion is based upon the fact that it is more of a standalone city than Jersey City, which functions as an elite Manhattan suburb or "Manhattan west". Newark is the most prominent city in its own state, always has been, and has the influence, amenities, and infrastructure of being judged singularly...
Lastly, I believe we'd all agree New York is in a tier to itself, and the next three cities are all bunched, so I think the fun part if this thread is seeing how we all regard the other cities besides the Big 4...
Inspired by the Southern City Tiers thread. I've personally been to nearly half of what I consider to be the Top 20 Northeast cities...
Like some others, I don't consider DC or Baltimore to be totally Northeastern cities; however, I recognize the consensus opinion is that they both are and I'd agree that they are both more Northern-leaning than Southern-leaning, so they both are included here...
Also, while I of course recognize similarities that Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Rochester have with the Great Lakes Midwest, I do not consider those cities Midwestern and I think the consensus follows that they are Northeastern cities...
Lastly, I believe we'd all agree New York is in a tier to itself, and the next three cities are all bunched, so I think the fun part if this thread is seeing how we all regard the other cities besides the Big 4...
Tier 1
New York
Tier 2
Washington, Philadelphia, Boston
Tier 3
Baltimore, Newark
Tier 4
Pittsburgh
Tier 5
Bridgeport, Hartford, Providence
Tier 6
Buffalo, Rochester, Albany
Tier 7
New Haven, Allentown, Worcester
Tier 8
Harrisburg, Syracuse, Trenton, Portland
Is this for the city proper or for the metro area? That will help determine a lot of this.
If it is for just the city, I'd move Pittsburgh up one, Providence up one, Buffalo and Rochester up one(if not 2) and Syracuse up one.
I dare say that Newark goes down one as well. Same for Albany.
Again, this will all depend on what is being used to determine this and there is likely some give or take in terms of adjustments.
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 10-02-2017 at 07:22 AM..
Why is Hartford/Providence in a different tier than Buffalo/Rochester?
I know Providence probably looks pretty big but about 200,000 of its "metro" in MA is really New Bedford and it's suburbs, and a bit are Boston Sunurbs in the far NE. If you look at it's NECTA it has about 300,000 fewer people.
I group cities according to metropolitan GDP. The range of a city's economy (which is given by metro) do more to explain the amenities and "class" of a city than by looking at population alone...
Example: Syracuse city population would rank it above Albany were that the defining criteria. Metro population would have them considered in roughly the same tier to some. However, Albany's economy is $20 billion/38% larger than Syracuse's, and this much is evident within the cities. Albany feels like a larger city, attracts more large events and entertainment, has greater income levels and less income disparity, nicer venues, etc. Albany and Syracuse would only be considered equal looking at population figures. The amenities of Albany is easily at a higher level than those of Syracuse...
Re: Hartford and Providence, those cities have much larger economies than Buffalo and Rochester. They are more prosperous within their own states. Personally, I felt like Providence is busier and just has a greater liveliness than anywhere in New York besides The City. It also feels larger than both Buffalo and Rochester, it doesn't seem as insular as those cities and looked and felt more cultured...
Regarding size, this seems to corroborate the UA numbers. Providence is well in excess of 20% larger UA than Hartford and Buffalo. I've never been to Hartford, maybe its more on scale with Buffalo and Rochester?
I'd never equate Providence to Buffalo, though!
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Sigh, everyone always forgets about Delaware. If you're going to include Trenton and Portland, you have to include Wilmington. And I think you have to switch places between Tier 6 and Tier 5. Buffalo by itself is bigger and more renowned than any of those cities, including Providence. Providence is possibly Tier 5, but no way the CT cities are more important than the NY ones.
I group cities according to metropolitan GDP. The range of a city's economy (which is given by metro) do more to explain the amenities and "class" of a city than by looking at population alone...
Example: Syracuse city population would rank it above Albany were that the defining criteria. Metro population would have them considered in roughly the same tier to some. However, Albany's economy is $20 billion/38% larger than Syracuse's, and this much is evident within the cities. Albany feels like a larger city, attracts more large events and entertainment, has greater income levels and less income disparity, nicer venues, etc. Albany and Syracuse would only be considered equal looking at population figures. The amenities of Albany is easily at a higher level than those of Syracuse...
Re: Hartford and Providence, those cities have much larger economies than Buffalo and Rochester. They are more prosperous within their own states. Personally, I felt like Providence is busier and just has a greater liveliness than anywhere in New York besides The City. It also feels larger than both Buffalo and Rochester, it doesn't seem as insular as those cities and looked and felt more cultured...
Regarding size, this seems to corroborate the UA numbers. Providence is well in excess of 20% larger UA than Hartford and Buffalo. I've never been to Hartford, maybe its more on scale with Buffalo and Rochester?
I'd never equate Providence to Buffalo, though!
I always felt "Providence" was fairly decentralized within the metro. Fall River (which I think is in the UA), New Bedford, even to some extent Woonsocket and Newport are culturally and economically significant. While Buffalo has Niagara Falls it's not really comparable to either Fall River or New Bedford in terms of anything but Tourism. Rochester is very mono-centric.
Also Rochester/Buffalo are considered "the city" in terms of cultural amenities for regions outside their census defined regions while Providence doesn't even really own its entire home MSA.
At least with Providence it's somewhat similar to Worcester in that it's inflated by spillover from Boston that doesn't impact the city center but the fringes of the Metro. (Eh. Attleboro, Westboro etc)
I would say Bridgeport probably shouldn't be with Hartford and Providence. There are a lot of companies in Fairfield County, but there aren't a lot in Bridgeport.
I think Pittsburgh belongs above Newark, but it's not quite a peer of Baltimore. I could see Baltimore and Pittsburgh as being tiers of one, but it's probably better to group them.
Inspired by the Southern City Tiers thread. I've personally been to half of what I consider to be the Top 20 Northeast cities...
Like some others, I don't consider DC or Baltimore to be totally Northeastern cities; however, I recognize the consensus opinion is that they both are and I'd agree that they are both more Northern-leaning than Southern-leaning, so they both are included here...
Also, while I of course recognize similarities that Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Rochester have with the Great Lakes Midwest, I do not consider those cities Midwestern and I think the consensus follows that they are Northeastern cities...
Newark's inclusion is based upon the fact that it is more of a standalone city than Jersey City, which functions as an elite Manhattan suburb or "Manhattan west". Newark is the most prominent city in its own state, always has been, and has the influence, amenities, and infrastructure of being judged singularly...
Lastly, I believe we'd all agree New York is in a tier to itself, and the next three cities are all bunched, so I think the fun part if this thread is seeing how we all regard the other cities besides the Big 4...
Tier 1
New York
Tier 2
Washington, Philadelphia, Boston
Tier 3
Baltimore, Newark
Tier 4
Pittsburgh
Tier 5
Bridgeport, Hartford, Providence
Tier 6
Buffalo, Rochester, Albany
Tier 7
New Haven, Allentown, Worcester
Tier 8
Harrisburg, Syracuse, Trenton, Portland
Pittsburgh has nothing in common with the Midwest Great Lakes region. If you look at the architecture and street grids you would have realized that. Pittsburgh is 2 hours from Lake Erie. Pittsburgh does not have the flat landscape with wide blvd's. Pittsburgh is a mostly brick city with very narrow streets even in the downtown central core.
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