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There's clearly a bias against Jacksonville (there always has been as FL's red-headed stepchild) mostly due to its non-Florida like feel and more commonality with its neighboring state of Georgia.
Reality however dictates it's one of the hottest metros with a clear upward trajectory due to its more favorable location, cost of living, family-friendliness (surprisingly good schools), diverse economy and overall amenities.
Jacksonville is the home of CSX and Fidelity along with major operations for AT&T, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, CB Richard Ellis, Northrop Grumman, Bank of America and Wells Fargo among others (all employing 2000+). The military maintains Naval Air Station Jacksonville which is the largest military installation in the Southeast. The Port of Jacksonville is one of a handful of deepwater ports on the eastern seaboard that handles a sizeable percentage of imported container goods and automobiles from all over the world. The city is also home to one of two satellite Mayo Clinics in the US along with the U of Florida-Shands Medical Center satellite location and the massive Baptist Health complex making it a top medical referral center in the Southeast US.
Anyone believing the city is lacking in relevance has no clue clearly of how relevant it has become.
The more that I think about this, the more that I don't really know if any of the cities listed truly fit the criteria. Granted... I know next to nothing about Jacksonville, but given what you're saying it seems like another city that's booming in it's own right, in a hyper competitive state.
There's clearly a bias against Jacksonville (there always has been as FL's red-headed stepchild) mostly due to its non-Florida like feel and more commonality with its neighboring state of Georgia.
Reality however dictates it's one of the hottest metros with a clear upward trajectory due to its more favorable location, cost of living, family-friendliness (surprisingly good schools), diverse economy and overall amenities.
Jacksonville is the home of CSX and Fidelity along with major operations for AT&T, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, CB Richard Ellis, Northrop Grumman, Bank of America and Wells Fargo among others (all employing 2000+). The military maintains Naval Air Station Jacksonville which is the largest military installation in the Southeast. The Port of Jacksonville is one of a handful of deepwater ports on the eastern seaboard that handles a sizeable percentage of imported container goods and automobiles from all over the world. The city is also home to one of two satellite Mayo Clinics in the US along with the U of Florida-Shands Medical Center satellite location and the massive Baptist Health complex making it a top medical referral center in the Southeast US.
Anyone believing the city is lacking in relevance has no clue clearly of how relevant it has become.
It was also the home of one of CSX's two predecessor railroads, the Seaboard Coast Line (and for all I know, it was also home to one of SCL's two predecessors, which were the Seaboard Air Line and the Atlantic Coast Line. SCL merged with the Chessie System (C&O/B&O) to form CSX).
The SCL also owned Jacksonville's daily newspaper, the Florida Times-Union. I once read a Columbia Journalism Review article about the paper that said that because of this, "in Jacksonville, trains don't hit cars, cars hit trains."
The more that I think about this, the more that I don't really know if any of the cities listed truly fit the criteria. Granted... I know next to nothing about Jacksonville, but given what you're saying it seems like another city that's booming in it's own right, in a hyper competitive state.
All these cities are growing though. That's part of the criteria (population increasing).
Well, it still has and (barring some catastrophe) always will have the single most iconic historic building in all of Texas as a star to hitch its wagon to.
Who among us doesn't "remember the Alamo"? Its name also graces one of the big rental-car companies, National Car Rental's affiliate (like Budget is with Avis).
Yeah, that is why I remembered it as a kid. But the Alamo is definitely less discussed nowadays. Not exactly de-emphasized, but the Baby Boomer fascination with Davy Crockett didn't carryover.
For what it’s worth, I actually really like San Antonio. It’s a great value and is much more geographically interesting than Houston and Dallas. I like the downtown too, it’s pretty unique with all the Mexican influence there. I also like that’s sort of on the dividing line between the southeast and southwest. It’s not the most modern city, but I also wouldn’t want it to be. The city strikes a great balance in many areas.
The more that I think about this, the more that I don't really know if any of the cities listed truly fit the criteria. Granted... I know next to nothing about Jacksonville, but given what you're saying it seems like another city that's booming in it's own right, in a hyper competitive state.
And that's the non-Florida like characteristic in the plus column. Unlike Orlando for example Jacksonville's rapid growth has not been on the backs of tourism and the service sector, rather more highly-skilled jobs like finance and technology.
The case for Charlotte has nothing to do with it not growing. It’s only a question of its relative standing in the region. What was once a clear-case of #2 in the Southeast (non-Florida division) is now a bit more muddled. Nothing to do with Charlotte per se, just the Southeast is exploding everywhere. Nashville in particular, while smaller, is stealing a bunch of thunder.
But again, San Antonio is a much clearer example of this growth while losing regional clout.
It's standing in the southeast has not changed. If anything it continues to increase. Nashville is nice but it's not there yet...
1 Jacksonville, FL - agree with this one. Not a ton of companies here, not nationally well known and is a fast grower, but you'd never know it
2 Phoenix, AZ - somewhat agree but also disagree with Phoenix. It is "smaller" downtown than it should be for a metro of 5 million, but it has gained traction economy and job-wise the past few years, especially. So I think if it continues on this trajectory, it will be better positioned
3 San Antonio, TX - Dallas, Houston and Austin all outshine it, but it has a strong diverse economy and is well known. I disagree with this one
4 Oklahoma City - agree. It is growing, but is still focused on oil and energy (which is a good economic area), but not much else is known about the city
5 Charlotte - somewhat agree. The city has grown with finance, but also goes down with finance, if the market sinks. The city needs to diversify and its downtown was hit hard after the pandemic. It's a pretty generic city
6 San Jose - highly disagree here. HUGE economic powerhouse that gets more well known with growth
7 Other City - 15 votes - wish I knew what cities they were lol
8 Columbus - agree somewhat. Sort of vanilla capital city that is a nice area. Not known for much other than Ohio State and retail brand HQs
9 Austin - disagree, but received few votes. Austin gets more and more prominent nationally, each year
10 Nashville - disagree, but received the least votes. Nashville is the opposite city on this topic. It gets much more relevant and bigger, more companies flock here, and it gets more famous and well known each year
Despite its "small" downtown (which has actually seen growth that is often ignored on this forum) which shouldn't solely be an indicator of relevance, Phoenix shouldn't be on this list at all. It has diversified its economy so much and is now positioned as a leader in the semiconductor industry with newly-arrived TSMC and its vendors, growth with Intel, other companies like NXP, Onsemi, and the potential for more supply chain growth as a result. It will continue to have a snowball effect.
Not to mention Phoenix is a leader in manufacturing growth.
It's standing in the southeast has not changed. If anything it continues to increase. Nashville is nice but it's not there yet...
Charlotte is still 2nd in the SE. But there was a time if MLB was expanding and looking at the SE, Charlotte would have been the only market it would have looked at. Today Nashville is probably the frontrunner and the guy in charge of NC’s bid has pushed his preference for Raleigh. This is not because Charlotte is stalling or even slowing down. It’s simply that the region is more crowded than it used to be.
Charlotte is still 2nd in the SE. But there was a time if MLB was expanding and looking at the SE, Charlotte would have been the only market it would have looked at. Today Nashville is probably the frontrunner and the guy in charge of NC’s bid has pushed his preference for Raleigh. This is not because Charlotte is stalling or even slowing down. It’s simply that the region is more crowded than it used to be.
Charlotte is not very relevant culturally. Nashville is more well known for its culture and tourism. I don't see that changing as it grows. Nashville will likely see MLB before Charlotte, not due to population but demand. The Superbowl will likely choose Nashville when it's new closed dome stadium is completed.
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