Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
San Fransisco feels a bit weird being included in this... It's not really like the others except in density. It matches up better with Seattle or Miami than with others on the list.
Anyway, my vote is:
NYC >>> Toronto > Chicago > LA >> DC
I'm biased with Chicago and could see an argument for putting LA in front of it. But DC is a pretty distant last in my mind.
This is my feeling/experience, not my attempt to gage others views. I picked Chicago. The rapp it gets nationally for its crime fails to take into consideration that the vast majority of that crime takes place in isolated pockets and most isn't random (victim/perpetrator know each other). I've never even remotely felt unsafe there. With that taken into consideration, with it's great purchasing power, vast recreational asset, nice clean downtown, and (as I've found) really friendly/helpful people, it's one of my favorite cities anywhere.
I like DC as well. My only knock on them would be their COL.
LA and Toronto are expensive, but have a lot to do. Wouldn't want to live there.
NYC is an incredible place to visit, but would die if I had to live there.
San Francisco; I've never wanted to live there, but use to love visiting. But after my last visit, between the human feces/urine everywhere, homeless camps, the mentally ill on the BART trains, fist fights in the parks (I saw with my own eyes), it resembles a 3rd world country rather than the wonderful city I visited years ago. And this is not even mentioning their COL that's 5x the national average. It's actually heartbreaking. I don't know when I'll ever go again. Just sad, smh.
This is my feeling/experience, not my attempt to gage others views. I picked Chicago. The rapp it gets nationally for its crime fails to take into consideration that the vast majority of that crime takes place in isolated pockets and most isn't random (victim/perpetrator know each other). I've never even remotely felt unsafe there. With that taken into consideration, with it's great purchasing power, vast recreational asset, nice clean downtown, and (as I've found) really friendly/helpful people, it's one of my favorite cities anywhere.
I like DC as well. My only knock on them would be their COL.
LA and Toronto are expensive, but have a lot to do. Wouldn't want to live there.
NYC is an incredible place to visit, but would die if I had to live there.
San Francisco; I've never wanted to live there, but use to love visiting. But after my last visit, between the human feces/urine everywhere, homeless camps, the mentally ill on the BART trains, fist fights in the parks (I saw with my own eyes), it resembles a 3rd world country rather than the wonderful city I visited years ago. And this is not even mentioning their COL that's 5x the national average. It's actually heartbreaking. I don't know when I'll ever go again. Just sad, smh.
But this is about the reputation and not your experience with the city. I love Chicago as a city and it's my favorite on the list but sadly give its nickname as Chi-raq and all the bad crap that's associated with it, it's definitely not on the top of the list.
Anyways Toronto doesn't have much of a reputation of the US but on the flipside no one hears anything bad about it.
San Francisco is still portrayed as that charming city and I don't think it's huge backlashes associated with affordability and homelessness is nationally present with people. Maybe it is but I don't think to the extent that it really is.
Washington DC is associated with politicians nationally and all the crap that goes with it. Don't think it's at the top.
Los Angeles is... I don't know. It's famous for a lot of things but infamous for a lot of things. I think it's problems are more present on the national stage.
NYC is NYC. I still think it has the highest regarded reputation. It's just that powerful of a city despite it's issues.
So for me it goes: NYC > SF > LA > Toronto > Chicago > DC
I dont count Toronto because its talked about so little by Americans and US media outlets that I dont think the vast majority of Americans know as much about it as they do about the others, which are all in the news all the time for very negative things.
Haven't heard much about Toronto since the Rob Ford days..............
It's weird to have Toronto in this list about "national" reputation as it's not in the same "nation" as the others.
Though I'd agree that its reputation in the U.S. tends to be a good one, even if most Americans are pretty slim on the details, and base their views on vague stereotypes.
It's weird to have Toronto in this list about "national" reputation as it's not in the same "nation" as the others.
Though I'd agree that its reputation in the U.S. tends to be a good one, even if most Americans are pretty slim on the details, and base their views on vague stereotypes.
I thought they was odd too, but I agree it has a great reputation overall, even if it probably doesn't get thought of too often once one is south of DC or west of Chicago. From Pittsburgh, it actually is the closest global city to us, so I know plenty of people who have visited there.
I dont count Toronto because its talked about so little by Americans and US media outlets that I dont think the vast majority of Americans know as much about it as they do about the others, which are all in the news all the time for very negative things.
Conservative media outlets constantly bash all these cities 24/7 that I think half the country literally hates them just because Fox and Rush tell them to.
It's a real travesty.
Funniest part is Fox is in NYC. If it's so bad here, why does Fox stay I voted NYC, though, because I think even the most conservative of people come to visit and find at least something of value because it's literally just NYC and everyone visits. You could argue the same for DC with everyone visiting, but even on here we see how much criticism DC gets. I love the DC, but I criticize some aspects of it like I do all cities.
As for the other cities, I don't think Toronto gets enough attention in the US for it to really have a reputation. Chicago and SF have the worst I think. Chicago because Fox continues pushing that it's basically Iraq city-wide and there are no nice neighborhoods and whites are under attack. SF because Fox gets to push the term "San Francisco Liberal" and hold everything against Nancy Pelosi who reps SF. Then on the other side, liberals dislike SF for a variety of reasons as well. LA is somewhere in the middle because it gets a horrible reputation from urbanists, liberals, and conservatives for varying reasons, yet everyone from small towns across America has a dream of partying in the Hills with their favorite celebrity so they move there.
I actually love these threads and this is another good group. I picked Toronto with a slight edge over NYC.
If we're talking just the C-D forum, I might go with NYC, but overall, Toronto really has an incredibly stellar reputation that's only growing stronger. Vancouver may be the only other North American city that has a reputation that's skewed so heavily towards the positive. All of these cities have outstanding reputations and deservedly so. NYC (and maybe SF) are also very heavily skewed toward the positive, but I hear more negative, anecdotally, about NYC and SF than I do about Toronto. Particularly with regards to being "dirty," having homelessness issues, transit/infrastructure issues, etc. Again, nothing terrible, but enough to give Toronto an edge.
Toronto has a great reputation too, but NYC tops this list.
San Francisco used to be well-regarded, but more and more the past year or so, I hear negative things about the city: the homelessness, the outrageous rents and the crime is on the slow uptick. I'd put San Fran in the middle of the pack, despite these things.
LA next, then DC, then Chicago last. Chicago due to high crime, Illinois' tax issues, and the pretty tough Chicago winters.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I voted NYC, though, because I think even the most conservative of people come to visit and find at least something of value because it's literally just NYC and everyone visits. You could argue the same for DC with everyone visiting, but even on here we see how much criticism DC gets. I love the DC, but I criticize some aspects of it like I do all cities.
