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That may be, but everyone judges cities on their entire metro. With that being the case Detroit would blow Minneapolis out of the water, as you like to say. It’s larger and thus has a bigger economy, it’s on the border with Canada and is the busiest crossing in trade volume, is in a better location closer to major cities, has a much more storied history, and finally it’s still a global player known around the world. I understand you’re proud of your city, but you need to look at this objectively.
I think city limits need to be put into consideration as well. MSP offers a much better urban big city experience compared to Detroit. And it was only a few years ago when MSP surpassed Detroit, even with it's smaller population, in GDP before Detroit surpassed them again.
San Diego MSA economy is nearly 15% larger than Denver's. San Diego's economy is closer in size to Phoenix, Minneapolis, and Detroit than it is to Denver.
I think it's reasonable to include Boulder when it comes to the Denver area. The difference is much smaller and they're right next to each other with SD having a slight $4M edge. Denver also has an ever so slightly higher GDP per capita with or without Boulder though
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Also, that's just on one side of the border. San Diego's binational economy far surpasses Denver or Phoenix. The economies are very much interlinked. Manufacturing on one side, white collar on the other.
That's fair enough
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In what way does it "say a lot"? Non-coastal cities can have major industries...?
It says a lot because apparently Denver doesn't need a major industry in order to have a robust economy. The economy has been ranked as one of the most diverse in the US for years now. But with that said, Denver is still a hub for Aerospace, telecommunications, energy and government...so it's not like it's lacking industry at all. As far as coastal vs non coastal, it's undeniable that being a coastal city is an advantage in many cases.
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Population size does not equate to importance.
Well it wouldn't if San Diego had a larger economy than Phoenix
Last edited by Gfitz1010; 04-24-2020 at 04:39 PM..
The urban core matters, whether that's "greater downtown" or the central 100 square miles. But which parts are within a local government boundary isn't relevant to this discussion.
I think it's reasonable to include Boulder when it comes to the Denver area. The difference is much smaller and they're right next to each other with SD having a slight $4 million edge. Denver also has an ever so slightly higher GDP per capita with or without Boulder though
Honestly, we can go back and forth on this and San Diego will always be notably larger. San Diego only has a slight advantage when you lump in Boulder, but also exclude nearly 2.1 million people tied into the San Diego economy in SW Riverside (500K) and Tijuana (1.6M).
It's really not comparable.
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It says a lot because apparently Denver doesn't need a major industry in order to have a robust economy. The economy has been ranked as one of the most diverse in the US for years now.
It's not about having a more robust economy, it's about how influential/important is its economy; San Diego clearly already has a larger economy. You could make the case that Denver's economy is more important if it stood out in key industries...but it doesn't.
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But with that said, Denver is still a hub for Aerospace, telecommunications, energy and government...so it's not like it's lacking industry at all.
Definitely not lacking, but I don't think these industries are more important than San Diego's from a national/global perspective. SD is more prominent in telecommunications and its defense + ship-building is more prominent than Denver's aerospace & government industries. Also, SD is a global biotech/life sciences hub. And then trade as well...
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As far as coastal vs non coastal, it's undeniable that being a coastal city is an advantage in many cases.
Minneapolis, Atlanta, Dallas, etc. seem to be doing fine. Not sure why Denver gets special recognition.
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Well it wouldn't if San Diego had a larger economy than Phoenix
You do realize that Phoenix's economy is only 4% larger than San Diego's, despite having 50% more people, right?
SD easily overcomes that difference if you add in even a fraction of the 2.1 million-strong economies of SW Riverside and Tijuana. And again, what industries make Phoenix important?
11 - Miami
Self explanatory, no explanation should be needed. It doesn't even belong in this group
~gap~
12 - Seattle
Amazon, Boeing, & Microsoft are HQ'd here as well as it being the shipping port for the Pacific North West. It's on full on economic rocket fuel right now. That being said it's GDP is acutally larger than Miami's but the formers cultural/international significance is magnitudes larger.
13 - Detroit
I don't care how disheveled its economy is now or how much population the city has lost over the years, The American Auto industry is still centered here and by trade value, it still has the largest border crossing.
14 - San Diego
Pacific Naval fleet, Border crossing with Mexico, emerging bio-tech, I could go on.
15 - Minneapolis-St. Paul
Multiple Fortune 500 companies, and a very diverse healthy economy and growing
16 - Baltimore
NSA has been HQ'd in the metro for the last +70 yrs now, healthcare/bio-tech powerhouse, still has 1 of 5 deep water ports on the East Coast
17 - Phoenix
Strong regional economy, but it's big fish in a small pond
18 - Denver
Read above just even more extreme
If anyone is using GDP as a baseline..
Seattle - 395B
Miami - 354B
Detroit - 267B
Minneapolis-St. Paul - 263B
Phoenix - 255B
San Diego - 247B
Denver - 214B
Baltimore - 205B
11- Miami
Self explanatory, no explanation should be needed. It doesn't even belong in this group
~gap~
12- Seattle
Amazon, Boeing, & Microsoft are HQ'd here as well as it being the shipping port for the Pacific North West. It's on full on economic rocket fuel right now 13- Detroit
I don't care how disheveled its economy is now or how much population the city has lost over the years, The American Auto industry is still centered here and by trade value, it still has the largest border crossing. 14- San Diego
Pacific Naval fleet, Border crossing with Mexico, emerging bio-tech, I could go on. 15- Minneapolis-St. Paul
Multiple Fortune 500 companies, and a very diverse healthy economy and growing 16- Baltimore
NSA has been HQ'd in the metro for the last +70 yrs now, healthcare/bio-tech powerhouse, still has 1 of 5 deep water ports on the East Coast
17- Phoenix
Strong regional economy, but it's big fish in a small pond 18- Denver
Read above just even more extreme
I don't think the gap between Miami and Seattle is large at all, and you can definitely make the argument that Seattle is inches ahead of Miami...
There is a gap between those two cities and the rest, though...
Cities to watch in 2020s Austin, Portland, Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Nashville, Milwaukee
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