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First of all: if Harrisburg made the GaWC list this year (it made the "Sufficiency" category), and if Ciudad Juarez is on it but not its US twin El Paso, then I'd include a bunch of smaller and mid-sized cities not on that list for consideration here.
Second: I'm leaving my forever hometown of Kansas City and my adopted hometown of Philadelphia off this list, but I'd highly recommend you visit both if you haven't. I'd say both belong, if not in your top 5, then in your top 10, and Kansas City especially will surprise you; as others have noted here, it punches well above its weight.
Here are the large/medium-sized (100k+) cities I've spent time in (* = not on the GaWC list; ** = had fewer than 100k residents when I visited or last visited it):
Albuquerque*
Baltimore
Beaumont TX*
Boston
Charleston SC* **
Chicago
Cleveland
Columbia MO* **
Columbus
Dallas
Dayton*
Des Moines
Detroit
Durham*
El Paso*
Houston
Indianapolis
Lansing MI
Los Angeles
Louisville
Manchester NH* **
Miami
Minneapois/St. Paul
Mobile AL*
Nashville
New Haven*
New Orleans
New York
Omaha
Pittsburgh
Providence*
Richmond
San Francisco/Oakland
Savannah*
Seattle
Springfield IL* **
Springfield MA*
Shreveport*
Topeka*
Washington DC
Worcester
And here are the smaller (50-100k) cities I've spent time in:
Harrisburg
Lancaster PA*
Lawrence KS*
Lynn MA*
Portland ME*
St Joseph MO*
Wilmington DE*
(Charlottesvile VA and Niagara Falls NY just miss the mark. Harrisburg's population recently dipped below 50k.)
Of these, my top five major/mid-sized cities are, in rough order:
Chicago - The City of the Broad Shoulders has that big-city swagger but lacks New York's arrogance. Probably the best downtown skyline of any large US city. Lots of cool neighborhoods to explore, outstanding museums, and a great food scene.
Houston - Like LA, a drive-everywhere place (even though LA now has a subway and several light metro lines); unlike it, the locals are refreshingly lacking in attitude. Probably the most polyglot city I've visited, or more accurately, the most polyglot city I've visited where the various racial and ethnic groups mix with ease.
Seattle - I hear it has a homeless problem that's growing to San Francisco proportions, but I liked the more down-to-earth character of Seattleites compared to the denizens of the two big California cities I've been to.
Columbus, OH - I was surprised at how good a time I had in the Ohio capital. Of which speaking, Ohio's state capitol building, one of the few built in the Federal style, is my favorite of all 50, with Annapolis and Boston runners-up. The Short North is one of the liveliest gallery/entertainment districts I've ever been in, and the city is pretty comely overall. Now, if only its downtown stayed awake after 6 p.m.
Boston - Yes, Bostonians are arrogant, and the place feels like the world's biggest college town, but I do miss the place from time to time. In terms of its place in American history, only Philadelphia rivals it, and I do like its intellectual vibe. Some really nice places both along the shores of Massachusetts Bay and in its western suburbs.
Savannah deserves honorable mention, as does Richmond. But I think I should pay Savannah a visit now to see how it's grown and changed since I was little.
Add to these the following two small cities:
Lancaster, PA - The principal city of Amish country is as liberal as its surrounding countryside is conservative, which makes for some interesting contrasts. Its downtown offers restaurants and hangouts that you'd expect to find in a much bigger city, and it's home to the oldest public farmers market in the country.
Portland, ME - Lancaster with water and New England charm.
I enjoy visiting New York; there's no more stimulating city in the country, but there's simply so much here that one gets overwhelmed sometimes. Something comedian Lily Tomlin said about life IMO applies to Los Angeles too: "It's funny but perverse. Because it can be beautiful but it won't."
I've been to most of the American cities/metro areas on that list, including:
Boston
Philly
NYC
LA
Chicago
SF
ATL
Dallas
DC
Denver
Houston
Austin
Detroit
Minneapolis
San Diego
Baltimore
Charlotte
Phoenix
St Louis
Columbus
Kansas City
Milwaukee
Salt Lake City
Sacramento
Indianapolis
Cincinnati
Raleigh
Tulsa
Palo Alto
Oklahoma City
My Top 5 would be
1.) NYC - undisputed champ of American cities. One of the world's finest.
2.) SF - I only love the city of SF proper. I don't care for the rest of the surrounding Bay Area MSA.
3.) LA - Most interesting metro area in the US. The surrounding areas inside the MSA are really what make it awesome. City proper is so interwoven with separate municipalities that it's hard to look at it standalone.
4.) Chicago - the vanilla ice cream of big US cities. Everyone loves vanilla ice cream. Chicago does the basics incredibly well. Clean, big downtown. Good public transit. Walkable. The rest of the MSA sucks.
5.) DC - one of the best cities in America for man-made structures. Beautiful bridges, cobblestone streets, grid layout, monuments, public green spaces, etc. Also really enjoyed the international buzz. Decent MSA
Here are the large/medium-sized (100k+) cities I've spent time in (* = not on the GaWC list; ** = had fewer than 100k residents when I visited or last visited it):
(list snipped)
Must've been a subconscious mental block, but:
Add St. Louis to my list.
Edited to add further: And Newark NJ, which, if it were anywhere other than where it is, would be a metropolitan center in itw own right.
Last edited by MarketStEl; 12-15-2020 at 09:55 PM..
NYC - I live about 30 miles away so every other city I visit is compared to NYC. I couldn't not put it on my list.
Las Vegas - so much to do in and outside the city. I am not a big gambler but I keep visiting. It's so close to many natural sites too, so it makes a great "home base" for visiting national and state parks.
San Diego - can't beat the weather and I love the coastal CA atmosphere.
Boston - quaint, walkable, fun to see historic sites.
DC - so much to do, especially for free and it's only about 3 hours away.
1. Miami (Miami Beach) — I never get tired of going to Miami. I love the beach, the food, the bike paths, the nightlife, everything. Especially the food. I hope to see Miami proper become more walkable (and bikeable) like Miami Beach. They have a decent transit system in place already and dense housing and it really has potential to become a top urban center in the US IMO.
2. Philly — this is the city that I visit the most often due to family relocating to the area. It’s one of the best cities to just walk around aimlessly. I love the tight narrow human-scaled streets.
3. San Francisco — I’ve only been once but it was the city that impressed me the most out of anywhere I’ve been in the US. I love the hills, geographical setting, and the architecture. I’m dying to re-visit.
4. Las Vegas — honestly from an urban perspective it doesn’t impress me at all but I love it as a vacation destination. I’m also fascinated by deserts and the fact that this bizarre place exists in the middle of the Mojave is insane. Whenever I go I try to leave the city and get out into the desert too if I can.
5. Washington — DC has always shown more of an interest than other American cities in sustainable forms of transit. The highway network is mostly routed around the city outside of city limits instead of cutting through and destroying the urban fabric. They have an extensive (and clean) transit system in place which is extremely rare here with plans for expansion so I admire them for that. I also love the feeling of being in DC seeing all the famous buildings and monuments where you really feel like you’re somewhere extremely important. That feeling I can’t really describe that IMO only NYC matches.
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