The Big 4 of American Cities (NYC, LA, Chicago, etc...) (relocating, best, state)

[As Above So Below...]

In terms of premier cities and international standing:

To me the top 5 are not in dispute: NYC, LA, Chicago, Bay Area, and DC.

I think 6 and 7 are also firm: Boston and Houston.

After that is where it gets murky. DFW, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Miami are the next grouping, but what order you place them in is harder.

Miami is a wildcard. If were just talking internationalness of a place, its top 5. However, its almost entirely directed at one region of the world. Thats why I place it further back. Theres no balance to it.

[elchevere]

Are you claiming Miami is directed only at the Latin America region?…many Northeast US, Canadian, European, Middle East and elsewhere transplants and businesses would likely disagree. Hong Kong based Swire Properties chose Miami as its US subsidiary HQ location and Miami also shares cultural and tourism commonalities with Asia (Art Basel—Hong Kong and Miami only cities outside Switzerland as host cities; Ultra attracts Asian youths to the founding Miami location and has spawned offshoot concerts under same brand throughout Asia and Australia; Nikki Beach founded in Miami has spawned resorts throughout Asia, etc etc). Anyone who desires to take a Caribbean cruise—no matter what part of the world they are from, not just Latin America, usually goes out of Miami. It’s not as though Miami lacks a presence or recognition amongst pop culture beyond Latin America. How many other cities in the world have prestigious, marquis non Latin brands such as Aston Martin, Baccarat, Bentley, and Porsche licensed out to high end real estate developments? Formula 1, of which Miami is now a host city, is not limited to Latin America nor is FIFA World Cup, in which Miami will very likely be chosen as one of the US host cities for 2026.

High end global retail brands and real estate, which Miami attracts, is not just limited to Latin America; if it were, its market would be very limited and destined to fail.

Originally Posted by As Above So Below...

In terms of premier cities and international standing:

To me the top 5 are not in dispute: NYC, LA, Chicago, Bay Area, and DC.

I think 6 and 7 are also firm: Boston and Houston.

After that is where it gets murky. DFW, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Miami are the next grouping, but what order you place them in is harder.

Miami is a wildcard. If were just talking internationalness of a place, its top 5. However, its almost entirely directed at one region of the world. Thats why I place it further back. Theres no balance to it.

[Fastphilly]

Originally Posted by elchevere

Are you claiming Miami is directed only at the Latin America region?…many Northeast US, Canadian, European, Middle East and elsewhere transplants would likely disagree. Hong Kong based Swire Properties chose Miami as its US subsidiary HQ location and Miami also shares cultural and tourism commonalities with Asia (Art Basel—Hong Kong and Miami only cities outside Switzerland as host cities; Ultra attracts Asian youths to the founding Miami location and has spawned offshoot concerts under same brand throughout Asia and Australia; Nikki Beach founded in Miami has spawned resorts throughout Asia, etc etc). Anyone who desires to take a Caribbean cruise—no matter what part of the world they are from, not just Latin America, usually goes out of Miami. It’s not as though Miami lacks a presence or recognition amongst pop culture beyond Latin America.

High end global retail brands and real estate, which Miami attracts, is not just limited to Latin America; if it were, its market would be very limited and destined to fail.

Miami is Latin and Europe heavy, with a couple flights to the Middle East. However it still takes a back seat to NY, LA and SF. Of the top 10 global cities in the world, Miami has nonstop service to only four. The other three US cities I mentioned have nonstop flights to all ten. When Miami gets a nonstop flight to Tokyo which many regard as the third highest global city in the world then we can add Miami in that discussion.

[walker1962]

Originally Posted by wanderer34

Hello! I've seen cities come like Phoenix and Houston and cities which were over 1 million people like Detroit go to waste. Just wanted to know which would you consider the fourth city alongside the Big 4 of America cities. For me, personally, Miami seems like the perfect city which would be considered the fourth city, considering that in 2018, Miami, along with LA and Chicago were the only American cities to be classified in the GaWC ranking of Alpha+ due to the fact that LA, Chicago, and now Miami are financial hubs of their respective regions.

SF is the financial hub of the West Coast and the tech hub of the world with Silicon Valley south of SF, but LA is the entertainment center plus Hollywood is an entity all on it's own so LA is the major population center in the West Coast, plus it has the most consulates in the West Coast, while Chicago is the undisputed hub of the Midwest. Miami after this decade will become the financial, banking (debatable with Charlotte), fashion, economic, and soon to be a crypto and tech hub of the South.

Atlanta is the logistical hub of the South due to Atlanta having the busiest air hub in the world for the longest time plus it's a major education center and a state capital, but Atlanta outside of having a mass transit system in MARTA, doesn't have a regional rail system nor does it have a high-speed intercity rail system compared to what Miami is about to get once the Brightline connects to Orlando later this year and eventually to Tampa in 2025 and Jacksonville around the end of this decade. There's no such regional rail project in Metro Atlanta that South Florida has with Tri-Rail nor a high-speed rail project of any kind being proposed in GA.

Houston, on the other hand, can easily compete with Miami when it comes to diversity and economics. Houston is the energy capital of America, and possibly the world since petroleum and gas firms are headquartered in Houston while Miami is heavily reliant on tourism as the biggest sector. Houston does have a developing light rail system but no commuter nor a high speed rail intercity system in TX. Both Atlanta and Houston has Amtrak, but compared to the Northeast, and maybe Chicagoland areas, Amtrak use is sparse in GA and TX. Maybe there's some use of Amtrak in South FL, but that's the only extent, especially since the Brightline has started to supplant Amtrak as the primary rail provider for South Fl and eventually FL as a whole.

Houston and Miami have almost an equal amount of foreign consulates (43 for Houston and 44 for Miami), and the diversity is almost the same for both cities except that Houston has much more Asians (Vietnamese, Chinese, and even Pakistanis) while the Latino diversity in Miami has almost every Latin American country living within South FL, but it's the Cubans who are at the top of the hierarchy, followed by Colombians/Venezuelans, than Puerto Ricans/Dominicans, then Central Americans, while it Houston, the mostly and predominately Mexicans, albeit Houston is seeing some Central and South Americans, and even Spanish Caribbeans come to Houston. What I mean is that Miami has the same intangibles as NYC and Philadelphia does with Italians and Boston has with the Irish, the Cubans characterize Miami the way Poles did in Chicago and Detroit, Scandinavians do with Minnesota, and African Americans do with Detroit, DC, and nowadays with Atlanta. Plus Miami has the third largest Jewish population behind NY and LA, and I believe the only city that can go toe to toe when it comes to black and Latino diversity is NYC. Only thing NYC has are a lot more Asians in NYC, and even so, my old city of Philadelphia is a much more diverse Asian city than NYC with a lot of Vietnamese and Cambodians.

Also Houston does have a larger African population mainly Nigerians, while Miami has a larger Afro-Caribbean population from Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad, Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana, and much of the rest of the Caribbean. I also believe the African population I going to eventually grow in Miami due to the similar tropical weather in South FL. Atlanta may be the "black mecca", but it's no Afro-Caribbean mecca, as that honor goes to Miami for that claim. The only city which could match Miami in climate is Houston, and even so there's differences with the populations and the local culture. Houston doesn't really have a beach culture while Miami does. Both cities have car culture but Miami is a much more denser city and one of the densest cities along with NYC, SF, Boston, and Jersey City. Both Houston and Atlanta are very spread out.

If there ever was a Big 5, it would be a duel between Houston and DC because both of those cities metro areas had grown to a point wherewith Houston and DC can earn the right to be megapolises, but I have to say Miami will be for the South the way LA is for the West Coast, Chicago for the Midwest, and NYC for the Northeast!!!

Yea, yet Dallas-Fort Worth's population is larger than the Houston or DC MSA and will likely hit 8 million before 2030, is very diverse and DFW has more Fortune 500 companies than those other two metros.

[elchevere]

I’m not saying it’s number 4, but lack of nonstop flights does not stop people from Asia or elsewhere from getting to it and/or knowing of it.

Most definitely within the US top 10, possibly as high as 7 and consistent with Kearney’s global cities ranking (GaWC has it 8th); I was responding to another poster who suggested it did not even belong in the top 10. If we’re talking well known global marquis consumer brands in addition to air destinations, I can name quite a few with standalone boutique presence in lowly Miami not found in a couple of the more worldly higher ranked top 5 or 6 US cities (and others).

Originally Posted by Fastphilly

Miami is Latin and Europe heavy, with a couple flights to the Middle East. However it still takes a back seat to NY, LA and SF. Of the top 10 global cities in the world, Miami has nonstop service to only four. The other three US cities I mentioned have nonstop flights to all ten. When Miami gets a nonstop flight to Tokyo which many regard as the third highest global city in the world then we can add Miami in that discussion.

[walker1962]

Originally Posted by Lamg

In terms of international recognition it’s NY, LA, SF and Miami

Miami over D.C!? nah. NOT even. Its just a vacation spot. In terms of importance, as an example, if Russia or China picked cities to nuke, Miami is WAY down the list after
DC
Houston
DFW
SF/San Jose
Seattle
Boston
Philly
Denver
Austin


There's no big industry of consequence, no major military installation and no other Federal agency that is core for the survival of this country.

[Orionsdolph]

MIA Now Officially The Busiest International Airport In America




"Miami International Airport had more international passengers last year than any other airport in the U.S., according to a newly released ranking.


A total of 13 million international passengers flew through MIA during the year, the 11th most in the world.


MIA also had the most international cargo of any U.S. airport last year, and the ninth most in the world.


It is the first time in recent memory that MIA has topped the passenger rankings, although it has been atop the international cargo rankings for some time.


Cargo volumes broke records once again. In 2021, the airport handled 2.7 million tons of freight, up 17 percent from the the then-record 2.3 million tons in 2020."




April 14th, 2022
https://www.thenextmiami.com/mia-now...rt-in-america/

[walker1962]

Originally Posted by MarketStEl

Maybe more important than any of the other attributes you list in favor of Miami as the fourth member of the Big Four: It's the US gateway to Latin America and the Caribbean.

Also: DC — which I voted for as the fourth member — is already part of a megalopolis, the first one to form in the United States. (You need at least two metropolises that run into each other to form a megalopolis; some of the other well-known ones are Tokyo-Osaka in Japan and the Netherlands' "Ringstaat" — Amsterdam/Rotterdam/The Hague.) The DMV is the southern endpoint of the "Bosnywash" megalopolis, which also takes in Philadelphia and Baltimore along with Providence, Hartford, and New Haven.

(We do have a few others now: the Great Lakes megalopolis, which stretches from Pittsburgh and Buffalo to Chicago and also encompasses Cleveland, Detroit and Toledo; the Florida east coast from Jacksonville to Miami; Cascadia — Seattle/Portland; and the California coast from San Francisco to San Diego. Not sure either Dallas-Houston or Houston-New Orleans are there yet.)

I'm actually surprised that Philadelphia is leading in this poll by a hair as I type this. I often say this place is underrated, and this poll, at least as of now, backs up that assertion, but frankly, I'd say this region is the runner-up in just about every category it competes in: second in biomedical research to Boston, second in higher ed to New York, and so on. But maybe it's this area's runner-up and also-ran status in so many fields — it's in the top five or top ten of lots of them — may be what's earning it mindshare here. And maybe were this city still the national capital, it would not only deserve that fourth spot but actually rank as one of the Big Three, since (like most other national capitals) it wasn't created specifically for that purpose and had a functioning city around it already, where the opposite is the case in Washington. But I'd say that Washington's status as the capital of the most powerful nation on the planet, at least for now, vaults it past Philadelphia. Insufferable Official Washingtonians are the price we pay for that, but I guess it's a small one.

Megalopolis - a thickly populated region centering in a metropolis or embracing several metropolises.
A megalopolis (/ˌmɛɡəˈlɒpəlɪs/) or supercity,[1] also called megaregion,[2] is a group of metropolitan areas which are perceived as a continuous urban area through common systems of transport, economy, resources, ecology, and so on.[2] They are integrated enough that coordinating policy is valuable, although the constituent metropolises keep their individual identities.[2]

You said the Great Lakes megalopolis, which stretches from Pittsburgh and Buffalo to Chicago and also encompasses Cleveland, Detroit and Toledo; Yea that is a STRETCH to think Buffalo to Chicago is all so tightly interconnected to be considered megalopolis, an 8 hour drive. Between Buffalo and Cleveland there ain't much of nothin. Between Cleveland and Chicago is Toledo, which is smallish. Makes more sense to have Milwaukee to Chicago to St. Louis, a drive time of 6 hours and all within the same time zone. Or Cleveland, Detroit, Toledo and Dayton

Second, DFW/Houston/New Orleans is the wrong triangle! Its DFW/Austin/San Antonio/Houston, which pretty much all have called the TX Triangle for decades, This is an area of over 21 million people. One could argue adding in OKC, 3 hours north of DFW closer by 2 1/2 hours than New Orleans is to Houston.

[Mr. Clutch]

Originally Posted by walker1962

Yea, yet Dallas-Fort Worth's population is larger than the Houston or DC MSA and will likely hit 8 million before 2030, is very diverse and DFW has more Fortune 500 companies than those other two metros.

That is not true, at least in the case of Houston. Houston is third in the country for F500 companies.

https://www.realpage.com/analytics/m...-headquarters/

[walker1962]

Originally Posted by jjbradleynyc

To me, it's definitely Houston.

The population, diversity, and overall size and growth of Houston is approaching another tier of cities. By 2040, Houston could be over 3 million in city population, passing Chicago, and with a metro area size of 9 million+.

The rankings, in my mind, out of your choices--

13 Detroit - lags behind any of these cities. Has fallen from its dominance fast due to decline. Still has decent HQs
12 Seattle - fast growing city that has become a powerful HQ city in the US. Definitely on its way up fast
11 Boston - large education and HQ city, that is a steady growth economic machine

10 Philadelphia - Historically has lost a bit of its dominance, but still a large city with a diversity and strong economy
9 Miami - fast-growing cosmopolitan city that is a force in the Latin X world and growing, but tourism/service limits it
8 Dallas - super fast growth, powerful economy, dominant in HQ growth
7 Atlanta - southeastern US dominant city with huge growth, huge company HQ, powerful economy
6 Washington, DC - political power, capital of US

5 San Francisco - region has some of the world's mightiest company HQs
4 Houston - powerful diverse city with fast-growing population, and energy focused city

3 Chicago - corporate HQ magnet, powerful presence on the US and world stage

2 Los Angeles - has grown in importance in the world over the past 20-30 years. A powerful city force

1 New York City - one of the biggest and best cities in the entire world. No US city will compete in at least a couple hundred years

Atlanta above DFW ain't happening.
DFW is like 2 million bigger than metro Atlanta
has more Fortune 500 companies,
is a much bigger logistics/transit hub (BNSF Rail HQ, Two major airlines HQ, top 3 for Amazon Fulfillment center,#1 in industrial/warehouse growth, three airports, including one Cargo only that can accommodate the largest planes)
Is in a state that is Mexico's biggest trade partner, which is one the countries top 5 trading partners.
is a metro that can draw equally from any region in the country because of its locale.
Invest much better in infrastructure than Atlanta
Like Houston, has a big tax revenue source Atlanta does not have...oil and gas

Houston is more ethnically diverse but economically its much more concentrated (Energy Healthcare and the sea port.) DFW has some energy HQs but is the Financial capital of the southern plains, has significant military contractors/manufactors, national retailers, tech and telecommunication HQs,

In 1980, both metro Houston and DFW were the same size, since then DFW has expanded faster. DFW will be the fourth metro to hit 8 million residents before 2030. Even SF/SJ if it were one MSA would be smaller.