20 Most Well Known American cities to foreigners (best, state, compare)

[Trimac20]

Being from Australia, I can give a bit of a non-American view. I was just interested to see which were the most well known major cities to foreigners in general - those that they would mention first. Cities like Beverly Hills were excluded. It's also interesting to see how the 'best known' list compares with the population ranking. I guess in Australia we measure population differently (including the metro area) but that's another thing. Anyway, here's my list of the cities I perceive to be best known outside the US for people.

1. New York City
2. Los Angeles
3. San Francisco
4. Washington D.C./Las Vegas
5. Chicago/Boston (roughly tied)
6. Memphis
7. New Orleans
8. Seattle
9. Philadelphia
10. Detroit
11. Atlanta
12. Dallas
13. San Diego
14. Houston
15. Honolulu
16. Nashville
17. Miami
18. Portland
19. Phoenix/El Paso, Texas
20. Cleveland

Some of those lower in the list might be wildly out, but i think the top 5 are pretty much set.

[miamiman]

Originally Posted by Trimac20

Being from Australia, I can give a bit of a non-American view. I was just interested to see which were the most well known major cities to foreigners in general - those that they would mention first. Cities like Beverly Hills were excluded. It's also interesting to see how the 'best known' list compares with the population ranking. I guess in Australia we measure population differently (including the metro area) but that's another thing. Anyway, here's my list of the cities I perceive to be best known outside the US for people.

1. New York City
2. Los Angeles
3. San Francisco
4. Washington D.C./Las Vegas
5. Chicago/Boston (roughly tied)
6. Memphis
7. New Orleans
8. Seattle
9. Philadelphia
10. Detroit
11. Atlanta
12. Dallas
13. San Diego
14. Houston
15. Honolulu
16. Nashville
17. Miami
18. Portland
19. Phoenix/El Paso, Texas
20. Cleveland

Some of those lower in the list might be wildly out, but i think the top 5 are pretty much set.

Why is it Phoenix/El Paso? They aren't the same city, in the same state, nor or are they really near each other.

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by miamiman

Why is it Phoenix/El Paso? They aren't the same city, in the same state, nor or are they really near each other.

I think Phoenix/El Paso indicates a tie for 19th place...but it might be similar to an American thinking that Sydney and Melbourne are in the same state. I know they aren't - probably because I'm a big tennis fan, and most of my knowledge of Australia is from watching the Australian Open. But I couldn't really tell you in which state each city is located.

Does the OP truly think that an average Australian would be familiar with all of those American cities?

[Trimac20]

Yes, of course I know Phoenix and El Paso isn't like Dallas-Forth Worth or something like that lol.

Anyway yes, I bet alot of Aussies wouldn't know say Portland or even Detroit, but then again most educated people in the English speaking world should know most of those cities. Atlanta, for instance, hosted the 1996 Olympics, and Miami - well a lot of people here would know that simply from Miami Vice, Scarface or C.S.I. Miami.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Trimac20

Being from Australia, I can give a bit of a non-American view. I was just interested to see which were the most well known major cities to foreigners in general - those that they would mention first. Cities like Beverly Hills were excluded. It's also interesting to see how the 'best known' list compares with the population ranking. I guess in Australia we measure population differently (including the metro area) but that's another thing. Anyway, here's my list of the cities I perceive to be best known outside the US for people.

1. New York City
2. Los Angeles
3. San Francisco
4. Washington D.C./Las Vegas
5. Chicago/Boston (roughly tied)
6. Memphis
7. New Orleans
8. Seattle
9. Philadelphia
10. Detroit
11. Atlanta
12. Dallas
13. San Diego
14. Houston
15. Honolulu
16. Nashville
17. Miami
18. Portland
19. Phoenix/El Paso, Texas
20. Cleveland

Some of those lower in the list might be wildly out, but i think the top 5 are pretty much set.

I've done a lot of traveling and living around the world, and I would say that this list is pretty indicative of my observations, too, although I would say that Miami is much more well known than Seattle among most Europeans.

I was stunned at how many people overseas had heard of Memphis.

[shoe01]

Orlando is probably well-known outside the US.

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by nate14ri

people know Memphis because of Elvis and Graceland or where MLK got shot.

And lets be honest, Americans are Stupid and most couldn't name a third city in Australia after Sydney and Melbourne.

Americans are stupid? What kind of statement is that? Every country has its not-so-bright, but there are no more in the U.S. than anywhere else.

[mariok689]

Portland?? Yeah right. I was barely aware of Portland until Obama's speech there. I would rank that city significantly lower as it isn't very recognizable to many Americans in the Eastern part of the country.

[At1WithNature]

portland is somwhere i would love to move (i love the fog) and city, however the climate isn't all that to me. not so much the rain but it doesn't really get hot there. and love the hot weather.

[nate14ri]

boston must be pretty well known based on Harvard, MIT redsox...and history...

Like if I went to a random country and asked a random person (fairly educated) if they have heard of Boston right?

I guess you could say most of the world knows about NYC...