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Perhaps, I owe Houston and Dallas boosters an apology (sorry folks). I know GDP isn't everything but it's a start. As I mentioned, cost of living, quality of life, geographic location, global presence are tangible but in many ways subjective. Good for the two Texas hubs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Summersm343
First... let's be clear. "The Bay Area" is not a metro. It is two metros. "The Bay Area" is also not a city. It is multiple cities. We have to be fair here when including these lists. We can't compare "The Bay Area" to Chicago.
Also, the GDP for U.S. Metros is
1. NYC
2. LA
3. Chicago
4. D.C.
5. Houston
6. DFW
7. Philly
8. San Fran
9. Boston
10. ATL
Perhaps, I owe Houston and Dallas boosters an apology (sorry folks). I know GDP isn't everything but it's a start. As I mentioned, cost of living, quality of life, geographic location, global presence are tangible but in many ways subjective. Good for the two Texas hubs.
You're right, GDP is certainly not everything. While DFW has a high GDP it certainly doesn't rank with Philly, Houston, Boston, San Fran, D.C. in my opinion. Houston is certainly growing into its own with a wide variety of food and cultural amenities, etc. etc. ... Dallas still has some growing to do though IMO.
I think it's fair to say Houston can box with the big boys now. It may lose some, it may win some... but what a fine boxer it is.
Perhaps, I owe Houston and Dallas boosters an apology (sorry folks). I know GDP isn't everything but it's a start. As I mentioned, cost of living, quality of life, geographic location, global presence are tangible but in many ways subjective. Good for the two Texas hubs.
The problem with these ratings are the criteria to measure what is "best" and what is "less" is not defined or even if it is not all posters accept or read or agree with the criteria. Even if all agreed upon the criteria the data or knowledge of posters about all the cities is limited despite the good set of data avaiable on CD and else where about cities. So your mistake about the economic impact of Houston and Dallas tells me you probably didnt look at the data or dont know enough about the cities to have a good handle on them or perhaps both.
But that is what makes CD fun....its like the college football national champion. Its almost always subjective and subject to much debate and discussion hence huge forum with interesting and fun posts. What I learn by reading posts is more about the poster than the city under discussion in most cases....
First... let's be clear. "The Bay Area" is not a metro. It is two metros. "The Bay Area" is also not a city. It is multiple cities. We have to be fair here when including these lists. We can't compare "The Bay Area" to Chicago.
Also, the GDP for U.S. Metros is
1. NYC
2. LA
3. Chicago
4. D.C.
5. Houston
6. DFW
7. Philly
8. San Fran
9. Boston
10. ATL
Yeah...right, keep up this nonsense. Even though their CSA is SIGNIFICANTLY Smaller than other MSA's on your list... lulz luluz lulz
Better break up Boston Dallas and Minneapolis also... Don't dare include Baltimore with DC either. Actually don't include suburban cities anywhere, why should they be included... Nonsense.
It's weird because every time I've gone to Houston (and stayed there) I've never felt like I was in a global city. Now, on the other hand I did feel like I was in a big US city. But when I'm in Boston, Philly, SF, DC (and the obvious big 3), I feel like I could be anywhere in the world but it just happens to be in the states. Just my opinion though.
First... let's be clear. "The Bay Area" is not a metro. It is two metros. "The Bay Area" is also not a city. It is multiple cities. We have to be fair here when including these lists. We can't compare "The Bay Area" to Chicago.
Also, the GDP for U.S. Metros is
1. NYC
2. LA
3. Chicago
4. D.C.
5. Houston
6. DFW
7. Philly
8. San Fran
9. Boston
10. ATL
The Bay area is powerful, but like it or not the Bay area is NOT a city, so for the likes of me I dunno why people are ranking it with cities like Chicago.
Chicago is Chicago, LA is LA, NY is NY, Philly is Philly. The Bay is San Jose (The Largest city) plus SF-Oakland (the Largest metro), Plus Santa Rosa, plus Vallejo, plus Santa Cruz, Plus Napa.
Although they are all smooched together, they are NOT SF. SF is a city of 800K and a metro of 4M. The City of Chicago is three times as large as SF, and the metro is twice as large.
It is only when you combine those 6 metropolitan areas around the Bay do you even come near the population of Chicago's metro area.
As for coming up with tiers...I think we could come up with a comprehensive listing...it would just take a while.
I think some sort of weighted ranking scale could work. Use a combination of criteria including, but not limited to:
Population statistics
-City population
-MSA population
-CSA population (if applicable - if not, use metro twice)
-Urban area population
-City population density
-Urban area population density (metro density is pretty much useless IMO because of varying county sizes)
Culture & Education
-4 year post-secondary enrollment
-Museum attendance
-Library book circulation
-Division I college and professional sports teams (one in the same in some locales)
-Number of National Historic Landmarks
Health and Recreation
-Number of research or teaching hospitals
-City and State park acreage (National, if applicable)
-Number of golf courses
And so on. There are a lot of ways to weigh a city. There are tons of other miscellaneous categories that could be added. Of course, I don't have the time or resources to undertake such a project (and not get paid for it!).
Yeah...right, keep up this nonsense. Even though their CSA is SIGNIFICANTLY Smaller than other MSA's on your list... lulz luluz lulz
Better break up Boston Dallas and Minneapolis also... Don't dare include Baltimore with DC either. Actually don't include suburban cities anywhere, why should they be included... Nonsense.
Folks like to put Chicago in the same tier with L.A. (many rank it higher), but I don't buy it. Nor do I buy that it's a full tier above the Bay Area, frankly.
Exactly! I think LA should have its own tier between Chicago and New York City.
It's weird because every time I've gone to Houston (and stayed there) I've never felt like I was in a global city. Now, on the other hand I did feel like I was in a big US city. But when I'm in Boston, Philly, SF, DC (and the obvious big 3), I feel like I could be anywhere in the world but it just happens to be in the states. Just my opinion though.
I can respect this opinion. Being a native Houstonian, I'll admit that when I've visited other places like San Francisco or D.C, I do get the sense that those cities are better connected with the rest of the world. This isn't to say that Houston isn't, but other cities - namely the cities on the coasts seem to be more so. My question to you (and perhaps everybody) would be: what makes a U.S city a "global city"? Is it fanfare? Amount of international tourists? I will say that of all the major Texas cities (the big four being Houston, DFW, San Antonio and Austin), I think Houston is the one that identifies with the "Texas culture" the least. When I'm in the other cities, I kind of feel more aware of the fact that I'm in Texas than I am when I'm at home (in Houston) although I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe it's just me or maybe others have felt this way.
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