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Yeah I think above 5M an MSA pretty much has everything needed to be tier one. I know people get pissy when anything is listed with NYC but 5M and above are all top notch metros. NYC is definitely our #1 city, but we don't need to keep putting it alone in a tier all the time. You get top notch living in any one of our 5M cities.
If we are going off having everything that a tier 1 city/metro has, you can take that down even further to even some in the 2 million range (of course usually the bigger, it's more of). But having at least one of every major amenity isn't confined to 5-6 places.
Hell, I'd even take Buffalo or Milwaukee (less than 2 million) and say it has at least one of almost every single big city amenity.
If we are going off having everything that a tier 1 city/metro has, you can take that down even further to even some in the 2 million range (of course usually the bigger, it's more of). But having at least one of every major amenity isn't confined to 5-6 places.
Hell, I'd even take Buffalo or Milwaukee (less than 2 million) and say it has at least one of almost every single big city amenity.
There will be exceptions, but most 2M metros won't have the diversity of offerings I need in a city. True, they will have all of the basics and even have some cosmopolitan flair, but most would definitely not have everything a tier 1 metro has. You get to over 5M and you can find everything in those.
There will be exceptions, but most 2M metros won't have the diversity of offerings I need in a city. True, they will have all of the basics and even have some cosmopolitan flair, but most would definitely not have everything a tier 1 metro has. You get to over 5M and you can find everything in those.
There will be exceptions, but most 2M metros won't have the diversity of offerings I need in a city. True, they will have all of the basics and even have some cosmopolitan flair, but most would definitely not have everything a tier 1 metro has. You get to over 5M and you can find everything in those.
It's not coincidence multiple cities tend to be clumped together in raw size irl.
500k-1 million MSA's are local centers of power. They have little to none cosmopolitan aspects.
2-4 million MSA's are the mid-major cities. They serve as regional economic hubs/anchors and or centers of power. Niche sectors and raw population size matter more in this tier than others when it comes to offerings and economic influence.
5-10 million MSA's are major cities and are economic anchors on a national scale. They are cosmopolitan in nature, are universally more economically diverse than their smaller counterparts and tend to have monopolizations on national industries.
10+ million MSA's (LA & NYC) are engrained in the global economy. They have planet wide influence in almost all sectors and are international magnets for investment, commerce & trade.
*Cities like Chicago, Seattle, Las Vegas, DC & SF, etc.. have aspects/industries that let them play in higher tiers.
The 2-5 Million range always has international flights, but their flight service isn't really "global" (Overseas destinations can exist but are usually pretty limited, unless the city is a massive tourist destination like Orlando or Vegas).
The city at the top of the 2-5 Million range is Phoenix and the one at the bottom of the 5+ million range is Boston. Boston definitely has more classic "big city" amenities. It seems as if all the cities above 5 million are known globally and above 2 million are known nationally.
There are exceptions, but cities on the Global scale in the US are usually above 5 million in the metro area. DC, Boston, and Philadelphia have most of the same amenities that New York does.
Seattle is really the only place below 5 million that is sort of "Global".
The Seattle-Olympia area was over 4.95M people last year. That is a ton closer to 5M than to 2M. So that's no stretch. I rank both Seattle and Detroit over Phoenix. Those two are closer to the 6M plus cities than they are to the next two 4M+ areas (Orlando-Lakeland and MSP).
There is a clear break between Orlando and MSP <<< Phoenix <<< Seattle and Detroit. Above that the differences are mainly just boosting
1. CSA 15 million+ :NY, LA
2. 9-10 million:Washington-Baltimore, Chicago, San Francisco
3. 6-8 million: Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta
4. 4-6 million: Seattle, Detroit, Phoenix, Orlando, MSP
5. 2-4 million
6. 1-2 million
7. 500 k - 1 million
8. 250 - 499
9. 100 - 249
10. 50 - 100
11. 20 - 49
Why isn't tier 2 8-10 million based on how your other tiers are laid out? DFW CSA is already over 8 million.
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