If the US had a city-tier system like China, how would you rank the cities/metropolitan areas in the US?

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FlyingSquirlez@reddit

I think this is an interesting idea. NYC could arguably be on its own at the top, but if LA is up there with it, then I'd maybe throw the bay area into tier 1 as well. I didn't see anyone else doing this, so I might be misunderstanding the concept, but the bay area is the third highest GDP urban region in the US if you combine San Jose and San Francisco's metro areas. There's an argument that they should stay separate, but I don't personally buy that. It's a major financial and technology region, and venture capital is insanely concentrated in the bay.

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MetroBS@reddit

Tier 1: nyc

Tier 2: LA, Chicago, Houston

Tier 3: Dallas, DC, Boston, Philly, Atlanta, Miami, Minneapolis, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, Detroit, Seattle, Denver, Charlotte, Kansas City, Nashville

Tier 4: most American cities

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old_gold_mountain@reddit

SF Bay Area has more people and a much larger economy than Houston metro area

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lwp775@reddit

Taking into account tiers measure both population and economic activity:

Tier 1: NYC, LA, Houston, Chicago

Tier 2: San Francisco, Washington DC, Boston…

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blipsman@reddit

Vegas would be tier 4 at best

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will_macomber@reddit

I can tell you haven’t been to most of the cities you just ranked friend lol

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Deep-Security-7359@reddit (OP)

I’ve been to a good chunk. I tried to be as non-biased as possible based on international influence/perception, despite my personal experiences.

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seatownquilt-N-plant@reddit

Seattle was a mid-sized working class city for most of the 20th century. We, and our metro, were really slow to grow until about the time of the great recession when tech really started to take off.

There was the "Dot Com" boom/bust of the 1990s, but we were still quirky grunge city then.

our short history of being a "big city" shows in our shallow amount of cultural amenities. And our surrounding areas get rural very quickly. Gen-X grew up knowing Redmond as being a one stoplight town. The area southeast of Seattle had difficulty establishing suburbs in the early 1900s because there was uncontrolled flooding. the area is an old flood plain, but we have dams in the mountains now to control it.

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DolphinSouvlaki@reddit

There’s no universe in which Portland and Charlotte are tier 3 and above Detroit and New Orleans. Unless you’re just going by personal enjoyment/rating

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rawbface@reddit

Vegas, Miami, and Seattle do not belong in Tier 2. Especially not above Philadelphia, Boston, and Atlanta. Especially if you consider "influence", they are essential to the history of the United States. The other cities in Tier 3 are a joke compared to them. DFW is two cities.

I don't believe in classifying cities like this, but your list is no good.

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misterlakatos@reddit

This does not make sense and would not work here.

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Tillandz@reddit

Tier 1 should genuinely only be NY. It is seriously on another level, and doesn't have an analogue in the US, let alone maybe 1 or 2 cities in the globe.

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TsundereLoliDragon@reddit

No idea how Philly is tier 3 and not tier 2, especially looking at what you have in tier 2.

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davdev@reddit

Vegas, Miami and Seattle are WAY too high. I would move Boston, ATL and probably Philly to tier 2 and Miami and Seattle down to tier 3 and Vegas to tier 4

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Deep-Security-7359@reddit (OP)

That’s really interesting! Do you think any other cities belong in Tier 1? I know some may say that DC or Chicago should be included in Tier 1. But when it comes to economic & especially international influence, I think it’s only NYC and LA. Just my opinions though, thanks for commenting!

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PrestigiousAd9825@reddit

If your ranking is based on economic and global influence, that’s even more of a reason to put Chicago in Tier 1. It’s home to a bunch of massive companies, has one of the widest range of non-stop flight destinations, and more embassies than you can shake a stick at.

Also two of the top fifty universities in the world are in the area too.

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davdev@reddit

No. I can see NYC and LA being alone at the top. You could maybe put Chicago there but I do think Chicago is a nidge below Tier1. But they are also probably above the rest of tier 2. So Chicago is probably more right as being a lone 1B

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Tommy_Wisseau_burner@reddit

Miami is definitely not ranked too high

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ZaphodG@reddit

I’d argue against Philly. It’s not a particularly globally important city. For example, it has no Asia nonstop flights. Comcast is a domestic company other than a bit of Universal. The University of Pennsylvania is a top global university but that’s about it.

Seattle wouldn’t have been on any list 25 years ago. It’s now solidly in the tier with Boston and continues to become more important. It’s not way too high.

Miami is the gateway to Latin America. It belongs there despite all the problems with Florida.

I don’t know where to put Vegas. In terms of economic importance, it probably doesn’t make the list at all. I guess 3rd tier along with Orlando.

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burninstarlight@reddit

I wouldn't say Seattle's too high given that several of the biggest companies in the world are from/headquartered there

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SonofBronet@reddit

I’d feel alright with tier 3, lumping us with DC and Chicago doesn’t feel quite right. Maybe Tier 2B.

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PrestigiousAd9825@reddit

Chicago should be in Tier 1 as well as Houston. Philly should be Tier 2, plus ATL Boston and Dallas. I think Seattle should be Tier 3 bc the only reason it has such prominence is bc it’s the only city of its size in its region.

Also Detroit and Charlotte should switch.

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tnick771@reddit

Chicago is the 8th largest city economy in the world, friend.

This list stinks.

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xRVAx@reddit

DC is not a normal city. Honolulu is not equivalent to Detroit.

Also we already have a system called "Metropolitan Statistical Areas"

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Deep-Security-7359@reddit (OP)

That list is strictly based off population. I mentioned in my post that I’m asking to include economic/geographic influence, international perception, as well as any other factors.

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xRVAx@reddit

Yes, I just wanted to make sure you were aware that msas are the way to go.

Wikipedia has GDP data on all of the big MSAs, and I think there's an official Federal GDP database for the MSAs as well

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_United_States_metropolitan_areas_by_GDP

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Current_Poster@reddit

This might be an interesting project. Here’s my best try.

The Chinese City Tier System (explained here: https://www.china-briefing.com/news/chinas-city-tier-classification-defined/ ) uses a few different metrics to decide how to rank a city.

The US uses slightly different criteria to measure its cities than China does (For instance, the Census Bureau uses the idea of Metropolitan Areas, including some outlying smaller cities and suburbs, rather than just one city.) I’ll try to fairly apply the differences.

Method 1: SHEER POPULATION

I might suggest using Metropolitan Areas for this, instead, since you get weird setups in some areas, like "Boston Proper" (675,647) vs "Greater Boston" (4.9 million) in MA,

Tier 1: over 15 million.

1) NY/Newark/Jersey City Metropolitan Area (NY/NJ): 19.5 million

2) LA/Long Beach/Anaheim CA: 12.8 million

Tier 2: 3-15 million people

#3 Chicago/Napierville/Elgin IL (9.3 million) through #19 Denver/Aurora/Centennial CO (3 million)

Tier 3: 150,000 to 3 million to 150,000 people

#20 Baltimore/Columbia/Towson MD (2.8 million) through #288 Jefferson City MO (150,733 people)

Tier 4: Basically everything from 150,000 down.

Using the list we have, that puts us with #289 (The Wichita Falls TX area at 149,900 people down to #387 [the bottom of the list- the US Census Bureau lists individual cities as low as 5,000 people, though. That would serve as an OK cutoff.]

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Current_Poster@reddit

METHOD 2: GDP BY CITY

Using the Chinese tier system, and this information: On this list, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_United_States_metropolitan_areas_by_GDP

Tier 1: Over $300 billion US

Eighteen Metropolitan areas, from #1 NYC/Newark/Jersey City (2,298.9 billion) to 18^(th) ranked Denver/Aurora/Lakewood CO (311.8 billion)

Tier 2: $299 to $68 billion US

This covers the rest of the list of 50, from 19^(th) ranked Baltimore/Columbia/Towson MD (259.6 billion) to the Omaha Metropolitan Area (NE/IA): 92.4 billion.

METHOD 3: INFLUENCE AND POLITICAL ADMINISTRATION OF THE CITY

This one’s the most subjective and least likely to line up 1:1 with the Chinese system.

Tier 1-2: Includes directly controlled municipalities (directly under national-government control], of which (arguably) we only have Washington DC, and “leading provincial capital cities”. This would get me into ranking state capitals by how important I think their states are, which is a lot of work and a good way to start arguments, so I’ll pass on that. :)

Tiers 3 and 4 include Prefectural-level cities (in a US context, that would equal, roughly, important cities that aren’t also state capitals. But the US system often doesn’t work that way- using the Chinese tier system without thinking about it would put NYC (not a state capital, but “economically important”) on the same tier as Albany NY, or LA/San Francisco on the same tier as Sacramento.

I think from there we can work out a fair system. But the numbers are pretty good to us! The economic model ends us up with 18 Tier 1 cities compared to China's 4, and even restricting it to metropolitan areas with high populations that still gives us two Tier 1s and a lot of depth on the bench at 2nd Tier.

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Current_Poster@reddit

So, Tier 1: NY Metropolitan and LA Metropolitan, for sure.

Tier 2: Using the population list and then ranking them by GDP, we end up with:

3) Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI: $894.9 billion

4) San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA: $778.9 billion

5) Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX: $744.7 billion

6) Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV: $714.7 billion

7) Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX: $697.0 billion

8) Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH: $610.5 billion

9) Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA: $570.7 billion

10) Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA: $566.7 billion

11) Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD: $557.6 billion

12) Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL: $533.7 billion

13) San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA: $422.8 billion

14) Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ: $398.1 billion

15) Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI: $350.7 billion

16) Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI: $331.3 billion

17) San Diego-Carlsbad, CA: $314.9 billion

18) Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO: $311.9 billion

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ZaphodG@reddit

Boston makes pretty much all the top-25 global city lists and Seattle is now in them.

New York and London are generally the top 2 on any global city list.

If you use “Bay Area” instead of San Francisco, it’s so economically dominant that it’s #2 in the US rather than LA.

So I’d put NYC, San Francisco, LA, and Chicago in the top tier in that ranked order.

Then Seattle or Boston, DC, Miami, Atlanta

Orlando, Las Vegas, Portland, St Louis, Houston, Philly, Denver, San Diego, Dallas, Austin

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FemboyEngineer@reddit

I mean, doesn't the Houston metro area have ~3x the population of Charlotte's?

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pablitorun@reddit

This ranking https://gawc.lboro.ac.uk/gawc-worlds/the-world-according-to-gawc/world-cities-2024/ does a pretty good job

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woodsred@reddit

Yeah the global cities ranking is way better for this than watching half of this subreddit push for higher rankings for each of their depressing hometowns and/or deeply misunderstand the relative importance of places

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Deep-Security-7359@reddit (OP)

What do you personally think of my list? I tried to be as non-biased as possible lol

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woodsred@reddit

Imo NYC is in a tier of its own; LA, Chicago, Bay Area, and DC are the next one. Vegas and Seattle are much too high; the only other ones that would maaaaybe qualify for 2 would be Boston and Atlanta. Not gonna say much else or I'm gonna start pissing people off lmao.

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Deep-Security-7359@reddit (OP)

TBH I can somewhat agree. Maybe NYC and Southern California as a region in particular could be classified as Tier 1? 🤔

and yeah, I personally can definitely see your reasoning in the Bay Area-DC-Chicago being their own influence

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woodsred@reddit

Ehh, San Diego is too far & independent to add into LA. If we're doing that, then NYC would get Philly, Chicago would get Milwaukee and St. Louis, etc.

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BlindPelican@reddit

Borrowing from Tennessee Williams...

Tier 1: New York, San Francisco, New Orleans.

Tier 2: Cleveland and everywhere else.

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FeijoaCowboy@reddit

Yeah, LA's pretty fire.

Sorry.

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Recent-Irish@reddit

What does the city tier system entail?

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Deep-Security-7359@reddit (OP)

I think that answer may be different for everyone. For me personally - population, economic impact, maybe geographic importance, international influence, etc.

For example, some may disagree that Las Vegas or Miami belong in Tier 2, but based off their significant international influence & tourism, I personally placed them higher than let’s say DFW, Atlanta, and Boston.

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Cheap_Coffee@reddit

I think that answer may be different for everyone.

You specifically said "a city-tier system like China."

What were you talking about?

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Deep-Security-7359@reddit (OP)

They have a city-tier system.. Tier 1 cities, Tier 2, Tier 3, etc.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_city_tier_system

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Recent-Irish@reddit

I mean is there any consequences to being tier 1 vs 2?

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SordoCrabs@reddit

This is a global list, but you could just focus on the US cities and how they are ranked:

Global Cities

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NastyNate4@reddit

Tier 4 seems too high for Tampa. Without looking it up, can you name a nationally recognized company that is from the area? Biggest things to come out of Tampa area are Bloomin Onions, Hooters, and Magic Mike.

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Deep-Security-7359@reddit (OP)

Now that you mention it, I think you’re right TBH. Honolulu has a bunch of tourism from East Asia as well as the West Coast. San Antonio has the Alamo, Riverwalk, and hosts Air Force boot camp. Orlando has Disney/Universal.

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Cheap_Coffee@reddit

Here's my opinion.

Tier 1: Boston

Tier 2: Everywhere else.

Discuss

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GSmba@reddit

Washington Tier 1. Atlanta DFW Boston Tier 2. Vegas Miami Seattle Denver Tier 3.

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Ana_Na_Moose@reddit

Are the Chinese tiers based on anything except population?

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Deep-Security-7359@reddit (OP)

I’m really not sure! Shanghai and Beijing are naturally the most notable, but the other 2 (Guangzhou and Shenzhen I believe) I really don’t know enough about to say.

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Sam_Paige25@reddit

I swear I've read a number of ranking lists for things like traffic conditions, job opportunities, general happiness, best airports, and seen Minneapolis/St.Paul in the top ten of over half of them.

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Deep-Promotion-2293@reddit

I'd add Denver to either Tier 3 or Tier 4. Educated population, high concentration of engineering/manufacturing jobs. Large international airport (largest by land area in the US). I know I diss on Denver all the time (I live here) but in reality it's a large, growing population center.

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Deep-Security-7359@reddit (OP)

Oh ya I would’ve liked to add a few more to Tier 3 and Tier 4, but I think this sub enforced a character limit & I also wanted to leave a bit more room for discussion lol. I would definitely agree that Denver belongs fits in Tier 4 as well imo!

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ExotiquePlayboy@reddit

I feel like Atlanta has graduated to Tier 1

Largest airport in the world, 3rd highest concentration of Fortune 500, Capital of music, etc.

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Deep-Security-7359@reddit (OP)

I originally had Atlanta in Tier 2, but decided to bring it down because I put other notable cities like Boston and DFW in Tier 3 also. I personally didn’t want to make Tier 2 too bloated. But this is just my list, super curious how other people’s rankings will turn out!

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CPolland12@reddit

I’d move DFW to tier 2, 2nd busiest airport in the country (3rd in the world), 4th largest metro area in the country. Several large headquartered companies

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musenna@reddit

Hard disagree on LA. It’s a collection of suburbs pretending to be a city.