Jump to content

Tiers of US cities

tocoto

By tocoto
in Urban Design & Architecture

Recommended Posts

I-275westcoastflorida Whistle-Stop

I-275westcoastflorida

Posted
Posted

Tier I:

Chicago

New York

Los Angeles

DC

Miami

Dallas

Houston

San Fransisco

Tier II:

Tampa

Phoenix

Seattle

Minneapolis

San Diego

St Louis

Baltimore

Tampa

Pittsburg

Denver

Cleveland

Cincy

Sacramento

San Antonio

Orlando

Atlanta

Las Vegas

Detroit

St.Loius

Tier III:

St.Petersburg :D

Columbus

Charlotte

Providence

Milwaukee

Austin

Jacksonville

Nashville

New Orleans

Memphis

Louisville

Buffalo

Richmond

Baton Rouge

Birmingham

Sacramento

Mobile

Fort Lauderdale

Portland

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 602
  • Created
  • Last Reply
Charleston native Burg

Charleston native

Posted
Posted

My list is similar to I-275's, but I believe that there are distinct features which make a city 1st tier: it is a major transportation hub, has more than 1 professional level sport, has more than 1-2 million in its metro area, and is recognized as a destination city. These aren't all of the characteristics, of course, but this is what distinguishes my list.

Tier I:

Chicago*

New York*

Los Angeles*

Philadelphia*

Pittsburgh

DC

Miami

Dallas

Houston

San Fransisco

St. Louis

Atlanta

Denver

Seattle

Detroit

Charlotte

New Orleans

Minneapolis

San Diego

Cleveland

Cincinatti

Tampa/St. Petersburg

Indianapolis

*These cities really are Tier I. You could say the rest of the cities are Tier 1A.

Tier II cities are cities that, in my opinion, are striving to become 1st tier cities. You'll see alot of the cities from the Tier 3 column in I-275's list in this column. Also, Tier 2 cities are put here because they offer significant contributions to each state's economy

Tier II:

Jacksonville

Phoenix

Baltimore

San Antonio

Orlando

Las Vegas

Columbus

Raleigh/Durham

Providence

Milwaukee

Austin

Nashville

Louisville

Buffalo

Birmingham

Portland

Fort Lauderdale

Sacramento

Richmond

Knoxville

Colorado Springs

Tier III cities are what are more commonly known as medium-size cities. They offer minor league sports, have some major businesses located there, and also have great potential to be major cities.

Tier III:

Charleston, SC :P (yes, I AM biased)

Columbia, SC

Greenville, SC

Savannah

Norfolk

Augusta

Memphis

Baton Rouge

Mobile

Winston-Salem

Jackson, MS

Omaha

Lexington, KY

Gainesville, FL

Montgomery, AL

Okay, I've ran out of ideas :grin: , but this should not be considered a comprehensive list. These cities are not ranked, either, so don't think I'm placing cities in any particular order.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
largeTexas Crossroads

largeTexas

Posted
Posted

Tier I

New York

Los Angeles

Tier II

Chicago

San Francisco

Toronto

Tier III

Vancouver

Miami

DC

Seattle

Montreal

Atlanta

Philly

Houston

Dallas

New Orleans

North North America (excluding Latin America) definitely has 3 tiers of first-rate cities. New York and LA are definitely in a class by themselves, with New York far and away the most influential city on the continent (LA is a distant second). Chicago isn't near as important as either LA or NY so they start the second tier. Cities like Seattle, Miami, and Houston are definitely top of the line cities for culture, the arts, and business, but they are nowhere near as important as NY or even Chicago. Third tier cities thrive on regional importance rather than national importance, but culture often hits there a little later than first tier cities.

But there's another tier. These are the cities that make stuff happen. These are the small-ish cities that affect a lot of change, even in the first tier cities.

Tier (other)

Montreal

Portland

Austin

Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill

Minneapolis

Asheville

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 3 weeks later...
stinkweed Whistle-Stop

stinkweed

Posted
Posted

Ok, I'm finally going to log in on this. I live in the city, not the burbs, which I think alters my opinion of cities as compared to a suburban view of the city. My list is based entirely on how livable a city is. I could really careless about the population of the metro area or any of that other junk. Here goes.

Tier 1A

New York

Teir 1

Chicago*

Philadelphia

Boston

San Fran

Toronto

Montreal

Tier 2

Seattle

Pittsburgh

Vancouver

Miami

DC

Tier 3

Minneapolis

Cleveland

St. Louis

Dallas

Atlanta

New Orleans

Miami

Detroit

That's it. If you're city isn't on here, it's most likely because it's not a city in my opinion. For instance, Houston, LA and Phoenix are high density suburbs with big buildings in them, not cities. Or I may have just forgotten to add it in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
AmericanUrbanDesigner Whistle-Stop

AmericanUrbanDesigner

Posted
Posted

My list is similar to I-275's, but I believe that there are distinct features which make a city 1st tier: it is a major transportation hub, has more than 1 professional level sport, has more than 1-2 million in its metro area, and is recognized as a destination city. These aren't all of the characteristics, of course, but this is what distinguishes my list.

Tier I:

Chicago*

New York*

Los Angeles*

Philadelphia*

Pittsburgh

DC

Miami

Dallas

Houston

San Fransisco

St. Louis

Atlanta

Denver

Seattle

Detroit

Charlotte

New Orleans

Minneapolis

San Diego

Cleveland

Cincinatti

Tampa/St. Petersburg

Indianapolis

*These cities really are Tier I. You could say the rest of the cities are Tier 1A.

Tier II cities are cities that, in my opinion, are striving to become 1st tier cities. You'll see alot of the cities from the Tier 3 column in I-275's list in this column. Also, Tier 2 cities are put here because they offer significant contributions to each state's economy

Tier II:

Jacksonville

Phoenix

Baltimore

San Antonio

Orlando

Las Vegas

Columbus

Raleigh/Durham

Providence

Milwaukee

Austin

Nashville

Louisville

Buffalo

Birmingham

Portland

Fort Lauderdale

Sacramento

Richmond

Knoxville

Colorado Springs

Tier III cities are what are more commonly known as medium-size cities. They offer minor league sports, have some major businesses located there, and also have great potential to be major cities.

Tier III:

Charleston, SC

Link to comment
Share on other sites
stinkweed Whistle-Stop

stinkweed

Posted
Posted

Then why bother putting Atlanta on the list?  It has just as much sprawl as Houston does.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I haven't been to Atlanta in 8 yrs. I wouldn't have included it but from what I have heard it has made major strides. I could be wrong. Am I? I've been to the others recently except Miami. The last time I was there, south beach was great. I realize it's not my prototypical city but it is still a great city.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Neo City

Neo

Posted
Posted

I haven't been to Atlanta in 8 yrs.  I wouldn't have included it but from what I have heard it has made major strides.  I could be wrong. Am I?  I've been to the others recently except Miami.  The last time I was there, south beach was great.  I realize it's not my prototypical city but it is still a great city.

It has made strides to correct it's sprawl but the sprawl still continues at extremely high rates, in my opinion it is out of control at this point, same goes for Houston, they're similar in the sprawl problem.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Chris-LA Unincorporated Area

Chris-LA

Posted
Posted

I'm sorry but I have to say something now. Saying that L.A. isnt a city is about the most ignorant comment I've heard. Most of those cities listed that stinkweed said are cities, can't even compete with LA's urban make up.

Now tell me this isn't urban!

laaerialwilshirecorridor5et.jpg

labroadwayave6rc.jpg

lastreetdowntown7et.jpg

fashiondistrict11ss.jpg

fashiondistrict22zf.jpg

San Pedro district

spedro24gc.jpg

spedro161kz.jpg

Long Beach, and this is a edge city thats 22 miles aways from downtown LA

lb13zq.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Chris-LA Unincorporated Area

Chris-LA

Posted
Posted

Nice pics.  Stop crying, it's an opinion based poll.  I'm not the only one who has this opinion of LA.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Oh I'm not crying, I just pointed out what you said isn't true. I'm hear to educate those who are ignorant, thats why I posted the pictures to prove my point. Yes I'm very aware that many are of this opinion, and I'll bet most of those who have this opinion have never been to LA. Others probably visit the some of the burbs and never really explored the city of LA itself. Disneyland isn't the city, so yes if you visit the tourist traps as such, you're in suburban LA, not the city.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Chris-LA Unincorporated Area

Chris-LA

Posted
Posted

Keep in mind that Los Angeles' population is quite concentrated. According to Demographia, it has a higher population density than New York.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just to make things clear, the city of LA is not close to the density of NYC. But overall the LA metro area is the densest metro in the nation. Many don't know this but the New York metro sprawls for more than LA's metro. In fact there are many metros in the USA that sprawls far worst than LA, and with a smaller population.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
stinkweed Whistle-Stop

stinkweed

Posted
Posted

Keep in mind that Los Angeles' population is quite concentrated. According to Demographia, it has a higher population density than New York.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

LA lovers really enjoy bringing this up all the time. What you fail to mention is that this table is for metro's not cities. Let's see the stats for cities as this is the basis of the poll. If you'd like to rank metros then go ahead. New York city can not plan the development of the entire metro. California from Mexico to north of LA is one big sprawl mess. LA, in my opinion is not even in the same league as San Fran let alone Chicago or NY.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
95-Souf Whistle-Stop

95-Souf

Posted
Posted

Tier 1 Cities:

New York City

Chicago

Los Angeles

San Fransisco Bay Area

Tier 2 Cities:

Dallas - Ft. Worth Metroplex

Miami

Houston

Detriot

Washington, DC

Philadelphia

Atlanta

Boston

Seattle

Tier 3 Cities consist of other major cities in the

US that you dont have to put a comma and state

next to there names such as; Cleveland, Baltimore, Minneapolis etc.......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.