I was going to list the four NYC Burroughs… Only to have that joke spoiled by facts.
Depends how you define major. The 4th city rotates by category.
Tourism? Vegas or Orlando.
Politics or history? DC, Philadelphia or Boston.
Tech? San Francisco or Seattle.
Population size? Houston
Land size? Juneau.
Music? Nashville or maybe New Orleans and Atlanta.
Four’s a bit of an arbitrary number and major is woefully undefined.
Houston or Boston i guess.
There is no 4th because no one else has 2 baseball teams.
DC has the Orioles and the Nats.
Baltimore has the orioles. The fuck kind of crack you smoking?
OK for serious, watch a Yankees game at Camden and tell me who the home team is.
Yeah it’s a joke. The DC suburbs are a primary TV market for the Orioles. Like, you get O’s blackouts on MLB.tv all the way down to Richmond.
Miami, San Francisco, maybe Boston. The only thing DFW is good for is talking about the Cowboys.
I’d say Miam, San Francisco, and Atlanta
NY gets to cover the whole NE and Miami is it’s own special place. Atlanta takes care of the SE.
Alaska because it’s the furthest one from the US.
Wouldn’t that be Samoa?
How? It is the US
Gotham City
Fourth-most important city is the one geographically closest to you. For all others, it’s DC.
This is the true answer imo
NY, Chicago, and LA for sure. And certainly cities like Seattle, Dallas, Denver, St. Louis, New Orleans, Atlanta, Miami, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Boston would all duke it out for the notoriety of the 4th spot. But, are we going to pretend that DC doesn’t edge the rest out for importance, both historically and currently, for landmarks, for cultural relevance?
DC has a clear lead in monuments
I’m not American but is San Francisco not a really important city?
Yeah, it is. There are arguably many more too. Minneapolis, Pheonix, Las Vegas, San Diego, Houston, etc. I just tried to pick a smattering of places off the top of my head from a wide spread of the country.
I’m with you on the rest, but Phoenix? I think they have the largest state college, but that’s all I can think of for importance
It’s the most populated state capital (5 million) and has a big tech and aerospace presence and semiconductor production. That’s all I know about it really besides being hot and dry as hell.
Didn’t it have the highest murder rate in the 90s? That place is too hot to support life.
Idk, from an outsider perspective to me the big 3 are NY, LA and SF. Chicago barely registers, nevermind Minneapolis
Oh no Chicago is massive. Has Willis/Sears tower which was once the tallest in the world. Is a major financial hub for thr stock exchange. Has a massive arts and good culture. Has O’Hara International Airport with flights all over the world. Many films and TV shows at there or in its suburbs.
It doesn’t have as many familiar landmarks as San Fran, maybe. And San Fran is has gotten more important with the rise of Silicon Valley which shares the bay area. But Chicago is a big deal in the US, for sure.
Minneapolis really only matters within the midwest.
It was a big deal back when railroad connections meant something. Now, its a corrupt rat warren of institutionalized racism, corporate tax havens, and the goofiest accent north of oaklahoma. You guys dont even make good pizza.
Railroads still mean plenty. How do you think most goods get around?
Boats. Have you seen boats? Big metal things that float?
Philadelphia is arguably more historically significant than DC
Historically, but not currently
Americans don’t get this because they have no idea how the U.N. works.
Thats a ridiculous assertation. They wont get this because they cant read.
Houston is the 4th largest with 2.4 million. Phoenix is number 5 with 1.6 million people.
Pheonix will cease to exist within a decade
The heat, the water, emigration due to socio-economical causes low birth rate or all four?
Add spitting in the face of God every moment it continues to exist to the list too
Maybe it’s just me but I don’t think Chicago holds that spot idk
Chicago was historically considered the Second City, after NYC. It’s a major shipping and economic hub and has something like the 6th highest GDP of any urban region in the world, over $919 billion in 2024. It has an incredibly diverse culture and is a world class city by every definition of the word.
Its a corporate tax haven with substandard pizza and a goofy accent.
I like to think that Washington DC is the fourth, seeing as it’s the national capital, the political & historical center of America, and the fact that things that happen in DC have not just national, but international effects.
Also a fair bit of personal bias tbh, seeing as I live in the metro area.
DC has the only decent transit system besides NYC, which pushes it over a lot of bigger cities. Realistically it’s NYC, DC, SF and LA are the tier one cities. Chicago, Boston, Miami, Seattle and Denver start the tier two list. Charlotte, Minneapolis and maybe SLC also get tier two. I am specifically excluding Texas because fuck Texas, there’s nothing redeemable there.
Chicago is clearly top tier, you on angel dust?
I live in your country but I agree. From outside, DC is more major than Chicago.
San Francisco easily takes it imo.
Distant 17th by population but more than makes up for it through business, technological, and cultural influence. (Edit: Especially since the wider San Francisco Bay Area can be credibly lumped together to form such a populous combined statistical area.)
The bay area is almost one big city. As such, it would be an easy 4. But separately, not a lock.
California already has one. What about Seattle?
California has an economy larger than 98% of all countries.
Something like 1 out of 5 people in the US live in California. If California seceded from the US, it would rightfully join the G7 to make it the G8 again. California can have two cities. (Obviously born and raised in California even if I’m living basically as far as one can still in the US)
Honestly agree about the bay but what makes the bay good is the same thing that disqualifies it from the list. You cant pick one bay area city to represent all of the bay, even SF. Youre leaving out San Jose, Oakland, Richmond, the tri Valley, Walnut Creek, all that. You cant take any one of them to wholly represent the others.
LA is California enough for most people. Its like us, but worse. Any true Californian knows youre not really talking about actual Los Angeles anyways. Its a whole cluster of cities from San Diego to Anaheim and out to the actual city proper. I think we got it covered.
Big three should be LA, NYC, and DC. SF can be a floater like Philly or Atlanta or Houston. Chicago belongs in the past and we should leave it there with their goofy accents.
Seattle definitely isn’t the #4 most major city or CSA. It’s a great city and has major businesses, but Seattle probably sits behind Dallas–Fort Worth. All jokes about fairness aside: California gets to have this one.
I’m from Seattle and I’m not even mad. I wish it was further down the list, my town was more fun when it was broke and unimportant. A boomtown that only gets fun on the downswing, that’s my Seattle.
