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.)
California already has one. What about Seattle?
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.
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)
The bay area is almost one big city. As such, it would be an easy 4. But separately, not a lock.
Fourth-most important city is the one geographically closest to you. For all others, it's DC.
This is the true answer imo
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.
I live in your country but I agree. From outside, DC is more major than Chicago.
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.
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?
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.
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.
DC has a clear lead in monuments
Houston or Boston i guess.
This thread literally proves the point of the OP. People just can’t seem to agree on the 4th city lmao
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.
PHILADELPHIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
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.
NY, LA, SF, DC... Chicago is a great city but not as influential on the world stage as it used to be.
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.
CityNerd covered it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrj-p5nja7o
What was their conclusion?
The US has a primary city (NYC), a top-3 (NYC, Chicago, LA) and a top-5 (NYC, Chicago, LA, SF & DC). Asking for top 2 or 4 is too hard to call and just asking for trouble.
So it’s like this:
1st tier: NY
2nd tier: Chicago & LA
3rd tier: SF & DC
(Finally learned how to do a single line break on Lemmy - put two spaces at the end of the first line, then Enter)
Holy fucking shit.
It works!
Atlanta or Seattle.
Leaning towards Atlanta these days.
Four's a bit of an arbitrary number and major is woefully undefined.
There is also that city where the White House's East Wing used to be.
Miami, San Francisco, maybe Boston. The only thing DFW is good for is talking about the Cowboys.
I would go with NYC, LA, San Francisco, and Miami. Those are the four cities that, internationally, everyone knows and wants to go see.
Chicago isn’t an international city like the other 4 here. It’s just… very large. And in that sense it’s like Houston, Detroit or Atlanta. Large, important cities in the US but not particularly relevant on the world stage.
(And yes I know I’m gonna get angry Chicagoans responding, I’m kinda shitposting a bit here)
Non-american with unfortunate closeness/experience with the US here, and I would agree with this. I might consider replacing SF with Seattle to have one in each corner and everyone also knows Seattle (Nirvana..). We all know SF for sure but I think mostly think of it as a smaller (but richer) place than these other ones.
I’m not a Chicagoan, Chicago is definitely a global market, especially in the financial industry.
Gotham City
Chicago ain't shit. Its L.A. , NYC, and DC. In that order. Chicago belongs with the floaters like Atlanta, Houston, Miami, Portland, and Las Vegas.
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