Submitted 3 weeks ago by FoxtrotDeltaTango@sh.itjust.works to [deleted]
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cross-posted from: piefed.blahaj.zone/c/…/can-anyone-confirm
Correct. The cities in rotation are Dallas (the capital of oil), Houston (the other capital of oil), Atlanta (the capital of black people), Miami (the capital of Latino people), SF (the capital of rich people), and DC (the capital).
[sad Boston noises] they only get to be on the list when one or more of their sports teams is doing well and everyone hates them for it.
Ah yes Boston the capital of assholes.
(Surprisingly, when I lived there, I thought people were very nice)
Who cares about Dallas, Houston or Atlanta - do people actually go those places when they don’t have to? I mean travel there by choice rather than necessity.
No one goes to Texas on purpose. Something has to go wrong in your life to land you there.
Being forced to go there is what makes them the rotating 4th.
My criteria wasnt about appeal, but influence. Dallas and Houston are the biggest hubs of cowboy culture, which is probably the most iconic American look recognized around the world. These cities define the way other US cities are built, leading the way in car centric design. And the oil industry is responsible for every war we’ve been in for the last 30 years.
Atlanta, in addition to having a large population, is a huge center for music, food, and civil rights, and plays an outsized role in national politics as turnout there can sway presidential elections and congressional balance.
Welcome to Atlanta where the players play, and we ride on them thangs like every day
The people who live in Houston seem to think it’s as good as Chicago, I’d disagree with them but at least there are good restaurants. Also from a population standpoint, Houston is basically the same size as Chicago so it invites comparison in one regard.
Houston has some amazing neighborhoods, cultural diversity, a solid professional job market, and great parks and museums. Unfortunately, this is only a fraction of Houston, where the rest is concrete wasteland and/or culturally devoid
I had Miami and SF on my list, but the others make sense.
This is the right answer. Anyone can look at a list of populations. This is also a question about culture.
There’s also Portland, which now in recent years has become the city of trans people. But that’s only from the last few years.
Not a large enough population. Maybe Seattle
Dallas and Miami for sure. SF is basically the same as LA with Golden Gate. But Boston, Seattle, (New) Detroit, and maybe Omaha/Wichita if there’s tornado chasers or country/city clashes.
Omaha and Wichita are not on the same level as any of the rest you’ve listed. Very random to put them in here. Omaha is the 42nd largest city and Wichita is 52nd. And if you’re comparing Metro areas I would guess that disparity would place them much lower.
SF same as LA??? Have you been to either? Scale. LA is huge. SF is a tiny city. Weather. LA has nice weather. SF has four seasons: windy, foggy, ok, rainy. Always somewhat cold. Food: LA is so much bigger and has much more to offer. SF has good food if you can afford it. Vibe: in LA everyone is nice to you but doesn’t care about you unless you’re rich. In SF no one cares about you. Architecture: suburb vs Victorian suburb.
Denver?
Denver is my city, but I don’t think it qualifies.
I think Denver has a lot of great qualities - it is the home of outdoor/mountain life in the US, has the fittest population of any major city, is one of the biggest hubs of craft beer and cannabis, and is a significant player in tech, aerospace, and finance. Considering “Denver” to be the whole Front Range and I70 corridor, we are also a major military hub, the home of the olympics training center, and a hub for advanced computer chip design. We have a significant EDM music scene, the world famous Red Rocks amphitheatre, and world famous skiing at Aspen and Vail.
However, I can’t imagine putting Denver on the list at #4 for major American cities - the biggest factor simply being population. NYC metro has a population of 24 million. SF: 9 million; Houston: 8 million; Atlanta: 7 million. Denver has 3 million.
That might be forgiveable if it were more influential in culture, politics, or economics - but it isn’t. The political and economic power of Houston-Dallas have been the driving force in all the wars we’ve been in for the past 30 years: oil. Denver’s biggest political claim to fame is making weed legal. Our urbanist movement seems to have stalled out, and as many of my friends have commented - the city itself is fairly ugly in most places. And Denver fails to have any kind of unique and distinctive cuisine, instead, having a food scene that is, in the estimation of everyone who has visited, quite bad.
The three major cultural forces in Denver are Mexican, Midwestern Nice, and Mountain Yuppie. All of these together tend to create culture that is diven and hard-working, but that also has other priorities (like family, work-life balance, and time in the mountains). But this also creates a culture that has less emphasis on relaxation, creativity, and social openness. I’ve often said that the reason Denver punches under its weight on food and night life is because the typical demographic you would see hitting bars and restaurants on a Friday night - young professionals with disposable income - are going to bed early to go hiking Saturday morning. And these cultural priorities (along with the general auto-dependence of the city) combine to create a city that is not particularly welcoming to visitors and newcomers, and which mostly keeps to itself on the national and international stage. And at least politically, I think this has worked out well for us as (Imo) we typically have extremely sensible legislation governing the city and state (compared to other cities and states I hear about, at least).
While I would love to see Denver grow into one of the great cities in north america, at present I see it as more of a character actor - a city that is known and relevant because of a certain aspect of itself, but which is not a major player. Thus, it finds itself in the company of cities like Portland, New Orleans, Austin, Orlando, Las Vegas, or Detroit - cities that a foreigner has a 50/50 shot of knowing about because of a distinctive characteristic they have.
No one is arguing for Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh is just fine with that.
pretty sure the only people thinking about pittsburgh are the ones suffering from pittsburgh.
Philadelphia. Paddy’s Pub is a landmark
That’s it, rotates between Atlanta, Philadelphia, Detroit, Austin, Dallas, Seattle, and Portland, with occasional layovers somewhere in Florida.
Back to food the Detroit metro is right up there everything from great sliders, BBQ, Middle Eastern, Eastern Europe. If a food exists you’re going to find a pretty great representation there.
Then there’s the museums, the car culture, Motown, and now tech. Lots if shade has been thrown at Detroit but in 2026 if I was into tech or engineering it would be my first stop. Major sports teams, great jobs, the water, cool art deco architecture that all seems pretty great to me.
But WINTER
Could probably throw Denver in there
My Mother in law got me one of their shirts when she visited a few years ago lol
“America has only three cities: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans. Everywhere else is Cleveland.”
Tennessee Williams
I think I agree with Tennessee Williams on NOLA that’s a great town, the food there is worth almost any distance flight.
Agreed, I’m particularly fond of Jaques-Imo’s Cafe.
I feel like Las Vegas takes fourth just purely from cultural relevance.
If it was by population then the 4th would be Houston but no one gives a shit about Houston.
Oooo yeah Vegas is a good candidate
Nah, Vegas isn’t so much a city as a big theme park. Hell, the casinos aren’t even in Las Vegas.
The Statue of Liberty isn’t actually in New York but they still put it on the T-shirts.
Mexico City is the largest city in North America. Now if they said US that’s a different story
I’m curious, where are you from that “American” used on its own doesn’t specifically indicate united-states-of-?
It’s a stamce on here some people have to dub “American” as belonging to all of North and South America. It’s basically just being anti-US as much of Lemmy is.
American is slang for something or somebody from the US. I live near the canadian border. Canadians, Mexicans and everyone in South America all are technically “americans” and refer to themselves as such occasionally.
Personally, I’d encourage people to re-adopt the word “Yankees” for US people, its a way funnier word.
Latinamerican here. “American” for us is someone who was born in the Americas… i bet it is the same for all latinamerica.
They didn’t say “North America,” they said “America.” Everyone who speaks English understands that “America” on its own is almost always in reference to the USA.
Remember the point of this is American cities not US cities so we need to account for Canada, central, and south American cities.
When this was posted yesterday I put Miami at number four but there are lots of large vibrant cities in America.
I think I’d probably put Toronto in place of Chicago, I haven’t been in south or Mexico City so I’m not much use there
I mean if we’re going ALL of the Americas it’s probably Sao Paulo, NYC, Mexico City, and imo 4th is a toss up between LA and Rio De Janeiro.
Lima Peru has almost double the population of Rio
Why Rio over LA? From an external look I think Rio should be in a top four or five.
Why does say Sau Paulo beat Brasilia or Beunos Aires?
Geographically speaking it should be either Seattle or Atlanta, it should be a list of 5 tbh
Umm, what about California??
LA?
I don’t even think Chicago makes the list.
Sounds like a person from not Chicago.
I don’t live in Chicago, but it’s the fucking bomb. Awesome friendly people, good culture, just a goddamn gem of the midwest.
I went and found it altogether dreary. The city feels like it’s trying so hard to be New York with nothing of what makes New York so good, then you go out of the city and find the bleakest landscape on earth. Even leaving isn’t a good experience because you’ve got to deal with getting to O’Hare. I’d take Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Seattle, Boston or even DC, Phoenix or Philly over it in a heartbeat.
Chicago is such a self-important city for people with no sense of the world.
That’s fine, but it’s very far down the list of cities I’d expect to have a conversation or even hear about.
My vote is probably Seattle, Philly or Boston, but I just happen to like them a lot. SF is lovely except it’s a bit too small and if you include Oakland and Berkeley (you should), it has some serious issues. Portland is nice too, but again pretty small.
Y’all who nominate any Texas (or any other deep red state city, save for maybe New Orleans) are fucking crazy though; even if they’re an oasis in an idiot desert, I’ve never enjoyed being in those cities. Even ignoring the state politics bringing them down, most are hot, humid and inconvenient to visit. I’m sure there’s some public transportation in places like Dallas or Houston but I have my doubts, I’ve always had someone I was visiting drive me.
LA, NY, ChiTown, Miami.
But it is Philly
good old robot murdering Philthadelphia
Well, it contained batteries.
From an international perspective, we know:
Is there anywhere else that’s a world-renowned contender?
The last handful on there are probably in name only, and we couldn’t tell them apart. The top spots probably have the most distinct flavours and/or famous landmarks
Memphis
Some other famous US cities:
It’s Jacksonville, FL obviously.
New York, LA, Chicago, and Houston, apparently.
Boston or DC.
Boston
Full of Massholes. Angry white massholes.
Pass.
New York, LA, Mexico City, Rio de Janiero.
Gotta be miami or san francisco
New york, ciudad de mexico, sao pablo, rio de janeiro
How is it not just straight up Houston. It’s almost larger than Chicago now.
Because Houston isn’t a city, it’s just a never ending suburb.
Same thing with a lot of ‘large’ cities in the US. The city seems absolutely huge, but in reality it’s just a part of the metro area around it. Makes me wonder how New York and LA got so big without being a collection of a dozen smaller towns, even though they both have lots of surrounding suburbs of course.
Because they said city, not parking lot built on a bog.
My asshole is really big, but you don’t see anyone trying to say it’s great.
Houston is too sprawled, even within Texas DFW has the bigger metropolitan population. It’s just that DFW has some lines drawn in it separating the cities while in Houston they’re all considered the same city.
That being said culturally it’s definitely not DFW or Chicago. I think Miami is the clear 4th from its city size and unique culture, though I also can see the arguments for DC and SF.
TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
The fourth major US city is Springfield. Which Springfield, you ask? Any and all.
Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 3 weeks ago
They are all the omni-Springfield. Shelbyville differs by state.
CIA_chatbot@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I hear when the earth is threatened all the spring fields form into a mega Springfield, with the Simspons Springfield forming the head
elephantium@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Which we used to call Morganville back in the day…