Global City Importance Model
What are the Most Important Cities in the World?
Early 2025 Ratings

The “Global City Importance Model” (GCIM) scores urban areas according to their relative importance globally. It uses forty regularly updated data sources across four dimensions (economic, political, cultural, and demographic) to calculate importance, with economic output and international geopolitical influence comprising the largest scoring factors:

The numerical scores are then divided into five peer groups, or “tiers”, based on the importance of the cities within the tiers:

• Tier 1-Global City
• Tier 2-Major City
• Tier 3-Regional City
• Tier 4-Subregional City
• Tier 5-Locally Important City

Each tier is further divided into three groups or “ratings” (“A”, “B”, “C”), with similar scoring cities receiving the same rating. A special rating (“1-S”) is also created to clearly delineate the top scoring city.

Here are the 150 most important cities globally according to the Early 2025 Model:

According to the Early 2025 GCIM, New York is currently the world’s most important city—followed by Washington, Beijing, London, Tokyo, Shanghai, Paris, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, the Northern Pearl River Delta (including Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Dongguan), and Seoul.

Together, these eleven cities are classified as the world’s “Tier 1” or “Global” cities.

Next, here’s a look at the most important cities across each of the world’s major geographical and cultural regions:

According to the Early 2025 GCIM, New York is currently the most important city in Northern America; London is the dominant city in Europe; and Beijing, the capital of the world’s second most important geopolitical power, is currently East & Southeast Asia’s leading city.

In Latin America, São Paulo and Mexico City both compete as the region’s most important city. There’s a similar situation in the MENA region, as both Istanbul and Dubai score similarly—but with Istanbul slightly ahead. And in South Asia, Delhi and Mumbai dominate the region.

Johannesburg is the current top city in Sub-Saharan Africa, while Moscow is the dominant city in the former Soviet Union’s territory. Meanwhile, Sydney is the most important city in Oceania, with Melbourne not far behind.

Next, here’s a closer look at the three regions with the most high-rated cities: Northern America (i.e., the U.S. and Canada), Europe, and East and Southeast Asia:

New York, Washington, and Los Angeles are currently the most important cities in Northern America; London, Paris, and Brussels are currently the most important cities in Europe; and Beijing, Tokyo, and Shanghai are currently the most important cities in East & Southeast Asia.

Zooming in to Northern America as a region, here’s a closer look at the 150 most important cities in the U.S. and Canada:

New York, Washington, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, Boston, Toronto, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Atlanta are currently the ten most important urban areas in Northern America.

Here’s a closer look at the 150 most important cities across Europe:

London, Paris, Brussels, the Randstad (including Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague), Berlin, Madrid, Milan, Frankfurt, Munich, and the Rhine-Ruhr (including Cologne and Düsseldorf) are currently the ten most important urban areas in Europe.

And here’s a closer look at the 150 most important cities across East and Southeast Asia:

Beijing, Tokyo, Shanghai, the Northern Pearl River Delta (including Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Dongguan), Seoul, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei, Jakarta, and Keihanshin (including Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe) are currently the ten most important urban areas in East and Southeast Asia.

Meanwhile, here’s a closer look at the most important cities across Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia:

São Paulo, Mexico City, and Buenos Aires are currently the most important cities in Latin America; Istanbul, Dubai, and Riyadh are currently the most important cities in the MENA region; and Delhi, Mumbai, and Dhaka are currently the most important cities in South Asia.

Next, here’s a look at the top cities across the most important countries globally:

Meanwhile, here’s a look at the fifty most important cities across the Top 3 Geopolitical Powers globally—the United States, China, and the European Union:

According to the Early 2025 GCIM, New York, Washington, and Los Angeles are currently the most important urban areas in the United States; Beijing, Shanghai, and the Northern Pearl River Delta (including Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Dongguan) are currently the most important urban areas in China; and Paris, Brussels, and the Randstad (including Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague) are currently the most important urban areas in the European Union.

Finally, here’s a look at the 150 most important cities in the current top geopolitical power globally—the United States:

According to the Early 2025 GCIM, New York is currently the most important U.S. city—followed by Washington, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. These cities anchor the four current U.S. power centers—Wall Street (New York), the U.S. Government (Washington), Hollywood (Los Angeles), and Silicon Valley (San Francisco)—and have outsized global importance. As such, they are considered “Tier 1” or “Global” cities.

The next most important U.S. cities include Chicago, Boston, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Miami, Seattle, and Philadelphia—all of which are significant economic, population, and cultural centers. These eight cities are classified as “Tier 2” or “Major” cities.

Together, the U.S.’s “Tier 1” and “Tier 2” cities comprise more than 10% of the entire global economy.

Originally intended for cartographic use, the project began in 2007 and is currently in its 15th iteration.

Inspired by the Ranally City Rating System and the Chinese City Tier System, the ranking was born out of frustration with other city ranking projects, which too often focus solely on narrow metrics like the presence of professional service firms (e.g., GaWC) or on soft attributes like liveability, reputation, and ecological factors (e.g., Kearney, Oxford Economics)—rather than actual economic and political importance.

To that end, one of the key differentiators of the GCIM is that geopolitical power is taken into considerable account (via input from the “Global Geopolitical Power Model”), especially for cities serving as capitals and financial centers of their respective powers.

As an example, part of why New York currently rates as the most important city globally, among other factors, is because New York serves as the primary financial center of the current top geopolitical power, the United States:

Unlike other city rankings (e.g., Kearney, Oxford Economics), growth rates and projections do not factor into scoring. Instead, the GCIM aims to provide a snapshot of the world as it currently is—not as it one day might be. To that end, the main purpose of the Model is to provide a reasonable, off-the-shelf listing of the Top 5, Top 10, Top 50, Top 100, etc. on a global, regional, and national level for the current year.

“Importance”, in this context, is defined as the amount of influence, impact, and control a given city exerts upon the rest of the world. Put another way, it’s the degree of disruption (if any) the rest of the world would experience if a given city suddenly disappeared.

(It’s worth repeating that the model is not attempting to determine which cities are the best, the most livable, the most attractive, the most popular/famous, or the most connected—rather the model is focused on determining which cities are the most consequential.)

In this context, “city” is used as a simplified term for “urban area”, as defined by Demographia in the “Demographia World Urban Areas” project:

An urban area is a continuously built up land mass of urban development that is within a labor market. An urban area contains no rural land and is best thought of as the “urban footprint”—the lighted area or “city lights” that can be observed from an airplane or satellite on a clear night.

Apart from a handful of exceptions, the GCIM uses Demograhia’s urban area delineations for areas with populations greater than 500,000. For smaller areas, official government delineations are used, often with consultation of the European Commission’s “Global Human Settlement Layer”. (For examples of official U.S. urban areas, click here to view a map from the U.S. Census Bureau.)

The exceptions mentioned above are for urban areas that are sometimes combined in other sources or that display increasing evidence of functioning as a single urban area—such as the Northern Pearl River Delta (Shenzhen-Guangzhou-Dongguan), the Rhine-Ruhr (Ruhr-Cologne-Düsseldorf), and the Randstad (Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Hague). In these cases, the model reports ratings for both the combined and separate urban areas. (Note: these areas appear in italics in the city tables above.)

It’s important to keep in mind that the model is evaluating cities at a global scale. So areas that are sometimes broken into separate urban areas for statistical or other nuanced reasons at the regional or national level—such as San Francisco and San Jose—are more meaningfully conceptualized as single areas at the zoomed out global level.

In a handful of other cases, some cities that Demographia combines into single urban areas with other larger cities—such as Baltimore (combined with Washington), New Haven (combined with New York), and Gold Coast (combined with Brisbane)—receive their own ratings in the GCIM. (Note: these cities also appear in italics in the city tables above.)

Urban areas are confined to single sovereign states and jurisdictions, unless there is freedom of movement between the adjacent states / jurisdictions. In this context, “freedom of movement” means that there are no customs or immigration facilities at the borders—or that arrangements are in place, such as work permits, allowing for unrestricted border crossing. So as an example, Detroit and Windsor are considered separate urban areas—as are San Diego and Tijuana. Hong Kong and Macau are also considered separate urban areas from the rest of the Pearl River Delta because of border controls.

“Region” is being defined as one of the world’s nine major geographic and cultural regions: Northern America, Latin America (including Brazil and the Caribbean), Europe (excluding Russia and Turkey), the Middle East & North Africa (including Turkey), Sub-Saharan Africa, Russia & Central Asia (i.e., the Asian countries of the former Soviet Union), South Asia (including India), East & Southeast Asia, and Oceania.

“Global City” has become a bit of a loaded term in recent years, with different meanings in different contexts.

The model is titled the “Global City Importance Model” because it evaluates all cities globally—and because importance is evaluated relative to all other cities at the global level. (In contrast, some city ranking projects—e.g., Kearney, Global Power City Index—only rank a small set of pre-selected cities.)

Cities classified as “Global Cities” by the model are simply cities that have an outsized impact on the rest of the world—as measured by a combination of economic, political, cultural, and demographic factors. They have some degree of impact and influence across all regions—and there would be ripple effects globally if any of them suddenly disappeared.

Currently, only eleven cities are classified as “Global”:

A city rated as “Major” is a city that has moderate importance globally. It has impact outside of its own region—but generally not across all regions. These cities often have a mix of both global and regional attributes and generally, but not always, have urban area populations greater than 5,000,000 and GDPs exceeding $500 billion USD annually.

Nearly all cities rated as “Major” function as capitals of top geopolitical powers, top international financial centers, or centers / “capitals” of important industries. There are approximately 50 cities rated as “Major” globally.

A city rated as “Regional” is a city that’s important within its larger region—but is of relatively low importance globally. These cities generally, but not always, have urban area populations greater than 500,000 and GDPs exceeding $50 billion USD annually.

There are approximately 250 cities rated as “Regional” globally.

A city rated as “Subregional” is a city that’s important within a section or “subregion” of one of the nine major regions listed above. It can be a city that’s important within a group of smaller countries (e.g., Southern Africa, the Balkans); a city that’s important within the whole of a medium-sized country (e.g., Spain, Saudi Arabia, South Africa); or a city that’s important within a section of larger country like the United States or China (e.g., the U.S. Midwest, North China).

“Subregional Cities” generally have urban area populations greater than 50,000 and GDPs exceeding $5 billion USD annually.

A city rated as “Locally Important” is a city that’s important within its immediate area—but not across its wider world region. They’re usually cities that are only important within a first-level administrative division of a country, such as an average-sized U.S. state. (Nearly all U.S. micropolitan cities fall into this group.)

“Locally Important Cities” have urban area populations of at least 5,000. (Note: 5,000 is the minimum population threshold to be considered “urban” by the model—the same threshold used by the U.S. Census Bureau.)

Since none of the tables above showed examples of “Locally Important Cities”—here’s a look at the most important urban areas across the most populous U.S. states (New York, Illinois, and North Carolina have examples):

Cities receiving “A” ratings should be thought of as cities that nearly qualified for the next tier above, but were deficient in some important regard. For example, a city with a “2-A” rating can be thought of as an Almost Global City; and a city with a “3-A” rating can be thought of as an Almost Major City, etc.

Note that there is a very high bar for cities to be rated “Regional”, an even higher bar for cities to be rated “Major”, and an almost insurmountable bar for cities to be rated “Global” (such that only eleven cities are even able to qualify).

A-rated cities are the cities most likely to move into higher tiers in future ratings.

Cities receiving “B” ratings in a given tier are those that scored lower than cities receiving “A” ratings in the same tier.

Cities receiving “C” ratings in a given tier are those that scored lower than cities receiving “B” ratings—but still solidly qualify for their respective tiers.

C-rated are the cities most likely to move into lower tiers in future ratings.

Arguably the most subjective part of the GCIM is how the model weights are applied—so a few words about these.

For the purposes of the model, economic impact and international geopolitical influence are the two highest weighted factors in determining a city’s importance.

That’s because a city’s economic strength, including its role in global finance, trade, industry, and innovation, often drives its overall importance. Cities with strong economies attract businesses, talent, and investment, which in turn enhances their global influence, cultural impact, and political significance.

While economic strength often lays the foundation of a city’s importance, geopolitical influence amplifies its ability to shape global affairs, making it an equally critical factor. Cities with strong geopolitical influence are critical hubs for political decision-making, international relations, and global governance. They often host the headquarters of international organizations, embassies, and key governmental institutions like legislatures and militaries. And decisions made in the capitals of top geopolitical powers often have far reaching ramifications globally.

It’s imperative that the metrics used by the GCIM incur the fewest questions around relevancy. To that end, the model aims for simplicity, using the fewest metrics needed to reliably calculate importance.

New York is currently the highest scoring city—scoring considerably higher than any other.

As the primary financial center of the United States, New York hosts Wall Street, major stock exchanges, and a vast array of global corporations. Home to the United Nations, it plays a central role in global diplomacy and international policy, amplifying its influence on world affairs. It currently has the highest GDP of any metropolitan area worldwide—larger than all but seven countries—and is Northern America’s most populous city.

Here’s an incomplete list of factors that contribute to New York’s designation as the most important city globally (note: items listed below are not weighted equally):

• #1 scoring city globally in “economic” dimension.
• #1 largest metropolitan economy globally.
• #1 largest metropolitan economy of the current top global power (U.S.).
• #13 most populous urban area globally.
• #1 most populous urban area of the current top global power.
• #1 financial center globally.
• #1 financial center of the current top global power.
• Regarded as the global center or “capital” of multiple trillion-dollar global industries (finance, advertising, and media).
• Outlier for number of Global Fortune 500 headquarters (3rd most globally).
• #1 city in stock exchange market capitalization for stock exchanges within its urban area.
• #1 or #2 urban area globally (depending upon source) in number of billionaires.
• #2 scoring city in “political” dimension of the current top global power.
• #1 number of diplomatic missions of any non-capital city globally.
• Headquarters of a major international organization with enforcement powers (i.e., the United Nations).
• #1 urban area globally in terms foreign-born population. (Likely the most diverse city globally).
• Tied with Los Angeles as highest scoring “culture” city of the current top global power.
• Tied with Paris, London, and Milan as global center of the trillion-dollar global fashion industry.
• Tied with London as global center of the theatre/performing arts industry. (Broadway)
• Regarded as global center of the art market.
• #3 ranked scientific output city globally.
• #11 ranked patent city globally.
• Outlier for international overnight visitors (within the Top 15 globally over the past three years).
• #1 destination for international overnight visitors of the current top global power.
• #2 busiest city airport system globally by passenger traffic.
• Major port by cargo volume (#20 busiest container port globally).
• #2 hub globally for critical undersea internet cable infrastructure.

Washington is currently the second highest scoring city.

As the capital of the current top geopolitical power (the United States) Washington is the epicenter of American foreign policy, hosting the White House, Congress, and numerous global institutions like the IMF and World Bank. While not as large or economically diverse as the other ten cities rated as “Global”, Washington’s economy is driven by government services, defense, and international organizations, making it a key player in policy-driven economic decisions and a key U.S. financial center. Washington also sets monetary policy for the world’s most widely held currency and serves as the headquarters of the world’s most powerful military.

Here’s an incomplete list of factors that contribute to Washington’s especially high performance:

• #1 scoring city globally in “political” dimension.
• #1 scoring capital city globally.
• Capital of the current top global geopolitical power.
• #13 largest metropolitan economy globally.
• #6 largest metropolitan economy of the top global power.
• #97 most populous urban area globally.
• #8 most populous urban area of the top global power.
• #40 financial center globally.
• #5 financial center of the top global power.
• Regarded as the global center or “capital” of multiple trillion-dollar global industries (defense and advocacy/non-profit).
• Outlier for number of Global Fortune 500 headquarters (#10 globally).
• #2 number of diplomatic missions of any city globally.
• Capital of #1 national government by annual revenue.
• Capital of a national government with more than $1 trillion in annual revenue.
• Hosts multiple major international organizations (World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and Organization of American States).
• Sets monetary policy for the most widely used currency globally.
• Sets monetary policy for the most widely held reserve currency globally.
• Headquarters of the military of the top global power.
• #7 ranked scientific output city globally.
• #17 busiest city airport system globally by passenger traffic.

Beijing is currently the third highest scoring city.

As China’s capital, Beijing drives the country’s foreign policy and is a key player in global geopolitics, especially in Asia and beyond. Beijing also serves as a major economic hub, with a significant role in China’s economy, hosting state-owned enterprises, tech giants, and financial institutions. Its economic policies substantially influence global markets.

Here’s an incomplete list of factors that contribute to Beijing’s especially high performance:

• #2 scoring city globally in “political” dimension.
• #2 scoring capital city globally.
• Capital of the current #2 global geopolitical power.
• #17 largest metropolitan economy globally.
• #3 largest metropolitan economy of the #2 global power.
• #12 most populous urban area globally.
• #3 most populous urban area of the #2 global power.
• #4 financial center globally.
• #2 financial center of the #2 global power.
• Outlier for number of Global Fortune 500 headquarters (#1 globally).
• #1 number of diplomatic missions of any city globally.
• Capital of a national government with more than $1 trillion in annual revenue.
• Headquarters of the military of the #2 global power.
• #1 ranked scientific output city globally.
• #12 busiest city airport system globally by passenger traffic.

London is currently the fourth highest scoring city.

Despite Brexit, London remains influential in European and global politics, hosting major diplomatic institutions and serving as a hub for international negotiations. And as the #2 financial center globally, London excels in banking, insurance, and professional services, with a GDP reflecting its major role in the world economy.

GaWC “World Cities”
Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC)

Coming soon.

“Global Power City Index” (GPCI)
Institute for Urban Strategies at The Mori Memorial Foundation

Coming soon.

“Global Cities Index”
AT Kearney

Coming soon.

“Global Cities Index”
Oxford Economics

Coming soon.

How often is the model updated?

The model updates monthly. Results are publicly published at least three times a year (“Early” in January, “Mid” in May, and “Late” in September)—and often sooner.

A particular city seems as if it’s rated too high or too low?

Ratings and ranks are based on a city’s data as well as the weights applied consistently to all cities globally. (Individual city scores and rankings aren’t manually adjusted or manipulated.)

If a particular city seems rated or ranked abnormally high or low, it could be a data issue affecting a particular city or set of cities—though this is not common.

Please use the Feedback form on the bottom of this page to report possible issues and concerns.

Why do some of the tables above only list fifteen cities?

The tables on this page are designed to be viewable in their entirely on an average sized smartphone screen.

Why the switch from raw scores in earlier versions to ratings in the current version?

Mainly for readability and easier inference of patterns. While the scores for Global and Major cities were large, easy to grasp numbers (e.g., 100.0, 79.3, 15.3, etc.), once you got into the Subregional and Local cities, they were more akin to numbers like 0.07483 and 0.001483. This made it cumbersome to compare low-ranked cities.

Version 15.3 (Mid February 2025)

• Slight reduction to Political weights. Updated population data for all cities. Various bug fixes that caused issues with a handful of cities.

Version 15.2 (Late January 2025)

• Various bug fixes that caused issues with a handful of cities.

Version 15.1 (Mid January 2025)

• Scoring weights adjusted: Cultural weights slightly increased, Demographic weights slightly decreased.

Version 15.0 (Early January 2025)

• Model renamed from “Global City Ranking Model” to “Global City Importance Model” (GCIM).

• Switched away from raw scores to “A, B, C” rating system for clearer delineation of peer cities and improved readability.

• Scoring weights adjusted for better balance. Economic weights reduced; Political, Demographic, and Cultural weights increased. (No single dimension exceeds 30% now.)

• “Visitation” scoring dimension removed, with its inputs migrated into the Demographic and Cultural dimensions.

• GaWC “World City” ratings removed as a model input.

• “Global Geopolitical Power Model” added as a model input.

Version 14.0 (Early May 2024)

• Tier revamp. (“Global Giant”, “Almost Major City”, “Secondary City”, and “Other National City” tiers removed in favor of a simplified, five-level tier scheme: “Global”, “Major”, “Regional”, “Subregional”, and “Local”.)

Version 13.1 (Early May 2023)

• “Modern Urban Characteristics” scoring dimension removed.

Version 13.0 (Early January 2023)

• The first version published publicly online.

Thank you to all who provided constructive feedback in recent years to help strengthen and improve the model.