Top 10 cities by economic power in 2024

By Anthony Bernard-Sasges | Senior Economist, Cities and Regions | Oxford Economics

Originally published by Oxford Economics

We recently released our new Global Cities Index, which covers the world’s 1,000 largest cities and assesses their performance across five categories: economy, human capital, quality of life, environment, and governance. In Part 1 of our blog series, we covered the overall results of the Global Cities Index. Now, in Part 2, we’ll take a closer look at the best performing cities in the economic category.

The important role of economics categories

A city’s economy plays a critical role in its prosperity and attractiveness to residents, businesses, and investors. As a fundamental aspect of urban development, economic vitality is key to a city’s wealth creation, job creation, access to goods and services, and more. But while GDP growth is often the single metric most often looked at, the pace of a city’s economic expansion is not the only metric (and in many cases, not the most important one) for assessing a city’s economy. So, to provide a more comprehensive overview of the economic performance and potential of our 1,000 cities, we’ve included six indicators within the economic category:

These indicators measure the size, structure and growth of each city’s economy, examining historical performance and future potential. They recognise the many ways in which a city’s economy shapes its urban landscape and drives investment.

Top 10 cities by economy

The cities that topped the economic category are the engines of the world economy. Seven of the top ten are located in the United States, highlighting the country’s dominant economic position in global markets. New York tops the list because it is by far the world’s largest urban economy: its GDP is nearly $1 trillion higher than the next largest city (Tokyo). New York also benefited from steady economic growth in the decade before the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the city’s economy took a bigger hit than many other U.S. metropolises during the pandemic, it has rebounded strongly and has a promising future.

Here are the economic scores for the top cities:

Next up are the California metropolises of Los Angeles and San Jose. Like New York, Los Angeles has one of the largest urban economies in the world and experienced steady growth in the decade before the COVID-19 pandemic. San Jose, on the other hand, has a smaller overall economy, but the city has the highest GDP per capita level in the world, far exceeding all other cities in the index.

Rounding out the top five are Seattle and San Francisco. Like San Jose, these two cities are also major tech hubs, and as such receive top scores for both the GDP per capita and total GDP size indicators. Seattle has a more diversified and stable economy, and as such slightly outperforms its southern counterpart. The final two US metropolises to make the top ten are Dallas at #6 and Chicago at #8. They follow a similar pattern to the other top-ranked US cities, having the largest economies in the world while maintaining steady growth.

The three non-US cities that topped the economic category are global economic powerhouses in their own right. London, Paris and Tokyo are all among the world’s top five metropolitan economies, but their GDP per capita tends to lag behind their US counterparts. London and Paris benefit from being major economic centres in their respective countries. And they all score highly for economic stability (which is not the case for many smaller cities in the UK and France), highlighting their continued contribution to the global economy.

Tokyo ranks tenth despite having the second largest metropolitan economy in the world and the most economically diversified city in the top ten.^day In the Economy category, Tokyo remains in the top ten. Japan’s capital does not fare well in this category due to its GDP growth forecasts. We expect only 36 of our 1,000 cities to have slower GDP growth than Tokyo over the next five years. Slow growth prospects are nothing new for Tokyo, so it’s a testament to the city’s resilience that it remains in the global top ten for our Economy category, beating out many other major cities.

The Global Cities Index scores cities based on how they are performing today. But there are several trends around the world that could upend these rankings in the coming years. Ongoing inflation concerns, debt sustainability issues, and rising interest rates have led to uneven economic prospects across regions, which could lead to a major reshuffle of the top cities in economic categories next year.

About the Global Cities Index

The Oxford Economics Global Cities Index ranks the world’s largest 1,000 cities across five categories: economy, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. The index builds on Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Service and provides a consistent framework for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of urban economies across a total of 27 indicators. To our knowledge, this is the largest and most detailed city index in the industry. Click here to download the full report.

About the Author

Anthony Bernard-Sasges is a Senior Economist. He conducts research and forecasting for cities in Canada and the Middle East and North Africa. Anthony holds an MA in Development Economics from Oxford University and a BA in International Political Economy from Georgetown University.

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