Which US city is the most famous around the world, excluding NYC?

34 comments

1. Excluding NYC? LA.

2. Los Angeles, I’d guess.

3. LA

4. Los Angeles

5. Los Angeles for sure would be second place I think.

   Las Vegas or maybe Miami coming in 3rd

6. Chicago, I’d venture to guess.

7. Las Vegas

8. Definitely LA, especially if you accept “Hollywood” as being LA (which it is)

9. LA

10. Los Angeles or Washington, DC.

11. Gotta be LA

12. As a Brit I agree with the other comments saying LA, with Vegas third.

    For England though I’d easily put Liverpool ahead of Birmingham. I know Birmingham is bigger but it doesn’t really have any worldwide cultural significance that I’m aware of so I’d be surprised if many non-Brits knew much about it (especially before Peaky Blinders aired)

13. I understand why folks are saying LA but I think it’s probably Washington DC.

    I get that LA is home to the entertainment industry but you actually see huge amounts of coverage and footage and discussion of DC on the news, TV, blogs, etc etc. Plus it’s basically a metonym of the entire US government. I would also wager that way more tourists visit DC from abroad than visit LA.

14. New Orleans is definitely in the top 10

15. Washington DC or LA.

16. LA

    I usually just say LA when I’m in another country, it’s a good conversation starter. Either people want to know about movies and tv and whatever, or they’ll ask about Disneyland sometimes haha, or (esp in central and South America) they’ll tell me about their family in greater LA.

17. Paris! Everyone’s heard of it but nobody knows it’s in Texas.

18. LA

    Vegas, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco and DC are all probably in contention though

19. Definitely not Knoxville

20. Everyone says LA, but maybe San Francisco due to Silicon Valley. I’d like for it to be Chicago.

21. England? Liverpool has to be second.

    US – LA for sure.

22. Los Angeles

23. LA. DC as well but I would guess most non Americans picture that more of the abstract American leadership vs the actual city.

24. Los Angeles, then Miami, then Chicago, also DC

25. LA, San Fran, Chicago, Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, Houston, Vegas, Miami and Washington DC

26. Los Angeles or Washington DC.

27. I think it has to be LA.

    This is sort of outside the call of your question, but I’ve also noticed that Seattle seems to be way more well known than its size would indicate.

28. LA, Dallas, Honolulu

29. LA or DC. Honestly, most people from other countries will have heard of both.

30. LA.

31. LA, Chicago, Miami, Boston

32. I’d argue LA and NYC are neck and neck, so probably Chicago is the “second” famous.

33. LA, but Houston, Miami, Dallas, San Francisco, Chicago are all big and popular too.

34. Los Angeles, Washington DC, Las Vegas, Miami, Chicago, Seattle, Boston

    All good contenders