I again don't think that shows it. I think 5th is in messy competition in a way one could sort out depending on their priorities but that 4th is solidly SF between population (again, CSA), business, education, and culture.

The GaWC ranking 1) is strictly about global presence, 2) only considers the city by itself with none of its surrounding context (e.g. San Jose is on its own far down the list) and 3) has huge range in what people would consider "major city" characteristics. By this logic, for example, Warsaw is in direct, ambiguous competition with Seoul and Luxembourg City in competition with New Delhi for "city majorness", which is obviously nonsensical.

I provided the GaWC as an explanation for my error that I thought DFW was more heavily globalized than it was, not as the sole criterion for "major city". I think the fact San Francisco is in the Alpha- bracket despite its handicaps from not having its CSA considered along with it shows how solidly above those other cities it is.