Fourth-most important city is the one geographically closest to you. For all others, it's DC.

I like to think that Washington DC is the fourth, seeing as it’s the national capital, the political & historical center of America, and the fact that things that happen in DC have not just national, but international effects.

Also a fair bit of personal bias tbh, seeing as I live in the metro area.

NY, Chicago, and LA for sure. And certainly cities like Seattle, Dallas, Denver, St. Louis, New Orleans, Atlanta, Miami, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Boston would all duke it out for the notoriety of the 4th spot. But, are we going to pretend that DC doesn't edge the rest out for importance, both historically and currently, for landmarks, for cultural relevance?

This thread literally proves the point of the OP. People just can’t seem to agree on the 4th city lmao

PHILADELPHIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I mean, if you're operating purely by population, next in line is Houston.

If you're operating on power and influence, Washington D.C. is #1.

San Francisco easily takes it imo.

Distant 17th by population but more than makes up for it through business, technological, and cultural influence. (Edit: Especially since the wider San Francisco Bay Area can be credibly lumped together to form such a populous combined statistical area.)

Depends how you define major. The 4th city rotates by category.

Tourism? Vegas or Orlando.

Politics or history? DC, Philadelphia or Boston.

Tech? San Francisco or Seattle.

Population size? Houston

Land size? Juneau.

Music? Nashville or maybe New Orleans and Atlanta.

Houston or Boston i guess.

I'm not sure.. who would be the rotations?

Boston ?

San Francisco

Phoenix

Santa Fe

Houston Austin

Idk

There is no 4th because no one else has 2 baseball teams.

Miami, San Francisco, maybe Boston. The only thing DFW is good for is talking about the Cowboys.

Four's a bit of an arbitrary number and major is woefully undefined.

Gotham City

Maybe it's just me but I don't think Chicago holds that spot idk

NY, LA, SF, DC... Chicago is a great city but not as influential on the world stage as it used to be.

Americans don't get this because they have no idea how the U.N. works.

CityNerd covered it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrj-p5nja7o

Houston is the 4th largest with 2.4 million. Phoenix is number 5 with 1.6 million people.

Atlanta or Seattle.

Leaning towards Atlanta these days.

I was going to list the four NYC Burroughs... Only to have that joke spoiled by facts.

What's a bit odd is how many people have pondered this.

I would go with NYC, LA, San Francisco, and Miami. Those are the four cities that, internationally, everyone knows and wants to go see.

Chicago isn’t an international city like the other 4 here. It’s just… very large. And in that sense it’s like Houston, Detroit or Atlanta. Large, important cities in the US but not particularly relevant on the world stage.

(And yes I know I’m gonna get angry Chicagoans responding, I’m kinda shitposting a bit here)