Top 25 downtowns in the U.S. (living, better, compared, places)

[LucasS6]

If you haven't been to all of these cities, how can you rank them?

[grmasterb]

Originally Posted by LucasS6

If you haven't been to all of these cities, how can you rank them?

Experience is no requirement on this board. Rumor and conjecture rule the day here.

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by grmasterb

Experience is no requirement on this board. Rumor and conjecture rule the day here.

Or you just homer for your city. Same thing.

I'd enjoy the chance to visit these places and have recent experience with them (not "oh, I was in downtown (x) 15 years ago and it was dead") but failing that I don't see much use in trying to do "rankings" myself.

[TheCity]

Originally Posted by adambos

The nation's only cities with LEGIT downtowns, in order:

1. NYC
2. Chicago
3. San Francisco
4. Boston
5. DC
6. Philadelphia

I agree, those are my top 6 too. My top ten would be the following.....

1. New York City
2. Chicago
3. Philadelphia
4. Boston
5. San Francisco
6. Washington DC
7. Los Angeles
8. Las Vegas
9. Miami
10. Seattle

[toughguy]

Originally Posted by TheCity

I agree, those are my top 6 too. My top ten would be the following.....

1. New York City
2. Chicago
3. Philadelphia
4. Boston
5. San Francisco
6. Washington DC
7. Los Angeles
8. Las Vegas
9. Miami
10. Seattle

Las Vegas has the least walkable, least urban core I've experienced. Las Vegas BLVD is basically a freeway with traffic lights.

[14thandYou]

Originally Posted by TheCity

I agree, those are my top 6 too. My top ten would be the following.....

1. New York City
2. Chicago
3. Philadelphia
4. Boston
5. San Francisco
6. Washington DC
7. Los Angeles
8. Las Vegas
9. Miami
10. Seattle

[clean_polo]

I love how underrated Miami is on city-data...I mean some people didnt even include Miami on a list where I saw cities like Minneapolis and Louisville LOL...http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/med...ide-market.jpg just a picture of bayside market in downtown Miami.

[clean_polo]

Originally Posted by 14thandYou

Agreed re: Philly, it deserves way higher than 11th. It's world's beyond Indy, for example.

My top 10 would look something like this:

NYC (Manhattan)
Chicago
San Fran
DC
Philly
Miami
Boston
Seattle
New Orleans
Baltimore

Nice list, people definitely sleep on Miami.

[clean_polo]

It's good to see Miami doing well on a lot of these newer 2010 threads, that shows that the city has grown a lot in the last couple of years. It seems like on this site 2009 and down Miami wasn't even discovered yet.

[BlackOut]

Originally Posted by clean_polo

I love how underrated Miami is on city-data...I mean some people didnt even include Miami on a list where I saw cities like Minneapolis and Louisville LOL...http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/med...ide-market.jpg just a picture of bayside market in downtown Miami.

Cities like Minneapolis? Obviously you've never been to MPLS. Last time I checked downtown Minneapolis had a larger residential population, more shopping options (i.e. Neiman Marcus, Macy's, Target, Saks, Banana Republic, Cole Haan, Brooks Brothers, Talbots, Barnes & Noble, etc..), more than enough restaurants, three major league sports stadiums, great cultural amenities, plenty of green space, and very bike friendly.