Los Angeles’ global ‘best city’ ranking falls to No. 7 with an ominous outlook
Los Angeles’ global ranking may have fallen just one notch to the world’s seventh-best city, but its grade for future prospects took a worrisome tumble.
The management consultants at A.T. Kearney ranked 130 major international cities based on economic and demographic trends with an eye toward “factors that organizations — from multinational corporations to non-governmental organizations — should consider as they decide where and why to invest.”
The city came in No. 7 in the latest index, down from No. 6 in 2018 but up from eighth-place in 2017. L.A. was No. 6 from 2012 through 2016, too. Kearney noted L.A.’s high rankings this year for human capital (No. 5); cultural experience (No. 6) and access to information and technology (No. 10).
In 2019, New York, London, Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong were again the five best. Singapore took L.A.’s No. 6 spot. Chicago was eighth with Beijing and Washington, D.C. rounding out the Top 10. (Worst city, by this math? China’s Tangshan!)
Other American rankings included Boston at No. 21 (vs. 24th in 2018); San Francisco No. 22 (vs. 20th); Miami, No. 30 (vs. 31st); Houston, No. 35 (vs. 41st); and Dallas No. 43 (vs. 46th).
More problematic for any L.A. watcher should be the city’s “outlook” ranking — down to No. 43, wedged between Phoenix and South Korea’s Seoul. That’s down from 30th a year earlier and No. 21 in 2015. “Los Angeles cannot take anything for granted,” Kearney concludes.
Kearney’s analysis noted “challenger cities outpaced L.A.’s future perspective in personal well-being, foreign investment, and innovation through incubators.” The outlook suggests L.A. suffers “a slowdown in the growth rate of livability, entrepreneurship, and private investment.”
Declining outlooks were common across the nation. This futures index showed San Francisco slipping to No. 3 for 2019 from world’s best outlook last year. New York collapsed to No. 24 from second place in 2018.
Other American “outlook” rankings included Boston at No. 7 (vs. eighth in 2018); Houston No. 21 (vs. ninth); Washington, D.C., No. 29 (vs. 24th); and Dallas No. 33 (vs. 31st). And the city with the world’s worst future, by this math? Dhaka in Bangladesh.
Kearney blamed an overall downgrading of U.S. cities on “political uncertainty and rising nationalism that’s raising questions about long-range prospects.”
L.A. slipped on another global cities scorecard, too.
Japan’s Institute for Urban Strategies weighs the “magnetism” of a city as its “comprehensive power to attract people, capital, and enterprises from around the world.” Of 44 major cities ranked last fall, Los Angeles was 12th last year, down from 11th in 2017 but up from 23rd in 2012.