A new ranking of the top 1,000 largest cities in the world puts Seattle among elite company, thanks largely to the economic strength of the city, driven by its tech sector.
Seattle ranks No. 6 in the inaugural “Global Cities Index” from Oxford Economics, which scores cities based on five categories: Economics, Human Capital, Quality of Life, Environment, and Governance.
Seattle ranked behind New York, London, San Jose, Calif., Tokyo, and Paris, and ahead of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Melbourne, Australia, and Zurich, Switzerland, in the top 10.
A tech economy buoyed by major players including Amazon and Microsoft helped Seattle rank No. 4 in the Economics category, sandwiched between Silicon Valley heavyweights San Jose and San Francisco. The category included such indicators as GDP growth, employment growth, and economic diversity.
A range of large employers, including tech companies as well as aerospace (Boeing) and retail (Starbucks, Costco, Nordstrom) gives Seattle “one of the highest GDP per person levels in the index, and a healthy economic stability measure,” the report says.
But a very high income per person measure can be a double-edged sword, the report says, “as it has likely contributed to high income inequality in the city,” adding that Seattle’s housing affordability has become “an increasingly prevalent issue.”
Seattle ranks 40th in the Human Capital category, with the report citing slower than expected population growth and an aging population as factors holding it back globally. New U.S. Census Bureau data released last week showed Seattle falling out of the top 10 fastest-growing big cities in the U.S. after a decade in which the city often ranked atop such lists.
Elsewhere in the Global Cities Index, Seattle ranked 56th in Quality of Life, 40th in Environment, and 184th in Governance.
