New York, Chicago, Houston, and San Francisco are the top cities overall in FDI magazine's 2009/10 North American Cities of the Future competition. An independent judging panel and the FDI research team reviewed data on 400 North American cities and scored them on the basis of economic potential, human resources, cost-effectiveness, quality of life, infrastructure, and business friendliness.
When it comes to "major cities," Los Angeles replaces San Francisco for fourth place in the rankings, but San Francisco actually ranks first among "large cities" of the future. Tampa, Minneapolis, and Raleigh are the leaders among North America's "small cities," and Greenville, S.C.; Wilmington, Del.; and Victoria, B.C. Are the North America's top "micro cities" of the future.
