[jkachmar]

There is certainly no city in America that compares to New York City.

There are “megacities” in other countries that occupy a similar position, such as London or Tokyo (although they obviously all feel different in their own unique ways).

In the United States, however, the closest thing to NYC is Los Angeles and even that is spread out over so much additional area (much of which requires a car) that I don’t consider it necessarily comparable.

[irrational]

The quote says “the world”, not “the United States”.

[jkachmar]

I think trying to rank any place as “greatest in the world” is kind of a fraught exercise, so I tried to scope the idea a bit more tightly.

If you want something that tries to be a bit more objective (although I’d stress that trying to rank something like “greatest city” objectively is probably not possible), check out the Wikipedia entry for global city rankings[0].

New York City trades places with London, and once with Tokyo, but otherwise is not terribly contested.

Obviously I’m biased because I live here (and stayed here through the worst of COVID), so take what I’m saying with a grain of salt.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Global_city&mobil...

[Axsuul]

The cultures between Los Angeles and NYC are also very different.