Which city is the best Start Hub in the World? San Francisco? New York? Boston?

Maybe you already knew that New York City is the most influential city in the World today, or that it is the most densely populated major city and the largest metropolitan area in the United States. Maybe you even knew that it is the third most congested city in the World, but bet you did not know that it is also the second best city for startups in the World?

This is according to Startup Genome and TechCrunch.

According to 2017 Global Startup Ecosystem Report by Startup Genome, New York City is ranked #2 in the World. The Big Apple was ranked #2 on the report’s Top 20 Global Startup Ecosystems list and #5 for the Number of Early-Stage Investments Per Startup (an average of $568K per startup).

According to the report, NYC is now the 2nd largest startup ecosystem in the world, with over 6,300 active startups in the marketplace. It’s also the 3rd most valuable, with an estimated worth of $71 billion, and produced the 3rd highest Number of Unicorns. The NYC ecosystem also outperformed the global averages in a number of key areas, such as average salaries, number of female and immigrant founders, and employee experience.

TechCrunch also did some research and asked two dozen founders, venture capitalists, and other community members which companies — other than ones they are directly connected to — they thought were most likely to change the enterprise world in the coming years. From a list of 64 nominated startups, they chose twelve they thought best exemplified the potential for New York. (All data on venture capital fundraised came from CrunchBase.)

However, according to some newer figures from CrunchBase Boston has overtook New York later in 2018in terms of total funds raised and definitely challenging New York's status as the second best city for startups:

According to CrunchBase, after years of trailing New York City in total annual venture investment, Massachusetts is taking the lead in 2018. Venture investment in the Boston metro area hit $5.2 billion so far this year, on track to be the highest annual total in years. That puts Boston’s biotech-heavy venture haul apparently second only to Silicon Valley among domestic locales thus far this year.

Confused?

No worries, these numbers change every few months and also depending on which figures you are looking at, however, there is one undisputable fact. Eco-system is very important and both New York and Boston has what it takes to become global start up hubs and a lot more.

According to AT Kearney's 2018 Global Cities Report, New York City was at the top spot on the Global Cities Index ranking. The firm ranks 135 cities based on current global standing and influence on the world. Influential cities possess the right mix of factors such as business activity, human capital, information exchange, political engagement, and cultural experiences that help organizations and people to thrive and this analysis reveals which global cities are primed for urban transformation and growth—and those that are falling behind.

New York maintained its top spot mainly due to its strong performance in business activity and human capital. However, the report includes a second ranking, called the Global Cities Outlook, which measures how a city's potential for importance in the future stacks up against other cities. In this ranking, San Francisco overtook New York to claim the number one spot for most influential city of the future. However in the current rankings, San Francisco is only 20th and Boston is 24th behind cities like London, LA, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and even Chicago and Washington.

So all in all, it looks like it is a close race between San Francisco and New York as well as Boston alongside other established global gateway cities such as London, Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong to top the list for cities shaping the world for the future. Hope that future will include some form of resolution to the issues such as record homeless levels, dirty streets, punishing real estate prices and disappearing communities.