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- City in Arizona that ranks #5 in population, just passing Philladelphia in 2006.
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- We're No. 5! We're No. 5! Actually, Phoenix fans, hold those cheers
We're No. 5! We're No. 5![]
Actually, Phoenix fans, hold those cheers
- Jon Talton, Republic columnist, Jul. 16, 2006
As a true child of Phoenix, I eagerly awaited each new population number attached to the signs at the city limits. As an adult who lived away for many years, I still watched those numbers with pride as my town grew into one of America's largest cities.
I guess I came by that hometown hubris honestly. For decades, the local consensus was all about population growth. Everything else, or so we thought, would follow all those people west.
Now Phoenix has officially passed Philadelphia to become America's fifth-largest city. We've come a long way from 1950, when Phoenix was the 99th largest, at 106,818, just ahead of Allentown, Pa.
But the cheering is muted, and no wonder. Everything else hasn't followed.
With only two Fortune 500 headquarters, Phoenix is hardly the fifth-most powerful city in corporate decision-making or influence in the global economy. Houston, just ahead in population, is home to 23 Fortune headquarters inside the city; Philadelphia boasts seven. Charlotte, the nation's 20th-most populous city, also is home to seven in the Fortune list.
San Diego is the fifth-best magnet for venture capital, bringing in $319 million in the first quarter. Phoenix won $5 million, and only $21 million went to the entire metro area.
Amazingly, no companies in the city of Phoenix made the Hispanic Business 500. The fifth-best showing went to Dallas.
Yes, Phoenix regularly turns in robust numbers for construction, housing sales, and new jobs associated with rapid population increases.
But a deeper look proves sobering.
In 2004, the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University produced an exhaustive look at city competitiveness, examining everything from business incubation to toxic releases. Seattle came in first, with Denver fifth. Phoenix ranked 30th.
We're actually the sixth best nationally in income inequality among major central cities. Unfortunately, that yardstick points to the relatively fewer higher earners living in the core city and overall low-wage economy.
San Diego ranks fifth best in median family income, with Phoenix at No. 29. On a list of people living below the poverty line in major cities, San Francisco comes in fifth best, with 9.5 percent. Phoenix's percentage is nearly twice that.
The organization SustainLane looks at cities by such measures as air quality, congestion, land-use planning, the green economy and public transit. Portland, Ore., was named America's most sustainable city, with Oakland at No. 5. Phoenix ranked 22nd.
In support of the arts, Phoenix is far behind some smaller cities. Seattle, the 23rd most-populous city, boasts $60 per capita given to arts and culture. It's a mere $12 in Phoenix.
The nation's fifth-most-literate city is Cincinnati, according to a University of Wisconsin-Whitewater survey. It looked at educational attainment, library resources, booksellers, magazine publishing and newspaper circulation. Minneapolis was first. Phoenix ranked No. 60.
Nor do we hold our own in education. Minneapolis ranks fifth in people with a bachelor's degree, according to the Census Bureau, with Seattle in first place. Phoenix is 49th. In high-school graduates, we come in at 43rd.
I can't think of another major city with so few (real) universities. Phoenix appears nowhere on the US News & World Report list of the 120 best national universities. Atlanta, Philadelphia and San Diego each have two institutions listed.
No one could accuse Phoenix of having the nation's fifth-best health care system. That honor might go to Pittsburgh, with 46 hospitals and 336 doctors per 100,000 people. Metro Phoenix has 38 hospitals and 199 physicians per 100,000.
And before some recent efforts, Phoenix was AWOL on the biotechnology revolution that is improving health and the economy elsewhere. In 2002, the Brookings Institution named Seattle the fifth-largest biotech center. Phoenix, it said, had no significant research or commercialization. No wonder San Diego comes in fifth in National Institutes of Health funding.
And lest you think these deficiencies are because of undocumented immigration, Phoenix is only 13th on the list of cities where Spanish is spoken at home. No. 5 is San Antonio.
So it's not enough to just have a lot of people. We've lost that sweet, sunny town that was safe from with world. But we haven't replaced it with a high-quality, competitive city.
"Yet," I want to add. Some dedicated people are fighting to improve Phoenix on every front. Slowly, things are changing, too slow for comfort in a changing world.
Yet they face some daunting barriers, not least being an unwillingness by many to even acknowledge our shortcomings. Saying we are a "new city" is both open to debate and an inadequate response.
I know these rankings hurt. I take every one personally. But we can take them as a call to action, or as another reason to burrow our heads more deeply in the gathering sand.
Reach Talton at jon.talton -at- arizonarepublic.com. Read Talton's blog at http://www.taltonblog.azcentral.com