Generally I go by desirability (which includes jobs, amenities, etc.) then population size, but as others have pointed out it's a loose metric that doesn't meas

Generally I go by desirability (which includes jobs, amenities, etc.) then population size, but as others have pointed out it's a loose metric that doesn't measure anything objective. To give some very subjective examples: Tier 1: LA, NYC, SF, Chicago, Seattle Tier 2: Denver, DC, Austin, Minneapolis, San Diego, Houston, Philadelphia I'm in Madison, WI which is barely a city but ranks high in desirability pretty consistently and has housing prices to match.