WORLDS LARGE$T

How the World’s Largest City Economies Could Change beforevthe next quarter of a century by the year 2050.

• New York is projected to remain the world’s largest city economy in 2050, with GDP reaching $6.4 trillion.
• Shanghai is projected to climb from 12th place in 2025 to third by 2050.
• Three Chinese cities are projected to rank among the world’s 10 largest city economies by 2050, compared with none in 2025.
   

• 1	🇺🇸 New York	U.S.	$2.60T
  2	🇯🇵 Tokyo	Japan	$1.50T
  3	🇺🇸 Los Angeles	U.S.	$1.42T
  4	🇬🇧 London	UK	$1.16T
  5	🇫🇷 Paris	France	$1.03T
  6	🇰🇷 Seoul	South Korea	$970B
  7	🇺🇸 Chicago	U.S.	$970B
  8	🇺🇸 Dallas	U.S.	$840B
  9	🇺🇸 San Francisco	U.S.	$840B
  10	🇺🇸 Houston	U.S.	$800B
  11	🇺🇸 Washington, DC	U.S.	$780B
  12	🇨🇳 Shanghai	China	$780B

The world’s largest cities have economies that rival those of entire countries.

By 2050, several are projected to generate more than $3 trillion in annual GDP as Asian megacities climb the global rankings.

Using projections from the Oxford Economics Global Cities Index 2026, this graphic compares the world’s largest city economies in 2025 with how the rankings could look in 2050. Figures are in nominal U.S. dollars.

In 2025, five cities generated more than $1 trillion in annual GDP. New York ranked first at $2.6 trillion, followed by Tokyo at $1.5 trillion and Los Angeles at $1.4 trillion.