Cities as Hierarchists or Specialists? Evidence from Occupational Profiles

Urban geographers conceptualize the distribution of economic activity across city systems in terms of hierarchy, where functions are related to size, and specialization, where places compete against each other for functional primacy. Using occupational data, we explore the salience of each for U.S. metropolitan areas. We find that large, urbanized places — including “world cities” and “second tier cities” of 1 million workers or more — are disproportionately endowed with financial, legal, science and technology, and arts occupations. But apparent hierarchy by urban size masks considerable occupational diversity among similarly-sized metros, revealing specialization and competition among places over functional mix. World cities Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles reveal highly differentiated specialization. By showing that urban occupational structures are shaped by both hierarchical and specialization processes, our findings suggest that economic development assistance might successfully be targeted to specific economic functions as well as underwriting generic growth approaches.