Cities with the most tall buildings in North America

New York City, New York – Source: emporis.com

The list provided below shows those cities in ranked order which have a minimum of 100 tall buildings. It also depicts the number of skyscrapers in parenthesis. Most surprising to this author is San Francisco not being quite in the 100 or more skyscraper club at 99. It should soon join this group though. Another surprise was Washington, DC being on the list with so many tall buildings, though no skyscrapers due to the height restrictions there.

Toronto, Ontario – Source: emporis.com

Aside for the usual cities expected to be included like New York City or Chicago, there are a number of resort cities and a few suburbs included such as Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Myrtle Beach, Acapulco, and Naples for the former and Jersey City, Mississauga, Burnaby, and Arlington for the latter. It was a surprise not to see other famous beach resorts such as Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, West Palm Beach, Gulf Shores, or Ocean City included.

Panama City, Panama – Source: emporis.com

Five nations are represented on the list – USA (40), Canada (11), Mexico (2), Panama (1), and the Dominican Republic (1).

Criteria for inclusion in the list = Minimum 100 “tall buildings” and those with 100 or more “skyscrapers” are shown in bold

• A tall building (or high-rise building) is defined by emporis.com as any building with 12 or more stories or a building which is a minimum of 35 meters (114.8 feet) in height.
• A skyscraper is defined by emporis.com as any building of 100 meters (328 feet) or more in height

Austin, Texas – Source: emporis.com

Rank/City/# of Tall Buildings/(# of Skyscrapers)

1. New York City, NY, USA = 6,180 (911)
2. Toronto, ON, Canada = 2,316 (497)
3. Mexico City, DF, Mexico = 1,402 (125)
4. Chicago, IL, USA = 1,292 (467)
5. Vancouver, BC, Canada = 693 (70)
6. Houston, TX, USA = 513 (133)
7. Los Angeles, CA, USA = 548 (107)
8. Montreal, QC, Canada = 541 (46)
9. Panama City, Panama = 443 (181)
10. Washington, DC, USA = 432 (0)
11. Ottawa, ON, Canada = 431 (9)
12. San Francisco, CA, USA = 427 (99)
13. Honolulu, HI, USA = 418 (78)
14. Philadelphia, PA, USA = 389 (84)
15. Edmonton, AB, Canada = 335 (47)
16. Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic = 304 (15)
17. Dallas, TX, USA = 300 (74)
18. Seattle, WA, USA = 296 (113)
19. Calgary, AB, Canada = 291 (72)
20. Atlanta, GA, USA = 286 (96)
21. Boston, MA, USA = 278 (64)
22. Arlington, VA, USA = 274 (6)
23. Minneapolis, MN, USA = 262 (41)
24. Mississauga, ON, Canada = 262 (37)
25. Denver, CO, USA = 238 (46)
26. St. Louis, MO, USA = 234 (17)
27. Detroit, MI, USA = 202 (28)
28. Baltimore, MD, USA = 197 (25)
29. Austin, TX, USA = 193 (41)
30. Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA = 184 (13)
31. Kansas City, MO, USA = 177 (21)
32. San Diego, CA, USA = 174 (47)
33. Portland, OR, USA = 171 (10)
34. Cincinnati, OH, USA = 162 (16)
35. Miami Beach, FL, USA = 161 (17)
36. Nashville, TN, USA = 155 (20)
37. Newark, NJ, USA = 154 (9)
38. Burnaby, BC, Canada = 152 (12)
39. Acapulco, Mexico = 152 (6)
40. Milwaukee, WI, USA = 150 (14)
41. Cleveland, OH, USA = 149 (20)
42. Indianapolis, IN, USA = 146 (13)
43. Orlando, FL, USA = 145 (19)
44. Winnipeg, MB, Canada = 143 (7)
45. Jersey City, NJ, USA = 139 (54)
46. Charlotte, NC, USA = 139 (27)
47. Pittsburgh, PA, USA = 137 (28)
48. London, ON, Canada = 135 (1)
49. Tampa, FL, USA = 133 (39)
50. Las Vegas, NV, USA = 122 (100)
51. New Orleans, LA, USA = 121 (31)
52. Myrtle Beach, SC, USA =118 (1)
53. Hamilton, ON, Canada = 116 (3)
54. Naples, FL, USA = 104 (0)
55. San Antonio, TX, USA = 102 (9)

SOURCE: emporis.com

Indianapolis, Indiana – Source: emporis.com