2012-2014 updates in progress.

World's 25 Tallest Cities								World's 25 Tallest Cities								World's 25 Tallest Cities
				Rank for each past year is as of December 31.
Rank 2014		CAHTT^1	Tier	Rank 2013		CAHTT^1	Tier	Rank 2012		CAHTT^1	Tier	Rank 2011		CAHTT^1	Tier	Rank 2010		CAHTT^1	Tier
1	Dubai	1239.2	1A	1	Dubai	1239.2	1A	1	Dubai	1236.2	1A	1	Dubai	1176.1	1A	1	Dubai^4	1133.9	1A
2	Hong Kong	1080.9	1B	2	Hong Kong	1080.9	1B	2	Hong Kong	1080.9	1A	2	Hong Kong	1080.9	1A	2	Hong Kong	1080.9	1A
	New York City^2	1060.5			New York City^2	1045.9			New York City^2	1045.9			New York City^2	1045.9			New York City^2	1043.7
3	Guangzhou	1050.5	1B	3	Chicago	1036.5	1B	3	Chicago	1036.5	1A	3	Chicago	1036.5	1A	3	Chicago	1036.5	1A
4	Chicago	1036.5	1B	4	Guangzhou	1032.7	1B	4	Guangzhou	1032.7	1B	4	Shanghai	1010.3	1B	4	Shanghai	1005.6	1B
5	New York City^5	1022.1	1B	5	Shanghai	1014.5	1B	5	Shanghai	1014.5	1B	5	Guangzhou	945.7	1B	5	New York City	934.3	1B
6	Shanghai	1014.5	1B	6	Shenzhen	963.8	1C	6	New York City	940.8	1C	6	New York City	940.8	1B	6	Guangzhou	906.2	1B
7	Shenzhen	986.0	1C	7	New York City	956.0	1C	7	Shenzhen	932.6	1C	7	Shenzhen	907.1	2	7	Kuala Lumpur	897.5	1B
8	Abu Dhabi	937.9	1C	8	Kuala Lumpur	925.8	1C	8	Kuala Lumpur	924.1	1C	8	Kuala Lumpur	897.7	2	8	Shenzhen	838.2	2
9	Kuala Lumpur	925.8	1C	9	Abu Dhabi	893.1	1C	9	Singapore	837.2	2	9	Singapore	835.8	2	9	Singapore	829.9	2
10	Busan	863.7	2	10	Moscow	838.6	2	10	Toronto	835.6	2	10	Busan	834.5	2	10	Houston	809.8	2
11	Update pending	0.0	?	11	Singapore	837.2	2	11	Busan	834.5	2	11	Abu Dhabi	833.3	2	11	Toronto	798.0	2
12	Update pending	0.0	?	12	Toronto	835.6	2	12	Abu Dhabi	833.3	2	12	Houston	809.5	2	12	Tokyo	774.3	2
13	Update pending	0.0	?	13	Update pending	0.0	?	13	Tokyo	828.5	2	13	Toronto	806.8	2	13	Los Angeles	767.1	2
14	Update pending	0.0	?	14	Update pending	0.0	?	14	Houston	809.8	2	14	Moscow	778.5	2	14	Seoul	752.0	2
15	Update pending	0.0	?	15	Update pending	0.0	?	15	Update pending	0.0	?	15	Tokyo	774.3	2	15	Moscow	747.8	2
16	Update pending	0.0	?	16	Update pending	0.0	?	16	Update pending	0.0	?	16	Panama City	770.5	2	16	Atlanta	747.2	2
17	Update pending	0.0	?	17	Update pending	0.0	?	17	Update pending	0.0	?	17	Los Angeles	767.1	2	17	Bangkok	744.1	2
18	Update pending	0.0	?	18	Update pending	0.0	?	18	Update pending	0.0	?	18	Seoul	752.0	2	18	Chongqing	742.4	2
19	Update pending	0.0	?	19	Update pending	0.0	?	19	Update pending	0.0	?	19	Kuwait City	750.5	2	19	Melbourne	734.1	2
20	Update pending	0.0	?	20	Update pending	0.0	?	20	Update pending	0.0	?	20	Chongqing	748.2	2	20	Beijing	718.6	3
21	Update pending	0.0	?	21	Update pending	0.0	?	21	Update pending	0.0	?	21	Atlanta	747.2	2	21	Dallas	717.3	3
22	Update pending	0.0	?	22	Update pending	0.0	?	22	Update pending	0.0	?	22	Doha	744.6	2	22	Sydney	711.9	3
23	Update pending	0.0	?	23	Update pending	0.0	?	23	Update pending	0.0	?	23	Bangkok	744.1	2	23	Philadelphia	703.6	3
24	Update pending	0.0	?	24	Update pending	0.0	?	24	Update pending	0.0	?	24	Melbourne	734.1	2	24	Wuhan	685.1	3
25	Update pending	0.0	?	25	Update pending	0.0	?	25	Update pending	0.0	?	25	Beijing	718.6	3	25	Manila	678.2	3
The UltrapolisProject.com, © 2004-2015, All Rights Reserved.
World's 25 Tallest Cities								World's 25 Tallest Cities								World's 25 Tallest Cities
				Rank for each past year is as of December 31.
Rank 2009		CAHTT^1	Tier	Rank 2008		CAHTT^1	Tier	Rank 2007		CAHTT^1	Tier	Rank 2006		CAHTT^1	Tier	Rank 2005		CAHTT^1	Tier
	New York City^2	1043.7			New York City^2	1023.3			New York City^2	1023.3			New York City^2	1015.5			New York City^2	1015.5
1	Chicago	1036.5	1A	1	Hong Kong^3	1006.2	1A	1	Chicago	995.1	1A	1	Chicago	995.1	1A	1	Chicago	995.1	1A
2	Hong Kong	1006.2	1A	2	Chicago	995.1	1A	2	Hong Kong	985.7	1A	2	Hong Kong	955.5	1A	2	Hong Kong	955.5	1A
3	Shanghai	988.8	1A	3	Shanghai	984.5	1B	3	New York City	912.1	1B	3	New York City	904.3	1B	3	New York City	904.3	1B
4	Dubai	935.0	1B	4	New York City	912.1	1B	4	Shanghai	898.3	1B	4	Shanghai	898.3	1B	4	Kuala Lumpur	896.0	1B
5	New York City	934.3	1B	5	Dubai	907.0	1B	5	Kuala Lumpur	896.0	1B	5	Kuala Lumpur	896.0	1B	5	Shanghai	894.0	1B
6	Kuala Lumpur	897.5	1B	6	Kuala Lumpur	897.5	1B	6	Dubai	871.7	1B	6	Dubai	822.1	2	6	Houston	809.8	2
7	Singapore	812.9	2	7	Houston	809.8	2	7	Houston	809.8	2	7	Houston	809.8	2	7	Shenzhen	798.9	2
8	Houston	809.8	2	8	Shenzhen	806.0	2	8	Shenzhen	803.7	2	8	Shenzhen	803.7	2	8	Toronto	781.1	2
9	Shenzhen	806.0	2	9	Singapore	790.3	2	9	Singapore	790.3	2	9	Singapore	790.3	2	9	Singapore	772.3	2
10	Toronto	797.0	2	10	Toronto	781.1	2	10	Toronto	781.1	2	10	Toronto	781.1	2	10	Dubai	772.1	2
11	Tokyo	774.3	2	11	Tokyo	774.3	2	11	Tokyo	774.3	2	11	Los Angeles	767.1	2	11	Los Angeles	767.1	2
12	Los Angeles	767.1	2	12	Los Angeles	767.1	2	12	Los Angeles	767.1	2	12	Tokyo	764.8	2	12	Tokyo	764.8	2
13	Guangzhou	762.2	2	13	Guangzhou	760.1	2	13	Guangzhou	760.1	2	13	Seoul	752.0	2	13	Seoul	752.0	2
14	Seoul	752.0	2	14	Seoul	752.0	2	14	Seoul	752.0	2	14	Atlanta	741.4	2	14	Atlanta	732.0	2
15	Atlanta	747.2	2	15	Atlanta	747.2	2	15	Atlanta	741.4	2	15	Melbourne	734.1	2	15	Dallas	717.3	2
16	Bangkok	742.9	2	16	Melbourne	734.1	2	16	Melbourne	734.1	2	16	Dallas	717.3	2	16	Sydney	711.9	2
17	Melbourne	734.1	2	17	Bangkok	731.2	2	17	Dallas	717.3	2	17	Bangkok	714.1	2	17	Bangkok	710.3	2
18	Beijing	718.6	3	18	Dallas	717.3	3	18	Bangkok	716.5	2	18	Sydney	711.9	2	18	Melbourne	697.3	3
19	Dallas	717.3	3	19	Sydney	711.9	3	19	Sydney	711.9	2	19	Guangzhou	701.4	2	19	Guangzhou	688.3	3
20	Sydney	711.9	3	20	Philadelphia	701.8	3	20	Chongqing	689.4	3	20	Chongqing	671.7	3	20	Seattle	663.5	3
21	Chongqing	709.9	3	21	Chongqing	692.6	3	21	Wuhan	685.1	3	21	Seattle	670.4	3	21	Chongqing	663.3	3
22	Philadelphia	703.6	3	22	Wuhan	685.1	3	22	Seattle	670.4	3	22	Manila	656.9	3	22	Manila	656.9	3
23	Wuhan	685.1	3	23	Seattle	670.4	3	23	Moscow	664.6	3	23	Philadelphia	654.1	3	23	Philadelphia	654.1	3
24	Manila	678.2	3	24	Moscow	666.0	3	24	Manila	656.9	3	24	Frankfurt	647.6	3	24	Frankfurt	647.6	3
25	Seattle	670.4	3	25	Miami	660.2	3	25	Philadelphia	654.1	3	25	San Francisco	636.6	3	25	San Francisco	636.6	3
The UltrapolisProject.com, © 2004-2015, All Rights Reserved.
World's 25 Tallest Cities
Rank for each past year is as of December 31.
Rank 2004		CAHTT^1	Tier	Rank 2000		CAHTT^1	Tier
	New York City^2	1015.5		1	New York City	1010.4	1A
1	Chicago	995.1	1A	2	Chicago	995.1	1A
2	Hong Kong	955.5	1A	3	Kuala Lumpur	852.1	1B
3	New York City	903.8	1B	4	Hong Kong	839.6	1B
4	Kuala Lumpur	896.0	1B	5	Houston	809.8	1B
5	Shanghai	863.2	1B	6	Toronto	776.3	2
6	Houston	809.8	2	7	Singapore	772.3	2
7	Shenzhen	793.5	2	8	Los Angeles	767.1	2
8	Toronto	776.4	2	9	Tokyo	754.3	2
9	Singapore	772.3	2	10	Shanghai	747.1	2
10	Los Angeles	767.1	2	11	Atlanta	732.0	2
11	Tokyo	764.8	2	12	Dallas	717.3	2
12	Seoul	752.0	2	13	Shenzhen	715.6	2
13	Atlanta	732.0	2	14	Melbourne	685.5	3
14	Dubai	722.8	2	15	Sydney	674.3	3
15	Dallas	717.3	2	16	Bangkok	674.0	3
16	Sydney	706.3	2	17	Seattle	663.5	3
17	Bangkok	704.3	2	18	Philadelphia	653.5	3
18	Guangzhou	688.3	3	19	Frankfurt	645.1	3
19	Melbourne	685.5	3	20	San Francisco	636.6	3
20	Seattle	663.5	3	21	Guangzhou	627.9	3
21	Manila	656.9	3	22	Manila	627.5	3
22	Philadelphia	654.1	3	23	Minneapolis	616.5	3
23	Frankfurt	645.1	3	24	Boston	611.6	3
24	San Francisco	636.6	3	25	Seoul	610.5	3
25	Minneapolis	618.2	3

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¹The CAHTT is the “Calculated Average Height of the Ten Tallest” buildings and towers of each city. For each past year, the numbers are as of December 31. The formula gives less weight for thin, ornamental spires and observation towers, and ignores the number floors, which is a poor indicator of actual height. Antennas are not counted as part of a buildings height, following the guidelines of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). Buildings are not included in end-of-year rankings if not determined completed by the standards set by the CTBUH. For details of the formula please see the Methodology page. See also Ten Tallest Cities, and The Rise and Fall of the American Skyscraper.

²The score for New York City 9/10 is what it would have been for New York, had the World Trade Center Towers not been destroyed. This ranking of New York 9/10 was set to end when the first city exceeded its CAHTT score, or after ten years, whichever occurred later. On January 4, 2010, Dubai exceeded New York 9/10’s score. However, due to requests, we will keep track of this score until the actual meets or exceeds the 9/10 score. The 9/10 will never include any new World Trade Center buildings, as they would not have been built in this scenario.

³Hong Kong was the first metropolis to exceed a CAHTT score of 1000 since New York (which attained a score of 1009.9 in 1977), and the second one to replace Chicago as the world’s tallest (New York City was the first in 1890). However, its reign as the world’s tallest city was short-lived, with the completion of the Trump International Hotel & Tower in May 2009, when Chicago briefly regained its position as the world’s tallest city before it was surpassed a third time, this time by Dubai.

⁴Dubai experienced a meteoric rise in this annual ranking, with an ambitious construction boom not seen since the 1920’s and 1930’s in New York City. Dubai purposefully sought to be number one several years ago, and finally achieved this with the completion of what is now by far the world’s tallest building. The 162-story Dubai Tower, now called Khalifa Tower (Burj Khalifa), was officially opened on January 4, of 2010. See our World’s Tallest City page for more on Dubai.

⁵The score for New York City (actual) does not include the antenna height at the top of the new WTC 1 building, despite the decision by the CTBUH to consider it a spire. Arguments presented by the developers that the antenna should count as a spire (when they never do according to the CTBUH’s own rules), and therefore as part of the building height, because of their “intent” to make it a spire in their design, seems to us emotional and irrelevant. The cladding that was also supposed to be placed around the antenna to make it into a true spire was the real intent, and it was never done. For us, if it looks like a duck and acts like a duck, it’s a duck.

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