Los Angeles (#4) is home to some of the world’s leading educational institutions, including The California Institute of Technology, and therefore scores highly for World's Top 200 Universities, Number of Winners of Highly - Reputed Prizes (Science and Technology - related Fields), Number of Researchers, and Research and Development Expenditure. New York (#1) powers ahead of Tokyo, London, and Los Angeles in this function. The cities of North America and other English-speaking urban centers, such as London and Singapore, boast outstanding scores for Ease of Securing Human Resources. Tokyo (#1), London (#2), and New York (#3) top the list in this function based on their high scores for and The Japanese capital still has a comfortable lead as the top Asian city, but Tokyo lags behind the top three cities in terms of Cultural Interaction and Accessibility. Tokyo maintains the fourth-place ranking it has held since the first GPCI in 2008. It is the weakest of the top four cities in Economy, but is ranked in the top five for Livability, Accessibility, Cultural Interaction and Research and Development. Paris has stayed in third place since 2008. In Research and Development, Cultural Interaction and Economy, the city ranks third or higher, but it is held back by poor scores in Livability, Environment and Accessibility. Since surrendering the top spot to London in 2012, New York has remained at second place. As it geared up for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and other major cultural and sporting events, London greatly improved its overall magnetism. London has maintained the top position since 2012, falling within the top three for all functions other than Livability and Environment.

Global cities index 2020