{"id":12778,"date":"2026-07-07T09:45:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T09:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bloom-consulting.com\/journal\/?p=12778"},"modified":"2026-07-07T09:45:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T09:45:15","slug":"the-economic-impact-of-city-brands-in-north-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloom-consulting.com\/journal\/the-economic-impact-of-city-brands-in-north-america\/","title":{"rendered":"The economic impact of City Brands in North America"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bloom Consulting is proud to share its newest study, the first ever to quantify the economic impact of city perception in North America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is the third chapter in a research series that has, step by step, set the stage for this moment. The first study developed the Perception Elements and the Country and City Brand Taxonomy Models \u00a9, defining what actually shapes how countries and cities are perceived. The second broke new ground, quantifying for the first time the impact of Nation and Place Brands on local and global economies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This study goes further still, measuring that impact for North American cities individually, and the results are striking: City perception drives an estimated US$178 billion in economic activity across North American cities every year, roughly 1.2% of the combined GDP of the cities studied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did Bloom Consulting conduct a dedicated study on North American cities?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The second study, on the impact of Nation and Place Brands on the local and global economy<\/a>, surfaced an anomaly its worldwide model could not fully explain: North American cities behaved as structural outliers, their economies operating at a scale and complexity that model was not built to capture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than treating this as a limitation, Bloom Consulting built a dedicated regional study from the ground up. This technical report focuses specifically on 44 cities across the United States and Canada, selected based on metropolitan GDP. Data on tourism spending, capital investment flows, and net migration was sourced city by city. The findings were presented publicly for the first time at City Nation Place Americas 2026<\/a> in Vancouver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cNorth American cities consistently appeared as outliers in our global model, not because the findings did not apply to them, but because their economies demanded a dedicated framework. This study gives city authorities a concrete, evidence-based tool to quantify the value of their City Brand and justify investment in managing it. What began as an ambitious and largely uncharted endeavour has become one of the most meaningful bodies of work Bloom Consulting has produced.” <\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

– <\/em>Jose Filipe Torres, CEO, Bloom Consulting<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What is the economic impact of City perception?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The data reveals a clear and consistent relationship between City Brand perception and its impact on economies of North American cities. City Brand perception accounts for 25% of capital investment flows, 31% of talent net migration, and 22% of tourism spending in US cities and 67% in Canadian cities. The higher Canadian share likely reflects a greater dependency on international tourism, given a smaller domestic market and a more concentrated urban structure, where perception plays a proportionally larger role in driving visitor flows. For context, the dollar-value breakdown is presented in the graph below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For every $1,000 a North American city generates, between $210 and $670 traces back to City perception. For capital investment, that is $250 in every $1,000. For talent, $310 per expat in average economic contribution. Tourism shows the widest range: $220 per $1,000 in US cities and $670 in Canadian cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study also quantifies what a shift in perception is worth. On average, a 0.1-point improvement on the perception scale corresponds to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n