Skyline Ranking

This listing ranks cities by the visual impact of their skylines. It is drawn entirely from statistics in this website's database, and reflects only completed high-rise buildings as defined by the Emporis Standards Committee (ESC). This calculation does not include TV towers, masts, bridges, or other structures.

About the formula: Each building is assigned points based on its floor count (see the table to the right). The point total for each city is calculated automatically and displayed.

 Points per Building
12..19 floors = 1 point
20..29 floors = 5 points
30..39 floors = 25 points
40..49 floors = 50 points
50..59 floors = 100 points
60..69 floors = 200 points
70..79 floors = 300 points
80..89 floors = 400 points
90..99 floors = 500 points
100+ floors = 600 points

Place   City Population Area Buildings² Points³
1. Hong Kong 6,943,600 1,053 km² 7,651 126,515
2. New York City 8,363,710 800 km² 5,767 37,958
3. Singapore 4,351,400 685 km² 4,332 17,334
4. Chicago 2,836,658 589 km² 1,098 17,020
5. São Paulo 10,990,249 1,523 km² 5,644 16,811
6. Seoul 10,331,244 616 km² 2,875 16,805
7. Shanghai 9,145,711 6,639 km² 982 14,681
8. Tokyo 8,653,000 621 km² 2,689 13,233
9. Bangkok 7,587,882 1,569 km² 779 12,733
10. Guangzhou 6,560,500 7,434 km² 501 10,984
11. Dubai 1,241,000 3,885 km² 441 9,234
12. Toronto 2,503,281 630 km² 1,765 8,248
13. Chongqing 6,300,000 82,403 km² 530 7,919
14. Shenzhen 1,245,000 2,020 km² 348 6,890
15. Moscow 10,443,000 1,081 km² 2,030 6,399
16. Kuala Lumpur 1,800,674 244 km² 542 6,358
17. Beijing 7,746,519 16,808 km² 898 6,307
18. Rio de Janeiro 6,161,047 1,261 km² 2,466 5,666
19. Jakarta 9,341,400 661 km² 387 4,801
20. Macao 453,733 21 km² 557 4,661
21. Miami 424,662 92 km² 278 4,592
22. Buenos Aires 2,965,403 200 km² 1,681 4,577
23. Osaka 2,598,589 220 km² 1,189 4,498
24. Sydney 4,201,500 12,144 km² 828 4,407
25. Recife 1,549,980 217 km² 1,031 4,333
26. Wuhan 4,550,000 8,494 km² 479 4,117
27. Melbourne 3,559,700 7,694 km² 530 4,058
28. Mumbai 11,914,398 621 km² 956 3,844
29. Istanbul 10,121,565 1,991 km² 2,140 3,766
30. Houston 2,208,180 1,398 km² 340 3,637
31. Honolulu 375,571 266 km² 436 3,581
32. Vancouver 606,123 115 km² 613 3,418
33. Panama City 708,738 2,561 km² 171 2,963
34. London 7,556,900 1,579 km² 1,440 2,952
35. Curitiba 1,828,092 430 km² 817 2,940
36. Gold Coast City 418,438 1,402 km² 277 2,921
37. Mexico City 8,720,916 1,487 km² 1,278 2,830
38. Los Angeles 3,834,340 1,216 km² 480 2,758
39. Caracas 2,762,259 1,930 km² 1,109 2,715
40. Makati 484,176 27 km² 138 2,671
41. Atlanta 519,145 341 km² 225 2,600
42. San Francisco 808,976 121 km² 412 2,485
43. Busan 3,655,349 528 km² 87 2,434
44. Dallas 1,240,499 887 km² 239 2,424
45. Tianjin 5,803,622 11,920 km² 287 2,394
46. Paris 2,203,817 105 km² 547 2,268
47. Xiamen 1,370,000 1,565 km² 257 2,260
48. Philadelphia 1,447,395 350 km² 324 2,242
49. Kyiv 2,819,566 800 km² 1,528 2,236
50. Santiago 4,946,345 2,325 km² 1,092 2,189
51. Nanjing 3,454,000 6,516 km² 76 2,114
52. Dalian 2,980,513 13,238 km² 136 1,953
53. Fortaleza 2,473,614 314 km² 583 1,907
54. Seattle 594,210 229 km² 215 1,894
55. Las Vegas 558,880 340 km² 123 1,841
56. Calgary 1,042,892 727 km² 244 1,783
57. Montréal 1,620,693 365 km² 452 1,777
58. Madrid 3,128,600 606 km² 1,113 1,706
59. Benidorm 67,627 39 km² 383 1,697
60. Boston 599,351 125 km² 229 1,692
61. Brisbane 1,733,200 1,327 km² 230 1,588
62. Salvador 2,948,733 325 km² 546 1,569
63. Yokohama 3,426,506 437 km² 212 1,500
64. Qingdao 2,640,000 10,654 km² 110 1,467
65. Taipei 2,719,293 272 km² 166 1,453
66. Penang Island 1,030,000 1,046 km² 158 1,408
67. Shenyang 4,649,490 12,942 km² 171 1,394
68. Chengdu 3,347,433 12,300 km² 136 1,350
69. Campinas 1,056,644 796 km² 931 1,291
70. Minneapolis 382,605 142 km² 189 1,274
71. Frankfurt am Main 670,095 248 km² 284 1,246
72. Cairo 7,947,121 215 km² 140 1,218
73. Denver 598,707 397 km² 197 1,196
74. St. Petersburg 4,571,200 1,431 km² 837 1,168
75. Sunny Isles Beach 15,207 4 km² 54 1,141
76. Hangzhou 2,305,741 1,684 km² 161 1,103
77. Kaohsiung 1,720,400 154 km² 43 1,097
78. Balneário Camboriú 94,222 46 km² 250 1,062
79. Xian 3,849,000 9,983 km² 147 1,041
80. Bogotá 6,776,009 384 km² 331 1,034
81. Detroit 916,952 359 km² 170 1,029
82. Pittsburgh 311,218 144 km² 129 1,004
83. Sharjah 800,000 2,600 km² 88 1,001
84. Tel Aviv - Yaffo 371,400 52 km² 241 976
85. Harbin 3,433,629 7,086 km² 127 939
86. Belo Horizonte 2,434,642 331 km² 366 930
87. Doha 438,230 -- 132 917
88. Jersey City 242,389 39 km² 96 909
89. Minsk 1,781,000 305 km² 808 884
90. Rotterdam 584,493 208 km² 282 880
91. Mississauga 668,549 289 km² 220 871
92. Goiânia 1,265,394 740 km² 313 856
93. Glasgow 662,954 177 km² 206 850
94. Jinan 2,540,000 8,177 km² 103 848
95. Yekaterinburg 1,315,000 495 km² 729 841
96. Ankara 3,561,187 2,498 km² 416 840
97. Santos 417,518 280 km² 600 839
98. Sofia 1,344,605 250 km² 631 838
99. Porto Alegre 1,430,220 497 km² 582 834
100. Aventura 29,475 7 km² 74 831

²=Completed high-rise buildings; ³=Points based on the Skyline Ranking calculation

Last update: 7/2009.

All parties are welcome to reproduce this list in part or in its entirety, as long as Emporis is cited as the official source as follows: "© Emporis 7/2009".