Just from personal observations I'd say Austin, Seattle, Nashville and Toronto. Honorable mention for NYC due to the prominent supertalls, those both lost and built.

here's a fun little chart showing where the 100 tallest skyscrapers in the US are located today (including U/C) compared to how things stood back in 2000.


The location of the 100 tallest US skyscrapers, 2000 vs. today:


city ------------ 2000 ---- Current --- change

New York ------- 28 ------- 48* ----- +20

Chicago --------- 13 ------- 21 ------- +8

Miami ----------- 1 --------- 5 ------- +4

Philly ------------ 4 --------- 4 ------- 0

San Francisco --- 3 --------- 3 ------- 0

Atlanta ---------- 6 ---------- 3 ------- -3

Los Angeles ---- 10 --------- 3 ------- -7

Houston -------- 10 --------- 3 ------- -7

Austin ---------- 0 ---------- 2 ------- +2

Seattle ---------- 4 --------- 2 -------- -2

Dallas ----------- 5 --------- 2 -------- -3

Oklahoma City - 0 ---------- 1 ------- +1

Charlotte ------- 1 ---------- 1 --------- 0

Cleveland ------- 2 --------- 1 -------- -1

Pittsburgh ------ 2 ---------- 1 ------- -1

Detroit --------- 1 ---------- 0 -------- -1

Indianapolis --- 1 ---------- 0 -------- -1

New Orleans --- 1 --------- 0 --------- -1

Boston --------- 2 ---------- 0 -------- -2

Denver --------- 3 --------- 0 --------- -3

Minneapolis ---- 3 ---------- 0 -------- -3


(*) NYC's current total includes 1 tower in Jersey City.


source: CTBUH database




NYC has become a true monster, but solid gains by Chicago and Miami as well.

Of course, this exercise completely misses shorter skylines like Nashville's that have seen a lot growth, but it's still interesting to see how the location of the nation's very tallest buildings has shifted over the past quarter century or so.

That's some pretty intense height consolidation! Only 6 out of 21 cities gained any position.

And 6 cities were kicked out of the 100 tallest club altogether.

Only two new cities joined (Austin and OKC).

And sunbelt skyline juggernauts like Houston, LA, Dallas, and Atlanta all took significant hits on this measure.

What were the minimum heights of the top 100 in 2000 vs today?

697' in 2000

802' now.

Seattle's growth is impressive ONLY in the 400-530' or so range. I count 38 since 2000.

The tallest new buildings since the 1990 flurry have been on at 849', 660', and 598' iirc. Only one really changed the skyline.

The skyline has improved, but substantively only from the north because that's where the most growth has happened and there's also a perspective effect.

Bellevue has added a couple at 600' and five in the mid-400s.

A slight spin on this is to take all towers that are as tall or taller than any structure in the top 100 in 2000. That way you still capture growth, even if it isn't necessarily at the top end. I.E. anything built since 2000 that would have been, if it existed in 2000, in the top 100 buildings in the United States. There are ~215 such structures.

The location of towers taller than 695', 2000 vs. today:


city ------------ 2000 ---- Current --- change

New York ------- 28 ------- 97* ----- +69

Chicago --------- 14 ------- 30 ------- +16

Miami ----------- 1 --------- 16 ------- +15

Houston -------- 10 --------- 12 ------- +2

Los Angeles ---- 10 --------- 12 ------- +2

Philly ------------ 4 --------- 7 ------- +3

Atlanta ---------- 6 ---------- 6 ------- no change

Dallas ----------- 5 --------- 5 -------- no change

Seattle ---------- 4 --------- 5 -------- +1

San Francisco --- 3 --------- 5 ------- +2

Denver --------- 3 --------- 3 --------- no change

Minneapolis ---- 3 ---------- 3 -------- no change

Boston --------- 2 ---------- 3 -------- +1

Austin ---------- 0 ---------- 3 ------- +3

Cleveland ------- 2 --------- 2 -------- no change

Pittsburgh ------ 2 ---------- 2 ------- no change

Charlotte ------- 1 ---------- 2 --------- +1

Detroit --------- 1 ---------- 1 -------- no change

Indianapolis --- 1 ---------- 1 -------- no change

New Orleans --- 1 --------- 1 --------- no change

Oklahoma City - 0 ---------- 1 ------- +1

Note: pretty sure your San Fran and Dallas numbers are slightly off? My NYC number may be off slightly.

Three cities: Austin, Oklahoma City, and Jersey City.

I lumped JC in with NYC.

But yeah, JC would be a third if you wanna treat it separately.

Three new cities, two new metros

I'd definitely agree with those... along with Miami. Toronto, Austin, and Miami probably being the top three.

Nashville is developing into a more beefy than tall skyline... due to FAA restrictions it'll likely never have a skyscraper in the top 100. BUT since the year 2000 Nashville has had probably 80 to 90 buildings over 200 feet go up... just to take a stab off the top of my head, with another 40 or so proposed or U/C right now.

Not according to CTBUH data.

Really?

If 697' is the boundary (it isn't), then CTBUH has for Dallas:

BoA Plaza 921'
Renaissance Tower 886' / 710'
Comerica Bank Tower 787'
Dallas Arts Tower 738'
Fountain Place 720'

2001 Ross Avenue is 686' and beneath the boundary. That's 5, not 6.

Perhaps you didn't realize that they stupidly list the Renaissance Tower twice at two different heights and with two different names? Attention to details. First International Tower is listed separately at 710', despite being the same structure, renamed, with an adornment on top. But for some reason ONLY in their Tallest Buildings Lists explore data tool. The individual city list does not have the same mistake.

As such, somewhere has to take the #100 spot, which is 345 California:

San Francisco:

Transamerica 853'
555 California 779'
345 California 695'

That's... 3 prior to 2000, not 2.

I mean... if you really wanna drill into the details, they list only 99 buildings. And there's also 330 North Wabash in Chicago at 695', which would boost the earlier number for Chicago to 14. And that's actually what the list should be:

#. HEIGHT CITY TOWER

1. 1451'..... Chicago.................. Sears Tower
2. 1368'..... New York City.......... One World Trade Center
3. 1362'..... New York City.......... Two World Trade Center
4. 1250'..... New York City.......... Empire State Building
5. 1136'..... Chicago.................. Aon Center
6. 1128'..... Chicago.................. 875 North Michigan Avenue
7. 1046'..... New York City.......... Chrysler Building
8. 1023'..... Atlanta................... Bank of America Plaza
9. 1018'..... Los Angeles............ US Bank Tower
10. 1007'... Chicago.................. The Franklin - North Tower
11. 1002'... Houston................. JPMorganChase Tower
12. 995'..... Chicago................. Two Prudential Plaza
13. 992'..... Houston................. 1000 Louisiana
14. 961'.... Chicago................... 311 South Wacker
15. 965'.... New York City........... 70 Pine
16. 947'.... Cleveland................ Key Tower
17. 945'.... Philadelphia............. One Liberty Place
18. 933'.... Seattle.................... Columbia Center
19. 927'.... New York City........... The Trump Building
20. 921'.... Dallas...................... Bank of America Plaza
21. 915'.... New York City........... 601 Lexington
22. 901'.... Houston................... Williams Tower
23. 886'.... Dallas...................... Renaissance Tower
24. 871'.... Charlotte.................. Bank of America Corporate Center
25. 869'.... Chicago.................... 900 North Michigan Avenue
26. 868'.... Chicago.................... Chase Tower
27. 867'.... Atlanta..................... Truist Plaza
28. 859'.... Chicago.................... Water Tower Place
29. 858'.... Los Angeles............... Aon Center
30. 853'.... San Francisco............ Transamerica Pyramid Center
31. 850'.... New York City............ Comcast Center
32. 848'.... Philadelphia.............. Two Liberty Place
33. 844'.... Chicago.................... Park Tower
34. 841'.... Pittsburgh................. U.S. Steel Tower
35. 820'.... Atlanta..................... One Atlantic Center
36. 814'.... New York City............ CitySpire
37. 813'.... New York City............ 28 Liberty
38. 809'.... New York City............ 4 Times Square
39. 808'.... New York City............ MetLife Building
=40. 792'.. Philadelphia.............. BNY Mellon Bank Center
=40. 792'.. New York City............ Woolworth Building
=40. 792'.. Minneapolis............... IDS Center
43. 790'.... Boston...................... 200 Clarendon
44. 787'.... Dallas....................... Comerica Bank Tower
45. 780'.... Houston.................... TC Energy Center
46. 779'.... San Francisco............ 555 California
47. 778'.... New York City............. 1 Worldwide Plaza
48. 776'.... Minneapolis................ Capella Tower
49. 775'.... Minneapolis................ Wells Fargo Center
50. 772'.... Seattle...................... 1201 Third Avenue Tower
51. 770'.... Atlanta...................... 191 Peachtree Tower
52. 767'.... Chicago..................... Three First National Plaza
53. 764'.... Miami........................ Southeast Financial Center
54. 762'.... Houston..................... Heritage Plaza
55. 757'.... New York City............. Carnegie Hall Tower
=56. 756'.. Chicago..................... Grant Thornton Tower
=56. 756'.. Houston..................... Enterprise Plaza
58. 752'.... New York City.............. 787 Seventh Avenue
=59. 750'.. New York City.............. One Penn Plaza
=59. 750'.. New York City.............. 1251 Avenue of the Americas
=59. 750'.. Boston....................... Prudential Tower
=59. 750'.. Los Angeles................ Two California Plaza
63. 749'.... Los Angeles................ Gas Company Tower
=64. 745'.. New York City............. 60 Wall Street
=64. 745'.. New York City............. One Astor Plaza
66. 743'.... New York City............. One Liberty Plaza
=67. 741'.. New York City.............. Twenty Exchange
=67. 741'.. Houston...................... Centerpoint Energy Plaza
=69. 740'.. Seattle........................ Two Union Square
=69. 740'.. Los Angeles................. Wells Fargo North Tower
=71. 739'.. Philadelphia................. Three Logan
=71. 739'.. New York City............... Three World Financial Center
73. 738'.... Dallas.......................... Dallas Arts Tower
74. 735'.... Los Angeles.................. Bank of America Plaza
75. 733'.... New York City............... 1540 Broadway
76. 732'.... Houston....................... 1600 Smith Street
77. 731'.... Chicago........................ Olympia Centre
78. 727'.... Detroit......................... Marriott at the Renaissance Center
=79. 725'.. Pittsburgh.................... BNY Mellon Center
=79. 725'.. Los Angeles.................. 777 Tower
=79. 725'.. Houston....................... 3 Houston Center
82. 723'.... Atlanta......................... Westin Peachtree Plaza
83. 722'.... Seattle......................... Seattle Municipal Tower
84. 720'.... Dallas.......................... Fountain Place
85. 717'.... Los Angeles................... Figueroa at Wilshire
86. 716'.... New York City................ Metropolitan Tower
=87. 714'.. Denver......................... Republic Plaza
=87. 714'.. Houston....................... One Shell Plaza
89. 710'.... Dallas.......................... First International Building
89. 709'.... Denver......................... 1801 California Plaza
90. 708'.... Cleveland..................... Terminal Tower
91. 707'.... New York City............... JPMorganChase Tower
92. 705'.... New York City............... General Motors Building
93. 701'.... Indianapolis................. Salesforce Tower
94. 700'.... New York City............... Metropolitan Life Tower
=95. 699'.. Los Angeles................. City National Tower
=95. 699'.. Los Angeles................. Paul Hastings Tower
97. 698'.... Denver........................ Wells Fargo Center
=98. 697'.. New York City.............. 500 Fifth Avenue
=98. 697'.. Atlanta....................... Georgia Pacific Tower
=100. 695'. San Francisco............. 345 California
=100. 695'. Chicago..................... 330 North Wabash

I did not realize that.

Thanks for pointing it out.

Why the hell would they have the same building listed twice under different names and heights in their database? That defies all logic and sense.

There are a number of careless mistakes everywhere in every list online, even CTBUH. I always cross reference every source, and have found that the combo of here, CTBUH, and Wikipedia, generally leads to the most accurate result.

Not just online. The World Almanac used to have the most absurd mistakes on the tower lists, like duplicates and projects not being added for years after completion. They also screwed up other lists, like omitting DC from the metro area lists once.

CTBUH Relies on individuals to update most of their metrics. I've been trying to update cities for a while, but case by case they tend to forget. I still have a few submissions pending from 1 year ago.

#22. We still call it the Transco Tower not the Williams Tower (Houston)

Check out the photo at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_Tower_(Dallas).

The lower number is the height of the original building. The higher number is the building with that dumb crap added to the top so it could be the second tallest in the city instead of the fifth tallest.