Arts Vibrancy: Where Upstate NY Dominates

There’s nothing worse than having weak metrics jammed down your throat. Self-worth, after all, is often measured by house size, retail options, and climate, thereby devaluing places like Upstate New York. But what if the most important metric were something else—say arts vibrancy?

Could this be the magic number that explains why six million Americans still choose to pay high taxes, shovel lake-effect snow, and be looked down upon by Canadians, i.e. live in Upstate New York?

Bingo.

As Upstate New York shows, a robust economy is not a prerequisite for a thriving arts scene. Creativity, on the other hand, is. And any local will tell you—insist, in fact—that the latter is in abundant supply.

But how can this so-called arts vibrancy be quantified?

Enter SMU DataArts, aka the National Center for Arts Research.

SMU (Southern Methodist University), located in Dallas, has taken it upon itself to make an intangible more numerical. In other words, using raw data, SMU DataArts has been able to identify those American regions that are truly arts-vibrant—not based on opinion or perception but rather cold, hard facts.

Those facts include “13 unique measures which cover aspects of supply, demand, and public support for arts and culture, which are adjusted for cost of living and population.” The result is a per-capita, dollar-for-dollar assessment of over 900 communities across the country.

The final 2024 ranking included 20 large communities (metros over 1 million), 10 medium communities (metros between 100,000 and 1 million), and 10 small communities (metros under 100,000).

Have a look.

Top 20 Large Communities

1. San Francisco, CA
2. New York City, NY
3. Boston, MA
4. Washington, DC
5. Minneapolis, MN
6. Philadelphia, PA
7. Nashville, TN
8. Newark, NJ
9. Frederick-Gaithersburg-Rockville, MD
10. Austin, TX
11. Chicago, IL
12. Los Angeles, CA
13. Seattle, WA
14. Milwaukee, WI
15. Rochester, NY
16. New Orleans, LA
17. Portland, OR
18. Denver, CO
19. Cincinnati, OH
20. Cambridge-Newton-Framingham, MA

Top 10 Medium Communities

1. Santa Fe, NM
2. Ithaca, NY
3. San Rafael, CA
4. Pittsfield, MA
5. Kalamazoo-Portage, MI
6. Boulder, CO
7. Missoula, MT
8. Wilmington, DE
9. Syracuse, NY
10. Ann Arbor, MI

Top 10 Small Communities

1. Jackson, WY
2. Steamboat Springs, CO
3. Juneau, AK
4. Vineyard Haven, MA
5. Branson, MO
6. Brevard, NC
7. Taos, NM
8. Glenwood Springs, CO
9. Hailey, ID
10. Auburn, NY

All told, Upstate New York, which accounts for perhaps 1.8% of the US population, comprises 10% of the top 40 most arts-vibrant communities.

Stated another way, what the region lacks in terms of malls, strip malls, and sunshine, it more than makes up for in terms of spirit.

Now that is a worthy metric.