Cities remain the key engines of the global economy even as new digital technologies have given people unprecedented choice in where we live and work. The world’s 300 largest cities or metro areas account for more than half of global economic output, while being home to just 20% of the world’s population.

When it comes to innovation the pattern is even more startling: Just 24 global cities account for three-quarters of global venture capital investment while housing just four percent of the world’s population; and just the top six alone attract more than half of all global venture capital investment, despite housing just one percent of the world’s people.

But by giving people more choice, the pandemic is upending the competition among global cities for investment, jobs, and talent. A new analysis enables us to better gauge the winners and losers of this competition and to assess which cities are best able to adapt to rapid change in the global economy and which are more challenged by it.

Superstar cites like London and New York continue to define the heights of this competition. But smaller European cities like Copenhagen, Vienna, and Amsterdam are becoming more attractive to mobile talent offering high quality of life at more affordable price points. American cities fare better than might be expected given their well-publicized challenges of homelessness, urban disorder, and vacant office corridors. San Francisco and Washington, D.C. join New York in the top ten, while Boston and Seattle number among the top 20 leading global cities.