GDP data for cities across China have been successively released. As of now, 27 cities have reached the trillion-yuan GDP mark. According to the official WeChat account of Tangshan Release, Tangshan surpassed the trillion-yuan GDP threshold in 2024, becoming the first city in Hebei Province to achieve this milestone.

Table: 2024 GDP of Trillion-yuan Cities

Source: Compiled by Firestone Creation based on public information

In terms of economic aggregate, the GDP of these 27 cities accounts for 40.9% of the country's total. Over the years, as the number of trillion-yuan cities has expanded and their economies have continued to grow, their GDP share of the national total has accelerated. In 2018, the economic aggregate of 17 trillion-yuan GDP cities accounted for about one-third of the country's total; in 2021, the share of the total GDP of 24 cities reached 38.4%; and in 2023, the share of the total GDP of 26 cities increased to 39.4%.

In 2024, the economic landscape of China's trillion-yuan GDP cities continued to evolve, with each city exhibiting distinct development trends.

01

Differentiated Growth Tiers

With China's national GDP growth rate at 5% in 2024, a total of 19 trillion-yuan cities outpaced the national average. Quanzhou led the pack with a growth rate of 6.5%, while cities such as Foshan, Dongguan, and Guangzhou lagged behind the national average.

Leading Group (Growth Rate ≥ 6%): Quanzhou, Nantong, Fuzhou, Hefei, Changzhou, Yantai, and Suzhou stood out with growth rates of 6% or above in 2024. Quanzhou led the trillion-yuan cities with a growth rate of 6.5%.

Core Strength (Growth Rate 5%-6%): Shenzhen, Wuxi, and 14 other cities either outpaced or matched the national average, maintaining steady growth thanks to the resilience of their industrial chains.

Cities with Slowing Growth (Growth Rate < 5%): Among the 27 trillion-yuan cities, six cities—Hangzhou, Nanjing, Xi'an, Dongguan, Guangzhou, and Foshan—recorded growth rates below the national average. These cities may be undergoing a "biased" growth pattern or experiencing a painful period of industrial restructuring, leading to slower growth.

The differentiated growth tiers have also led to shifts in city rankings. Chongqing surpassed Guangzhou to become the "fourth city," while Ningbo overtook Tianjin and is now just over 30 billion yuan behind Nanjing, which ranks tenth. Both Jinan and Hefei surpassed Foshan, highlighting the intense competition among cities.

02

Key Variables of Urban Growth Capacity

A common characteristic of steady economic growth is the accelerated deployment of new productive forces, driven by both traditional industrial upgrading and emerging industry breakthroughs.

Take Quanzhou, a major manufacturing hub, as an example. In recent years, Quanzhou has grasped the key to "intelligent transformation and digitalization," fully promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries. According to statistics, more than 5,400 of Quanzhou's 7,000 above-scale industrial enterprises have actively participated in the digital transformation wave, accounting for nearly 78% of the city's total above-scale industrial enterprises. In 2024, the added value of industrial enterprises above the designated size in the city increased by 7.8% year-on-year. Among the city's nine major industries with output values exceeding 100 billion yuan, the added value of eight industries achieved positive growth. Specifically, the footwear industry grew by 16.1%, the machinery and equipment industry by 12.8%, and the building materials and home furnishing industry by 11.0%.

Another example is Hefei, where the deployment of emerging industries is accelerating. In 2024, the growth rate of Hefei's added value of industrial enterprises above the designated size hit a new high in the past three years. Among the major industries, the added value of the computer, communications, and other electronic equipment manufacturing industry increased by 26.9% year-on-year, and the added value of the automobile manufacturing industry increased by 38.5%, jointly contributing 11.4 percentage points to the growth of the above-scale industry. The production of new energy vehicles exceeded one million units, reaching 1.376 million units, an increase of 84.5%.

In addition, regional coordination capacity is also a significant driving force for urban growth.

Consider the Yangtze River Delta region. The combined GDP of the nine trillion-yuan cities in the Yangtze River Delta last year was 19.2 trillion yuan, accounting for 14.2% of the country's total, nearly one-seventh. The integration of the Yangtze River Delta has played a crucial role in promoting the development of the urban agglomeration in the region. On the one hand, it enhances the overall efficiency of the urban agglomeration by optimizing resource allocation and avoiding homogeneous competition; on the other hand, it fosters economic interaction and industrial division within the region. For instance, in the integrated circuit industry, Shanghai excels in chip design, Suzhou is strong in chip manufacturing and packaging testing, and Wuxi has unique advantages in semiconductor materials and equipment. The collaboration among these cities realizes the localization of the entire industry chain from chip design to manufacturing and packaging testing, enhancing the overall competitiveness of China's integrated circuit industry.

Moreover, inland cities such as Chongqing, Chengdu, and Wuhan have mitigated the cost disadvantage of inland areas through the "channel + hub + network" logistics system, transforming inland hinterlands into open highlands. Chongqing's freight volume through the Western Land-Sea New Corridor increased by 41%, and the value of goods increased by 67%, significantly boosting the economic growth of inland cities.

These phenomena underscore the underlying logic of urban competition during China's economic transition period—the efficiency of traditional industrial upgrading, the speed of emerging industry deployment, and regional coordination capacity are becoming key variables determining the growth potential of cities.

The growth rates of trillion-yuan cities in 2024 reflect, to a certain extent, the model of China's economic transformation and development. Future urban competition will increasingly hinge on the depth of industrial upgrading, regional coordination efficiency, and the courage of institutional innovation. For cities with slowing growth, temporary setbacks may be a necessary path to rebirth. For leaders, the real test lies in transforming first-mover advantages into sustainable competitiveness. Under the strategic framework of the "Unified National Market" and the "Dual Circulation," the fates of cities have never been more closely intertwined—competition and cooperation, rather than zero-sum games, will be the main theme of the new era.

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Author | Firestone Creation, Weng Jianping

Reviewed by | Firestone Creation, Yin Li