If you’re looking for a real answer, they don’t provide much to the nation, which no community should. To their citizens they provide convenience. Everything you need or want is close to wherever you live. Most residents of a city can walk to the closest grocery store faster than many rural residents can drive to theirs, with far more options for retail, leisure and entertainment within a similar radius. For the benefit of states, cities provide mass consumers of goods that are produced in nearby rural areas