Take Silicon Valley as an example. What exactly does San Francisco offer to the valley? The tech industry developed in the suburbs and the city later got the benefits. Northern VA and DC have a similar relationship. Virginia did all the investment to attract tech companies to the area; DC is getting the benefits because young people enjoy living in the city. In the DC metro area, most of the GDP base is outside the city. Same for Atlanta.

Some cities, typically pre-war ones, are an exception, like New York or Chicago. But many pre-war cities (Baltimore, Philly, etc.) are carried by their surrounding suburbs.