<p>Securitization of economies has received much attention in urban and regional studies, as how the city economy has connected with the capital markets has been increasingly important for a city’s development. This study develops a modified Buffett indicator, calculating the ratio of total market capitalization of listed companies to the gross domestic product (GDP) of the city in which these companies are headquartered, to measure city securitization rates (CSR). Drawing on this indicator, this study maps the CSR of all prefecture-and-above level cities in China. It is found that cities with high CSR in China are mainly financial centers and some resource-based cities, while most other cities’ CSR are quite low. The regression results show that city’s innovation capacity and political status are positively and significantly associated with the CSR in China. In addition, being close to financial centers can significantly improve the CSR of cities in the eastern region of the country. With the growing financialization of societies, the modified Buffett indicator has a potential to explore the city economy from the perspective of its connection with capital markets in future research.</p>