Naughty or nice? The top 10 cities that overindulge in every way possible

From hate crimes to smoking, a report ranks which cities are the 'most sinful' in America

(Pixabay)
(Pixabay)

The cost of the holidays, as those trying to take care of their shopping lists ASAP know only too well, can be hefty. Whether it’s money-wise, disrupting a diet, triggering excessive alcohol and drug consumption, the holidays aren’t always a great time for everybody.

A new report compared almost 200 American cities to see which places Santa should dutifully skip due to metrics of over-indulgence ranging from eating habits to drug consumption and sex, in combination with official statistics such as bullying and crime rates and incidences of hate crimes — all paired alongside metrics such as average charity donations, fast food joints per capita and the share of adult smokers in a city.

WalletHub, compiled the data and made the comparison framing their report around which American cities are the most “sinful” resulted in a report peppered with phrases like: “Luckily for the saints among us, all American vices are not created, or distributed, equally.”

The report’s premise of which cities are having a rough time examines a reality New Yorkers may not consider on the regular — which cities have the highest numbers of opioid prescriptions being filled; the highest numbers of deaths due to overdoses; large debt-to-income ratios; or a high drop out rate from high schools. Unfortunately, the report not only skips over underlying causes of serious societal problems, but opted to slap the labels “lazy,” “lust” or “greed” on top of systemic issues portrayed as individual failings.

The Big Apple ranks 22 on WalletHub’s “most sinful” list out of the 182 cities considered. Here’s the top 10 “sinful” cities followed by the top 10 virtuous places, you be the judge of whether they deserve to be on the naughty or nice list:

Most Sinful Cities

1 Las Vegas, NV

(Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de)

2 Orlando, FL

(Pixabay)

3 Miami, FL

(Marc Averette)

4 St. Louis, MO

(Sam Valadi/Flickr)

5 North Las Vegas, NV

(Curimedia/Wikimedia Commons)

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6 Henderson, NV

(ilovebutter/Flickr)

7 Detroit, MI

(Crisco 1492/Wikimedia Commons)

8 Baton Rouge, LA

(Spatms/Wikimedia Commons)

9 Tampa, FL

(Pixabay)

10 New Orleans, LA

(U.S. Army Corp of Engineers Digital Visual Library)

Least Sinful Cities

173 Cedar Rapids, IA
174 Aurora, IL
175 San Jose, CA
176 Santa Rosa, CA
177 Plano, TX
178 Port St. Lucie, FL
179 West Valley City, UT
180 Brownsville, TX
181 Pearl City, HI
182 South Burlington, VT

[WalletHub]– E.K. Hudson