City on Top

Last year I featured a blog on how cities rank depending on subject. Vegas placed high positively and negatively. Vegas was “The Coolest City in America”, no. 3 in “Top Places to Live” but we placed second as the “Dumbest City” and first for “America’s Most Stressful City.” New surveys have appeared since but Vegas was left in the dust. Vegas was over taken by other cities such as Seattle, New York City, San Francisco, Austin and Denver. Sometimes no news is good news. Maybe that is why Vegas isn’t as stressed as it was last year.

This year Vegas moved up a spot and placed second for “Stressful Cities.”  Tampa, FL took the honor this year. Not really sure why because the survey conducted by Sperling’s Best Places still had Vegas with a higher divorce, unemployment and crime rate than Tampa. The only thing that was worse was commute time that could develop in some stressed out road rage. Following Vegas in the top ten was Miami, FL; Jacksonville, FL; Detroit, MI; Orlando, FL; Riverside, CA; Sacramento, CA; Seattle, WA; West Palm Beach, FL. I don’t know what is going on with Florida but no matter where you live you’re going to end up stressed at some point. If you are looking for some inner peace, Minneapolis, MN placed as the least stressed out on the list. I lived there for a short time and during those months I can attest I was pretty calm. People that are stressed out can cause people to be on edge. The Daily Beast ranked the top ten angriest cities in America by protesters per population.  Out of the stressful cities, Vegas placed seventh and Seattle, WA placed third. Denver, CO took first place for the angriest.

Maybe it is because Denver isn’t getting laid enough, literally. Denver ranked fifth as the horniest city in the U.S.A., another survey conducted by The Daily Beast. Seattle ranked third while Vegas took tenth. I guess they don’t count tourists in the survey. California is a pretty horny state having four cities (San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Sacramento) in the top twenty-five and Texas may the horniest with Austin placing number one and three other cities taking a spot (Dallas, Houston, San Antonio). Washington, D.C. ranked eleventh. That may explain sexual scandals in government even though that is no excuse.

To find someone to cure that horny feeling goes hand-in-hand with dating… sometimes. Do people still actually go on dates anymore? I guess so because in the “Best Cities to Find a Date in 2012” Austin ranked fourth out of twenty-five, Houston was twenty-two and Dallas was nineteen. California cities ranked to match their sexual drive as San Francisco was #8 and San Diego was #15, but Los Angeles didn’t make the list. Perhaps for the same reason Vegas didn’t either, we don’t date, we have “flings.” Seattle made the list at no. 6 and if you can’t find a date there, just head to Bellevue next door because they placed no. 16. The number one city was Atlanta, GA.

To date requires you to be single so it’s strange to have Atlanta place last (1 out of 20) in “America’s Best Cities for Singles.” Houston ranked no. 18, Los Angeles no. 15, San Diego no. 13 and San Francisco no. 12. New York City placed at no. 4. How could it not? Sex and the City made that pretty evident. Vegas beat out New York City by one spot, but Vegas ranked no. 1 for wild weekends and no. 19 in casual romance. Austin placed second and the best city, New Orleans due to being the no. 1 one spot cocktails and fascinating people. Seattle didn’t make the list. Could it be they go on dates with people that are already taken? Hmmm… I’m going to leave that one alone.

“Hooking up” requires physical attraction. Anyone thinking “that’s not true” and cares more personality, you’re lying to yourself. It’s human nature. “America’s Most Attractive People” reside ( from most to least) in Puerto Rico (yes that is an American city), San Diego, Miami, Los Angeles, Denver, Honolulu, Charleston (which dropped 6 spots from no. 1 last year), Savannah, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Austin and Vegas ranked no. 12. Really? Being attractive is one of the main requirements of getting a job in this city. No wonder the unemployment rate is so high. Well we did make the better half. The least attractive cities were Anchorage, ranked no.1, followed by Atlanta, Dallas, D.C., San Antonio, New Orleans and Houston. Seattle and New York City hit the bottom of the list.

It seems a little contradicting but these cities could simply have “beer goggles” on. “America’s 25 Drunkest Cities” were Houston at no. 25, Seattle no. 19, Las Vegas no. 14, Denver no. 13, Charleston no. 12, San Diego no. 9, Austin no. 7, San Antonio no. 5 and Boston taking first place. Or maybe the attraction is the body. In “America’s 30 Fittest Cities” included Dallas (no. 26), New York City (no. 24), San Antonio (no. 22), Atlanta (no. 20), Los Angeles (no. 18), Miami (no. 16), Salt Lake City (no. 12), Austin (no. 11), Seattle (no. 10), San Diego (no. 9), D.C. (no. 3), San Francisco (no. 2) and Denver (no. 1) were all included in the ranking. I could be proven wrong and personality can really make a difference. New Orleans (no. 2), Charleston (no. 3), Austin (no. 4), Houston (no. 7), San Antonio (no. 9), Denver (no. 11), Seattle (no. 16), San Diego (no. 17), Atlanta (no. 20), San Francisco (no. 22), Dallas (no. 23), Las Vegas (no. 24), Miami (no. 27), D.C. (no. 28), Los Angeles (no. 29) and New York City (no. 30) all placed in “America’s Friendliest People.” The ironic part of that is almost all the cities listed at “friendly” were also included in “America’s Rudest Cities.”

A lot of these are transplant cities meaning a lot of the people living there are not from the area and relocated from a different city. Also a lot of them are major tourist destinations so when it comes to service and interaction, people are either going to be friendly because they love their life or rude because they are miserable. All of the surveys are conducted in its own way with basic statistics. So who is to say which city is the best and worst? I always say it is not where you are but who you spend your time with. No matter where someone lives, most of the time they are going to make the best of it and if they don’t like it… well, move on.