Minneapolis is Number Three and Las Vegas is Number Ten?

June 13, 2013 1:04 PM

Using factors like the number of strip clubs per capita, violent crime per 1,000 residents, and the percentage of disposable income given to charity, the Movoto Real Estate Blog came up with its list of the ten most sinful cities in the United States. The winners (?) are: (1) St. Louis, MO; (2) Orlando, FL; (3) Minneapolis, MN; (4) Pittsburgh, PA; (5) Milwaukee, WI; (6) Cincinnati, OH; (7) Miami, FL; (8) Buffalo, NY; (9) Detroit, MI; and, (10) Las Vegas, NV.
posted by Area Man (90 comments total)

Yeah, I can see how St. Louis is #1.
For a real-estate company, they sure know what to say to get people buying houses.
posted by QueerAngel28 at 1:10 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

My top 1 list of all-time most prudish websites that incorporate cryptoracism for link-bait:

1) movoto.com
posted by basicchannel at 1:11 PM on June 13, 2013 [18 favorites]

we looked at the 95 most populous cities in the United States (we had to exclude Baton Rouge, Birmingham, Indianapolis, Toledo, and Tucson since they don’t report some of this data) to see how they stacked up in each criterion. We ranked each city from 1 to 95—with 1 being most sinful and 95 being least—and averaged the scores across all criteria to come up with our final list of 10 most sinful locales.

As with many listicles, this one is more interesting when you read about their process.
posted by jessamyn at 1:14 PM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]

Now, I am fully aware of my position as Metafilter's biggest Buffalo idealist/apologist, but how is Buffalo #8? The slideshow describes it as " Buffalo, NY: For a place with the tagline of 'City of Good Neighbors,' Buffalo sure has a lot of violent crimes, aka wrath." but there's not a single word about Buffalo in the piece itself. Nor is there a link to their source for that data, it just says "reports of violent crimes as cataloged by the FBI."

Be reasonable. It's much more likely to be up there because of gluttony or sloth.
posted by troika at 1:14 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

Jesus San Francisco get it together
posted by prize bull octorok at 1:14 PM on June 13, 2013 [16 favorites]

I'd really like to see their entire list of 95 cities, but there didn't appear to be a link in the article.
posted by slogger at 1:17 PM on June 13, 2013

Not surprised to see Miami on the list. When I lived in Kendall, there were three strip clubs within 10 minutes of my apartment, including one in a mini-mall near a Gymboree.
posted by jonmc at 1:19 PM on June 13, 2013

Man, Las Vegas has got to be pissed.

Here is more information on how they came up with the ranking:

in order to make this ranking, we had to translate the sins into some criteria that makes sense for modern city living. That’s how we came up with the seven we ended up using:

• Strip clubs per capita (Lust)
• Cosmetic surgeons per capita (Pride)
• Violent crime per year per 1,000 residents (Wrath)
• Theft per year per 1,000 residents (Envy)
• Percentage of disposable income given to charity each year (Greed)
• Percentage of obese residents (Gluttony)
• Percentage of physically inactive residents (Sloth)

With those figured out, we looked at the 95 most populous cities in the United States (we had to exclude Baton Rouge, Birmingham, Indianapolis, Toledo, and Tucson since they don’t report some of this data) to see how they stacked up in each criterion. We ranked each city from 1 to 95—with 1 being most sinful and 95 being least—and averaged the scores across all criteria to come up with our final list of 10 most sinful locales.

I don't think it's so much "cryptoracism" as "trying to find data that many cities report to make a link-baitey article."
posted by filthy light thief at 1:20 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

Not Memphis, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, and San Francisco?
posted by The Underpants Monster at 1:20 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

Minneapolis really doesn't have that many strip clubs to my knowledge, so that means we must make up for it in murders so . . . yay?
posted by Think_Long at 1:21 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

Once I went on a road trip across the US, and saw a lot of places, some nice, some not so nice. When going through St. Louis, my friend and I got into a conversation with a security guard in the half-vacant mall downtown. She asked us how we liked St. Louis, and I didn't want to offend, so I said I thought it was nice there. She responded, "Really? I don't."
posted by malapropist at 1:22 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

As someone born and bred in St. Paul., MN, I am hardly surprised to see Minneapolis getting publicly shamed for being such a hotbed of depravity, violence, callous disregard for one's fellow man...and overly-aggressive street grids.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:23 PM on June 13, 2013 [11 favorites]

Really? Obesity equals gluttony? This is one of those things that's going to need to be debunked forever, isn't it.
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:24 PM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]

New Orleans doesn't even rate?
posted by localroger at 1:25 PM on June 13, 2013 [7 favorites]

It's really funny that Orlando--one of the cities with the highest concentration of Republican voters in Florida--comes out ranking so high.

Maybe they only make such a big show of hating sin down there because secretly they love it a little too much.
posted by saulgoodman at 1:26 PM on June 13, 2013

I work in Washington DC, and I demand a recount.
posted by Lord Dimwit Flathead The Excessive at 1:26 PM on June 13, 2013 [6 favorites]

I'm shocked that San Francisco and New Orleans both failed to make the list.
posted by mollymayhem at 1:26 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

I was expecting 'number of strip clubs within four blocks of bizarrely sterile main downtown street' as a criterion. But then Minneapolis would have been number one.

I've spent five years insisting to people that that is weird. But they don't believe me.
posted by hoyland at 1:26 PM on June 13, 2013 [6 favorites]

I saw "strip clubs" and thought Portland, Oregon, but it probably fails on the other counts. But I smile to recall that occasionally Oregon defends strip clubs as a form of constitutionally protected speech.
posted by seemoreglass at 1:26 PM on June 13, 2013 [3 favorites]

St. Louis, MO, home of perhaps the most sinful man in American, August Adolphus Busch IV (born June 15, 1964), former CEO of Anheuser-Busch.
posted by stbalbach at 1:27 PM on June 13, 2013

As someone born and bred in St. Paul., MN, I am hardly surprised to see Minneapolis getting publicly shamed for being such a hotbed of depravity, violence, callous disregard for one's fellow man...and overly-aggressive street grids.

Sounds like St. Paul also has a sin to confess... the sin of envy.
posted by COBRA! at 1:27 PM on June 13, 2013 [19 favorites]

We used Yelp to figured out how many of these adult entertainment hubs exist in each city, then divided that number by the population to get how many there are per capita.

Unsurprisingly, Las Vegas ranked first.

And god knows that searching Yelp Las Vegas for "strip club" won't get any, like, false positives or anything.
posted by dersins at 1:28 PM on June 13, 2013

I saw "strip clubs" and thought Portland, Oregon, but it probably fails on the other counts.

Yeah, but I thought the overabundance of them here would have easily pulled it up in the ranks. I mean, there's at least 4 of them within a 10 minute walk from work here.
posted by furnace.heart at 1:28 PM on June 13, 2013

I was expecting 'number of strip clubs within four blocks of bizarrely sterile main downtown street' as a criterion.

The streets are sterile because all the action is upstairs. Join us in the skyways!
posted by Area Man at 1:28 PM on June 13, 2013 [4 favorites]

Can't quite figure out how Pittsburgh got in there. It's not lust, there's a whole three strip clubs in the city. Must be sloth.
posted by octothorpe at 1:34 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

Milwaukee made both this list, and Movoto's Ten Worst-Dressed Cities list. I live in Schlub City.
posted by DrMew at 1:35 PM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]

Oh man, I'm heading for a wedding weekend in the most sinful city in American! Woooooooooooooo! Forget The Hangover, I'm going to STL, baby!

I just want a nice meetup and maybe some BBQ. Oh, and frozen custard.
posted by maryr at 1:41 PM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]

maryr - Also, get some good donuts. Man STL has good donuts.
posted by petrilli at 1:46 PM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]

Get your frozen custard at Ted Drews over on Grand Ave or Cheerokee St in St. Louis. It's the best...

Sometimes I really miss my home town.
posted by Groundhog Week at 1:48 PM on June 13, 2013

Having been born and raised in Ft. Lauderdale, I'm going to assume that by Miami they mean the Palm Beach-Ft Lauderdale-Miami metropolitan area, and then I'm going to be amazed that it didn't make the top 3.
posted by lord_wolf at 1:55 PM on June 13, 2013

From the methodolgy blog post: “The Big Deal Score” is a weighted average of all of the individual criterion." (sic)

There are so many hiding places for sins under that big rug.
posted by bonehead at 2:00 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

They say sin like it's a bad thing.
posted by BrotherCaine at 2:02 PM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]

Something I just found out last weekend: here in Chicago, strip clubs are not allowed to serve alcohol or show full boobage. Patrons must stay a minimum of 15' away from the strippers at all times.

I had no idea! Makes them seem like really wholesome places.
posted by phunniemee at 2:05 PM on June 13, 2013

St. Louis would be nowhere near the top of the strip club list if it weren't for their metro counterpart in Illinois, which it conveniently tries to forget whenever they tout any other stat. St. Louis uses the place as a sewer and then disowns it when people talk shit about their crappy city. Just to give you an idea how lousy it is, one of the lawless strip club haven "towns" was named MONSANTO, IL, before it was renamed to the last name of the guy who more or less now owns the town: Sauget. There are more people in your average McDonald's than there are inhabitants of the town Sauget that aren't named Sauget. And to make matters worse, it's just one town like this in the St. Louis' metro east. There are many more. All crooked as sin.

But let's not put all the hate on Illinois. St. Louis proper is also filled with crime galore. And some of the worst racism I've ever witnessed. I'm perfectly happy putting St. Louis at the top of this list. It deserves every bit of derision it gets.

/st. louisan
posted by readyfreddy at 2:18 PM on June 13, 2013 [4 favorites]

Las Vegas has a significant Mormon population, which is probably pulling down its sin levels.
posted by Jacqueline at 2:21 PM on June 13, 2013

I'm surprised also at the inclusion of Pittsburgh. Has something changed in the last 10 years?

I've got work to do, but based on their description of how they tabulated these rankings, it should be easy (or busywork) to collate the data.

On review: You guys had a town named Monsanto? That's fucked up.
posted by chemoboy at 2:22 PM on June 13, 2013

I lol'd at their 10 most exciting cities list, which places NYC at #5 (because of McD's?!) but Boston at #2. Makes me think these people are either doing Boston extremely right or NYC extremely wrong.
posted by en forme de poire at 2:25 PM on June 13, 2013 [4 favorites]

LOL poverty
posted by munchingzombie at 2:27 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

"Percentage of disposable income given to charity" probably disguises the places where lots of people give lots of their money to their socially repugnant churches.
posted by Flunkie at 2:33 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

After I moved to St. Louis from Tennessee, my husband and I went to the local grocery store on a Sunday morning to pick up some stuff for breakfast. As I casually walked down the aisles, a sweet-faced young woman stopped me and said, "Ma'am would you like a sample?" She gestured to her small table that contact little Dixie cups of a clear liquid, next to a very, very large bottle of flavored vodka.

Dumbfounded, I replied, "Of vodka?"
"Yes," she said, spinning off her sales pitch about flavors and blah, blah, blah. I'm really not sure what was said after that because my tiny little brain was spiralling out of control trying to process the concept of free vodka on a SUNDAY MORNING! SUNDAY!! IN THE GROCERY STORE!!! NEXT TO THE EGGS!!! ON A SUNDAY!

So yeah, we've had stuff stolen out of our cars twice since we moved up here. And yeah, in our old neighborhood we used to play the game "Gunshots or Fireworks?" And sure, there's a metric ton of fried ravioli. But whatever, I live where I can get samples of liquor on the Lord's Day next to the bacon.

You can keep your "safe", "sinless" streets. I'll take the liberal liquor laws any day.

Although I do wonder how the free Zoo, History Museum, Art Museum, and Science Center factored into the "sinful" aspect. We may be drunk and you may get shot, but you can see some tigers for free!
posted by teleri025 at 2:33 PM on June 13, 2013 [11 favorites]

Las Vegas has a significant Mormon population, which is probably pulling down its sin levels.

The opposite, if anything, apparently.
posted by bonehead at 2:34 PM on June 13, 2013

Minneapolis strip clubs are so famous there is even a song about one of them.

Note: Song by me.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 2:34 PM on June 13, 2013 [3 favorites]

Now, I am fully aware of my position as Metafilter's biggest Buffalo idealist/apologist, but how is Buffalo #8? The slideshow describes it as " Buffalo, NY: For a place with the tagline of 'City of Good Neighbors,' Buffalo sure has a lot of violent crimes, aka wrath."

Well, some of that is surely that it's comparing city-limits cities, not metro areas. So places where better-off areas decided that they were different cities and not part of the major city are going to end up looking worse. The City of Buffalo's crime rate is pretty bad but not horrific, but the suburbs are absurdly safe.

The same thing is no doubt part of why St. Louis and Detroit come out so bad: lots of the better off areas split off ages ago.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 2:37 PM on June 13, 2013 [4 favorites]

There isn't a single strip club in Cincinnati so they must be off the charts in everything else. Yet there isn't a single mention of the city in the rest of the article.
posted by Mick at 2:42 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

You can keep your "safe", "sinless" streets. I'll take the liberal liquor laws any day.

And you say you live in the United States?

Vermont doesn't even have a city large enough to be on that list. And I think there are two strip clubs in the entire state. Which may be because we're uptight but I think it's because it's cold here and heat is expensive.
posted by jessamyn at 2:47 PM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]

Cosmetic surgeons per capita (Pride)

Huh? That seems more like insecurity. Only shame is less prideful.
posted by Sys Rq at 2:52 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

Which may be because we're uptight but I think it's because it's cold here and heat is expensive.

For some reason, after reading this I started to imagine environmentally friendly strip clubs that are well-insulated and heated using excess steam from an adjacent industrial facilities. I know sugar beet processing plants give off lots of excess steam during the Winter.

We may be drunk and you may get shot, but you can see some tigers for free!

Isn't that basically the plot of The Hangover?
posted by Area Man at 2:58 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

The Rust Belt Lust Belt.
posted by resurrexit at 2:59 PM on June 13, 2013 [3 favorites]

Can't quite figure out how Pittsburgh got in there. It's not lust, there's a whole three strip clubs in the city. Must be sloth.

Apparently they used the query 'adult entertainment' in Yelp to get their results, which for Pittsburgh brings up such bastions of vice and sin as Primanti's. Which only goes to show that Pittsburgh's appetite for coleslaw, french fries, and pastrami on white bread is downright lascivious.
posted by mcoo at 3:04 PM on June 13, 2013 [8 favorites]

Sin is for children.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 3:05 PM on June 13, 2013

Minneapolis really doesn't have that many strip clubs to my knowledge


Minneapolis has many strip clubs you maybe don't want to know about.

But just downtown - Rick's Cabaret, Dreamgirls, Deja Vu, Augie's, The Seville, Choice, Downtown Cabaret, and some others I am forgetting. and then, in the middle of it all, there is a giant pink building with a flashing marquee that says SEXWORLD. All of these places are within walking distance of each other. Oh there also used to be the Skyway Lounge... and there are more - BJs, the 22nd St. Station (aka the DeuceDeuce)...

So yeah actually there are rather a lot of them.
posted by louche mustachio at 3:07 PM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]

Primanti Brothers: Where a plate is not enough to contain the mess you are about to eat.

Seriously, that's what did them in?
posted by chemoboy at 3:13 PM on June 13, 2013

Florida cities only take 2/10? Come on, where's the love?
posted by indubitable at 3:15 PM on June 13, 2013

And sure, there's a metric ton of fried ravioli

You say that like it's a bad thing. Also, while it may technically be fried, it's *toasted* ravioli, thank you very much.
posted by DiscourseMarker at 3:16 PM on June 13, 2013

While I am amused by living in the #3 Sin City, are these people any more than hacks? Can Minneapolis really be the Slothiest and the Fittest city at the same time?

But just downtown... the strip clubs...

Sounds like you got most of them that I have ever heard of within the boundaries of Minneapolis. Is that really a lot? Having lived in other cities larger and smaller, no, it does not seem like a lot.
posted by bafflegab at 3:19 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

Which may be because we're uptight but I think it's because it's cold here and heat is expensive.

I do like that theory, but...Montreal kind of puts a damper on it, no?
posted by Lemurrhea at 3:21 PM on June 13, 2013 [3 favorites]

jessamyn, I always figured Yankee pennypinching and strip clubs didn't really mesh.
posted by maryr at 3:29 PM on June 13, 2013

Is that really a lot?

Considering I forgot Lure, Envy, and The Brass Rail... yes. I thought the same thing at first, mentally comparing Minneapolis to, say, Austin TX, which I thought had a lot of strip clubs but then I did the math and realized that I just thought that because I knew a lot of strippers when I lived there.
posted by louche mustachio at 3:30 PM on June 13, 2013

Can't quite figure out how Pittsburgh got in there.

Ya'gotsta figger yinz acksent 's shorely rilly sinf'ly comicul. Welc'm ta Picksburg! Go Stillers!

(I kid, I kid - I love Pittsburgh and usually visit every coupla years or so.)
posted by soundguy99 at 3:31 PM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]

I always figured Yankee pennypinching and strip clubs didn't really mesh.


There are lots of ways to pinch a penny.
posted by louche mustachio at 3:32 PM on June 13, 2013 [3 favorites]

You know some dude rated the "top 10 cities where girls have dumped me" and just pasted it here. That is the only explanation for having prairie home companion rate as #3.
posted by hal_c_on

The slow aural murder that is PHC is recorded in St. Paul.

Sexworld is not pink, that's De Ja Vous, SEXWORLD is down the block.

I love this weird town.
posted by djseafood at 3:45 PM on June 13, 2013

WOOHOOO!!!! Time for a celebratory meetup!
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 4:16 PM on June 13, 2013

Something I just found out last weekend: here in Chicago, strip clubs are not allowed to serve alcohol or show full boobage. Patrons must stay a minimum of 15' away from the strippers at all times.

I had no idea! Makes them seem like really wholesome places.

Actually, the rule in Chicago is that IF you serve booze, THEN you may have no full boobage on display (and maybe the 15-foot buffer applies). If you DON'T serve booze, then pretty much anything goes. I know this only because it's a law thing and I am a lawyer. Of course.
posted by JimInLoganSquare at 4:29 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

You can keep your "safe", "sinless" streets. I'll take the liberal liquor laws any day.

The best is that open containers are legal as long as you're not the driver.
posted by invitapriore at 4:45 PM on June 13, 2013 [5 favorites]

An acquaintance of mine almost got into some trouble the other night, when in the course of biking down Compton right around Cherokee she noticed just in time a strip of cellophane at about chest level that spanned the street. I'm glad she's okay and I'm concerned for cyclists who might end up falling prey to such a trap, but the sheer deviousness on display there is impressive.
posted by invitapriore at 4:53 PM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]

Can Minneapolis really be the Slothiest and the Fittest city at the same time?

Some ice fish; others ski cross-country.
posted by Sys Rq at 4:59 PM on June 13, 2013

As someone born and bred in St. Paul., MN, I am hardly surprised to see Minneapolis getting publicly shamed for being such a hotbed of depravity, violence, callous disregard for one's fellow man...and overly-aggressive street grids.

Be grateful that you live next door to Minneapolis, St. Paulites. It's the only thing fooling out-of-towners into thinking you live in an actual city instead of a bunch of clannish hamlets haphazardly connected by a fevered dream of a street network.
posted by wintermute2_0 at 5:32 PM on June 13, 2013 [5 favorites]

Hey St. Louisans that have come in here to defend our fair city: Meetup, Sunday.
posted by notsnot at 5:33 PM on June 13, 2013

So, I'm going to point out that while two Florida cities made the list, neither one is Tampa. Which any Floridian will tell you is the go-to city for strip clubs in the state (and possibly the whole South Eastern, U.S.A./.

So, not only are we the most sinful state, out #3 city is more sinful than your #1. Yup, Florida, we're awesome at being awful.
posted by oddman at 5:58 PM on June 13, 2013

OMG, Louche Mustachio, I couldn't figure out why my sweet MPLS was on this list. It honestly never occurred to me that that was an abnormal amount of strip clubs. I guess I just always figured that I was so used to ignoring them that I didn't see them when I traveled to other cities.

I wish there was more of a breakdown per listed city, like you see when we get listed as literate and fit. (Yeah, yeah, bars. Really? That can't be all.)
How can we repent, if we don't know where we went wrong?
posted by MsDaniB at 6:21 PM on June 13, 2013

And how can we ensure future inclusion if we don't know what our shortcomings are? Shit, I thought San Francisco had pride in the bag!
posted by chemoboy at 7:14 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

Honestly, Wintermute The Deuce, "a bunch of clannish hamlets haphazardly connected by a fevered dream of a street network" sounds a lot more like Rhode Island, now that I have been here for a decade or so. But that is an awesome turn of phrase. :7)
posted by wenestvedt at 7:53 PM on June 13, 2013

New Orleans isn't on the list because technically it's in another century.
posted by ColdChef at 8:27 PM on June 13, 2013 [3 favorites]

Be grateful that you live next door to Minneapolis, St. Paulites. It's the only thing fooling out-of-towners into thinking you live in an actual city instead of a bunch of clannish hamlets haphazardly connected by a fevered dream of a street network.

How Minneapolitans tell you where they live: I live in Minneapolis.
How St. Paulites tell you where they live: I live in the Twin Cities!

New Orleans isn't on the list because technically it's in another century.

And somewhere in the Caribbean.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 9:07 PM on June 13, 2013 [4 favorites]

I knew letting them serve alcohol at Mystic Lake would tip the scales enough to put us in the top five.
posted by Sphinx at 10:47 PM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

I am looking forward to the trip even more, now that I know my former home has turned itself into a lascivious, sinful, self-indulgent, violent hotbed of strip clubs, gambling parlors and mega malls. Sounds like a good time. Woohoo! (I know this is nonsense)

Oh man brace yourself. They now actually serve booze in bars until ... TWO IN THE MORNING! YES!

And the liquor stores are open... UNTIL TEN! PEE EM! Well, some of them.


So anyway we are obviously going directly to Hell. Lutheran Hell.




I hear the hot dish is terrible.
posted by louche mustachio at 12:08 AM on June 14, 2013

Lutheran Hell.

The blandest hell. Come for the torment, stay for the hotdish.
posted by Ghidorah at 12:53 AM on June 14, 2013 [3 favorites]

The older I get, and the more perspective I get on how weird and intense it was to grow up Lutheran, the more it dawns on me that I wish Garrison Keillor would shut the fuck up for a minute.
posted by brennen at 1:11 AM on June 14, 2013 [6 favorites]

Sorry. Not to direct that at anybody or anything. I mean, aside from at Garrison Keillor. I just had a moment there.
posted by brennen at 1:13 AM on June 14, 2013

I'll just leave this here: City of Sins.
posted by Goofyy at 4:09 AM on June 14, 2013

So anyway we are obviously going directly to Hell. Lutheran Hell.

I hear the hot dish is terrible.

And no one brought bars. Just jello with pears suspended in it.
posted by strange chain at 8:26 AM on June 14, 2013

octothorpe: "Can't quite figure out how Pittsburgh got in there. It's not lust, there's a whole three strip clubs in the city. Must be sloth."

There are way more than 3 strip clubs in Pittsburgh. There's this list, which isn't even comprehensive, ( it omits (at least) one (The Tennyson Lodge in the South Hills.))

for the record, I've never been to a strip club. but Pittsburgh is littered with them
posted by namewithoutwords at 9:55 AM on June 14, 2013

Interesting that they used per capita cosmetic surgeons as the metric for "pride" - I would have used per capita MENSA membership.

we had to exclude Baton Rouge, Birmingham, Indianapolis, Toledo, and Tucson since they don’t report some of this data

Ain't no dummies.
posted by mrgrimm at 10:07 AM on June 14, 2013

I'm shocked. Shocked I tell you, that Washington D.C. is not #1.

New Orleans has been cleaned-up by that water thing, Frisco has been cleaned-up by the sanctity of marriage. (Which Abe Lincoln termed 'purgatory' by the way. Caveat emptor.) But there's no cleansing on the horizon for D.C. Tops for Sith and Sin.
posted by Twang at 10:56 AM on June 14, 2013

New Orleans has been cleaned-up by that water thing

LOL what? Thanks to that water thing we now have an ongoing gang war and one of the highest per-capita murder rates in the country. All of the usual sin and party institutions have fully recovered and if anything make up a larger share of the economy than ever. We are still the decadent food capital of the hemisphere.

I suspect it is the ongoing population of industrious workers doing reconstruction and a background of generous donations to charities that sunk us.
posted by localroger at 2:21 PM on June 14, 2013 [1 favorite]

wenestvedt, now I'm really pissed I didn't choose "Wintermute the Deuce" as my official MeFi moniker.
posted by wintermute2_0 at 3:23 PM on June 14, 2013

namewithoutwords: "octothorpe: "Can't quite figure out how Pittsburgh got in there. It's not lust, there's a whole three strip clubs in the city. Must be sloth."

There are way more than 3 strip clubs in Pittsburgh. There's this list, which isn't even comprehensive, ( it omits (at least) one (The Tennyson Lodge in the South Hills.))

for the record, I've never been to a strip club. but Pittsburgh is littered with them"

Most of those are outside the city limits.
posted by octothorpe at 7:42 AM on June 15, 2013

I hate to disappoint, but I just got back from Saint Louis and I wasn't murdered even once, despite accidentally ending up on MLK in East Saint Louis at one point.
posted by maryr at 10:12 PM on June 18, 2013 [3 favorites]

@ localroger See, the "Frisco has been cleaned-up by the sanctity of marriage" line was a little more jokey than the first just to insure that the NOLA line was understood to be sardonic humor.

We do that sort of thing around MeFi. And used, at least, to get away with it. But of course, subtle is wasted on the speedy.
posted by Twang at 2:52 PM on June 25, 2013

octothorpe: "Most of those are outside the city limits."

Yeah, Pittsburgh is unusually small relative to its metro area. Most of the tiny surrounding boroughs and townships would have been annexed to the city, had this been somewhere else - I believe Pennsylvania makes it unusually difficult to do so. There are plenty of places that seem to be part of the city but are in fact independent.

For that matter, the North Side was annexed in 1907, and is still somewhat pissed about it. The old times die hard around here.
posted by Chrysostom at 5:06 PM on July 1, 2013