Here’s an interesting topic to try to describe with data. Can you quantify sinfulness? Well, someone tried.
According to some data shared by Wallethub.com, Detroit is America’s 7th most sinful city.
Wallethub tried to quantify (one can debate how well) the seven deadly sins: Anger & Hatred, Jealousy, Excesses & Vices, Greed, Lust, Vanity and Laziness.
Each of the sins were given 14.3 points each, and broken into sub-categories. We’re sharing them in their entirety because it’s interesting for discussion.
Anger & Hatred – Total Points: 14.3
- Violent Crimes per Capita: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
- Sex Offenders per Capita: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
- Bullying Rate*: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
- Hate-Crime Incidents per Capita: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
- Hate Groups per Capita: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
Jealousy – Total Points: 14.3
- Thefts per Capita: Full Weight (~4.77 Points)
- Identity-Theft Complaints per Capita: Full Weight (~4.77 Points)
- Fraud & Other Complaints per Capita: Full Weight (~4.77 Points)
Excesses & Vices – Total Points: 14.3
- Share of Obese Adults: Full Weight (~1.59 Points)
- Fast-Food Establishments per Capita**: Full Weight (~1.59 Points)
- Excessive Drinking: Full Weight (~1.59 Points)
Note: This metric measures the age-adjusted prevalence of binge and heavy drinking among the adult population. - Share of Adult Smokers: Full Weight (~1.59 Points)
- Share of Adult Coffee Drinkers: Full Weight (~1.59 Points)
Note: This metric measures the percentage of adults who drank ready-to-drink coffee in the past six months. - Share of Population Using Marijuana: Full Weight (~1.59 Points)
Note: This metric measures the percentage of residents aged 12 and older who used marijuana in the past month. - Retail Opioid Prescriptions Dispensed per 100 Persons: Full Weight (~1.59 Points)
- Drug Overdose Deaths: Full Weight (~1.59 Points)
Note: This metric measures the number of deaths due to drug poisoning per 100,000 residents. - Debt-to-Income Ratio: Full Weight (~1.59 Points)
Greed – Total Points: 14.3
- Casinos per Capita**: Full Weight (~4.77 Points)
- Charitable Donations as Share of Income: Full Weight (~4.77 Points)
- Share of Population with Gambling Disorders*: Full Weight (~4.77 Points)
Lust – Total Points: 14.3
- Potential Cheaters: Double Weight (~5.72 Points)
Note: This metric measures the number of Ashley Madison users per capita. - Adult Entertainment Establishments per Capita**: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
- Teen Birth Rate: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
Note: This metric measures the number of births per 1,000 female residents aged 15 to 19. - “Most Active Tinder Users” Ranking: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
Vanity – Total Points: 14.3
- Beauty Salons per Capita**: Full Weight (~4.77 Points)
- Tanning Salons per Capita**: Full Weight (~4.77 Points)
- Google Search Interest Index for “Top 5 Plastic Surgeries”: Full Weight (~4.77 Points)
Note: This metric measures search interest for the five most common plastic surgery procedures (breast augmentation, liposuction, rhynoplasty, eyelid surgery and facelift) as a share of the national average.
Laziness – Total Points: 14.3
- Share of Adults Not Exercising: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
- Average Weekly Hours Worked: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
- Volunteer Rate: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
- Average Daily Time Spent Watching TV*: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
- High School Dropout Rate: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
Note: This metric was adjusted by the poverty rate.
So how did the city of Detroit rank so high among 180 municipalities? Here’s how we did among the sins:
- 6th – Anger & Hatred (we ranked #1 in the sub-category of most violent crimes per capita)
- 13th – Jealousy
- 5th – Excesses & Vices
- 31st – Greed
- 95th – Lust
- 14th – Laziness
The only other city from Michigan on the is Grand Rapids. They came in at 56th.
Top of the list, of course, was Las Vegas and in the top 10 were three close by Nevada cities. Also in the top ten were Orlando, FL; Miami, FL; St. Louis, MO; Baton Rouge, LA; Tampa, FL; and New Orleans, LA. The complete list is here.
