This Texas city is only a little less sinful than Las Vegas: Study
Archive photo of Houston skyline (Photo courtesy of Hines Global Real Estate Firm)
HOUSTON - Las Vegas still reigns supreme as America's Sin City, but a new dataset ranking the most sinful cities in the nation has placed a Texas titan at number two.
Three cities in the Lone Star State rank in the top 25, the WalletHub study found, judging by a comparison of crimes related to the seven deadly sins.
Houston is Texas' most sinful city
Houston ranked as the second most sinful city in the U.S., just behind Vegas and ahead of Los Angeles.
WalletHub said Houston ranked so highly largely due to their struggles with anger and hatred, along with their trouble with lust. Houston has high rates of violent crime, including the fifth-highest rate of mass shootings in the country. The city also has the third-highest number of adult entertainment establishments per capita and some of the highest Google search interest for terms relating to pornography, strip clubs and affairs.
Houston ranked first in lust, fifth in jealousy, and sixth in vanity among the 182 cities in the study. It scored lowest in excesses and vices at 133, followed by laziness at 125.
Dallas ranks 2nd in Texas sin
FILE - View of the Dallas skyline through the Horseshoe highway built to upgrade the congested interchange in downtown Dallas, Texas, on July 21, 2020. (Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)
Dallas ranked eighth overall in the U.S. for sin, coming in as the second most sinful Texas city.
Dallas ranked the highest for sin in lust, at seventh; vanity, at 10th; and jealousy, also at 10th.
The Big D did best in laziness, ranking only 114th; excesses and vices, at 108; and greed, at 99.
San Antonio ranks 3rd in Texas sin
Downtown San Antonio, Texas, is pictured from the Tower of the Americas, on January 23, 2023. (Photo by Daniel SLIM / AFP) (Photo by DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images)
San Antonio came in at 25th in the nation for sin, ranking the third-highest in Texas.
The city scored in the upper middle numbers for most categories, with no single-digit placements and only one low triple-digit spot.
San Antonio's most sinful area was lust, at 20th in the nation. It ranked lowest in anger and hatred, at 109.
Texas cities with outlier sins
A view of downtown Austin, Texas on November 05, 2022. (Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images)
Dig deeper:
Some Texas cities didn't place highly in the ranks of overall sin, but still had high marks in a particular area.
Brownsville placed 165th overall, but ranked 11th for laziness. The city was found to have the highest percentage of adults not exercising in the nation, followed closely by Laredo.
Lubbock ranked 108 overall, but placed 22nd for excesses and vices.
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El Paso placed 94th overall, but ranked 23rd for lust.
Austin escaped the top 25 at 37th overall — impressive, considering the placements of 13th for vanity and 18th for lust.
To see the full list of cities and the methods used to determine placement, click here to read the WalletHub study.
The Source: Information in this report came from WalletHub.