Chuck Campbell

chuck.campbell@knoxnews.com

Well Knoxville, it looks like more than a few of us are destined for Santa’s naughty list.

A new “seven deadly sins” survey of 150 American cities places Knoxville as the No. 13 “most sinful city” overall. Turns out our worst vice is vanity (where we landed at No. 8), followed by sloth (No. 21), gluttony (No. 25) and lust (No. 28). Good thing we have a charitable nature, which makes us one of the least-greedy cities in the survey (No. 114).

The survey was conducted by Wallethub, a personal-finance website that has gained popularity recently for its surveys on a wide-range of subjects - from best/worst cities for your skin to safest states. Just last week the company named Knoxville the best city in Tennessee for singles, though only No. 70 overall. (Nashville was No. 96, Chattanooga was No. 127 and Memphis was No. 129.)

The sinful survey, released today, is broken down into seven categories, each representing a different deadly sin.

For wrath (in which Knoxville ranks No. 38), the study includes such factors as violent crimes and the bullying rate. Envy (in which Knoxville is No. 52) was calculated based on theft, identity theft and more. Gluttony’s measures include obesity and the rate of binge and heavy drinking, and greed’s measures include the per-capita rate of giving to charity and the number of casinos in a city. Factoring into the lust rating were the per-capita users of such dating/pick-up sites as Tinder and Ashley Madison as well as the number of adult-entertainment establishments in the cities. The per-capita number of plastic surgeons as well as beauty and tanning salons factored into the vanity rating, and sloth was calculated on such measures as the average amount of time spent watching television and the number of adults who do not exercise.

Not surprisingly, Las Vegas – which is even nicknamed Sin City – comes in as America’s most sinful city overall, ranking No. 2 for both greed and lust and No. 5 for vanity. St. Louis (No. 1 in gluttony and No. 2 in both wrath and envy) is the No. 2 most sinful city, and Cincinnati (No. 6 in gluttony and No. 7 in lust) is No. 3 overall.

Orlando ranks as America’s lustiest city (placing No. 4 overall on the sinful list), Baton Rouge, La., ranks as the most slothful (No. 8 overall). Reno, Nev., is ranked the greediest (No. 14 overall), and Scottsdale, Ariz., is the vainest (No. 15 overall). Detroit is the most wrathful city (No. 22 overall), and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is the most envious (No. 34 overall).

Overall rankings for Tennessee’s other cities include Chattanooga at No. 37, Nashville at No. 53 and Memphis at No. 68.

San Jose, Calif., ranks as America’s least sinful city, as well as the least gluttonous.

America’s “most sinful” cities

1.Las Vegas

2.St. Louis

3.Cincinnati

4.Orlando

5.Springfield, Mo.

6.Miami

7.Richmond, Va.

8.Baton Rouge, La.

9.Pittsburgh

10.New Orleans

America’s “least sinful” cities

1.San Jose, Calif.

2.Fremont, Calif.

3.Yonkers, N.Y.

4.Brownsville, Texas

5.Chula Vista, Calif.

6.Garden Grove, Calif.

7.Santa Ana, Calif.

8.Irvine, Calif.

9.Glendale, Calif.

10.Santa Clarita, Calif.