Find Out Which Cities Ranked High On The Naughty Scale

Tis the season to be concerned about where you show up on Santa's list. What we're going to look at is what cities in the United States are showing up on Santa's list of naughty and nice and it's more than just whether or not that city is polite to the other city next to it in the coffee line. 

According to wallethub.com,
‘Luckily for the saints among us, all American sins are not created or distributed equally. To identify the darkest corners of America, WalletHub compared more than 180 U.S. cities across 37 key indicators of vices and illicit behavior. Our data set ranges from violent crimes per capita to excessive drinking and adult entertainment establishments per capita.’ 

So, before we start actually laying out the details, what cities do you think are the most sinful in the United States?

Wallet Hub designed their rankings based on seven different categories. Then they created an aggregate score. For the ranking, the categories are anger and hatred, jealousy, excesses and vices, greed, lust, vanity, and laziness. 

Here is the top five. 

The number 5 most sinful city in America seems to be Atlanta, GA. with a total score of 52.87. 

sinful city number 4 is Philadelphia, PA. with a wallet hub vice index of 54.11 

The number three most sinful city is Los Angeles. With a score of 54.93. Another reasons LA has this ranking is because of violence. LA has the third highest share of students bullied in school it ranks 14th for most hate crimes per capita and has the fifth lowest percentage of residents who volunteer. (about 24%) 

Most sinful city number 2 is Houston, TX. Houston ranks third highest for all adult Entertainment establishments per capita. Houston also has an issue with anger and Hatred, ranking 21st highest in violent crime and 28th highest for aggravated assault per capita. Houston also seems to have a problem with drunk driving and gambling. 

The number one most sinful city in America. (This is no surprise.) Las Vegas, NV. Las Vegas has the second most casinos per capita in the nation and the most adult entertainment establishments per capita. Las Vegas residents do Google searches with terms like strip club, Affairs, Adultery, and pornographic content more than people in most other cities. Las Vegas also shows up with the fifth highest fraud and identity theft complaints per capita. 

Where will Seattle show up?

Now, if you're wondering where the Pacific Northwest stacks up in all of these ratings, have No Fear, Portland, OR gets an honorable mention at number 24 with a rating of 45.17 (I bet it has something to do with naked bicycling.) 

You'll find Seattle farther down the list at number 72 with an index rating of 39.54. 

What I was really hoping to see was what cities might have shown up on the top of the nice list for Santa. Sorry, we didn't get that.  

If you want to see. All of the methodology on how this list was created, and it is interesting. Just click on this link.
Most Sinful Cities in America in 2025
Most Gambling-Addicted States in 2025