1 Hudson Valley City Among Most 'Sinful' Cities In The US: Study

YONKERS, NY — Just one Hudson Valley city has made the "who's who" list of towns overly familiar with the seven deadly sins, according to a new study.

The holidays already are known for overeating and overspending, which is bad news when over 40 percent of U.S. adults are already obese and the country has over $1 trillion in credit card debt. In light of these vices, the personal-finance website WalletHub was inspired to release its report on the 2022’s Most Sinful Cities in America.

To determine the most "wicked" places in America, WalletHub compared 182 U.S. cities based on seven sinful behaviors: anger and hatred, jealousy, excesses and vices, greed, lust, vanity and laziness.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the Empire State was well represented in the survey.

According to WalletHub, NYC came in at number 15 on the list, with Buffalo at 63, Rochester at 69 and Yonkers at 165. This is definitely a list where it's probably best to be towards the bottom.

WalletHub examined 38 key indicators of "evil deeds," including violent crimes per capita, excessive drinking, and adult entertainment establishments per capita:

• Anger and Hatred: Violent Crimes per 1,000 Residents, Sex Offenders per Capita, Aggravated Assault Offenses Known to Law Enforcement per 1,000 Residents, Bullying Rate, Hate-Crime Incidents per Capita, Hate Groups per Capita, Deaths due to Firearms per Capita, Number of Mass Shootings: Full Weight, Presence of Terrorist Attacks.
• Jealousy : Thefts per 1,000 Residents, Identity-Theft Complaints per Capita, Fraud & Other Complaints per Capita
• Excesses & Vices: Share of Obese Adults, Fast-Food Establishments per Capita, Excessive Drinking, DUI-Related Fatalities per Capita, Share of Adult Smokers, Share of Adult Coffee Drinkers, Share of Population Using Marijuana, Retail Opioid Prescriptions Dispensed per 100 Persons, Drug Overdose Deaths, Debt-to-Income Ratio
• Greed: Casinos per Capita, Charitable Donations as Share of Income, Share of Adults with Gambling Disorders
• Lust: Adult Entertainment Establishments per Capita, Erotic/Burlesque Events per Capita, Google Search Interest Index for "XXX Entertainment," Google Search Traffic for the Term "Tinder," Teen Birth Rate
• Vanity: Tanning Salons per Capita, Google Search Interest Index for "Top 5 Plastic Surgeries" (rhinoplasty, blephaoplasty, facelift, liposuction and breast augmentation)
• Laziness: Share of Adults Not Exercising, Average Weekly Hours Worked, Volunteer Rate, Average Daily Time Spent Watching TV, High School Dropout Rate, Disconnected (not in school/not working) Youth

Below are the findings for Yonkers:

• 162nd in anger and hatred
• 134th in jealousy
• 178th in excesses and vices
• 137th in greed
• 177th in lust
• 59th in vanity
• 50th in laziness

Experts said that while the report doesn't mean that Yonkers is a modern-day Gomorrah, where you live can have a direct effect on how you behave.

“Whether sinful or unhealthy behaviors, there is a host of suggestions from psychological science to reduce unhealthy and unlawful behaviors," Oregon State Professsor Regan A. R. Gurung explained. "One suggestion that applies to sin and unhealthiness is simple. Making the behavior easier to do will make it more likely to happen (and vice versa). If I keep a lot of Halloween candy around and make it accessible, I am more likely to eat it. If I buy snacks or alcohol, I will be more likely to consume them. Going beyond simply changing access, first observing WHEN you do an unhealthy behavior (what was the reason? how were you feeling?) essentially finding the precipitating factors, and then coming up with an explicit plan to change it is key…So, modifying your environment, and having specific thoughts and behaviors handy when temptation comes up, can go a long way. For some extreme behaviors getting professional help is a good idea.”

The top 10 most sinful cities in the U.S., according to WalletHub are:

1. Las Vegas, Nevada
2. St. Louis, Missouri
3. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
4. Houston, Texas
5. Atlanta, Georgia
6. Los Angeles, California
7. Denver, Colorado
8. Chicago, Illinois
9. Baton Rouge, Louisiana
10. Phoenix, Arizona

See the full rankings and detailed methodology of the sinful cities rankings here.