NEW: Providence Ranks High in Manliest Cities
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Providence jumped three spots in COMBO's "America's Manliest Cities," ranking 24th this year.
Even better, Rhode Island's capital is the manliest city in all of New England, dominating Boston, which finished at a very girly #47. Boston has been trending downward on the "manly scales" lately, falling two
spots from last year, and 16 spots over the last two years.
Manly Math?
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To get their rankings, COMBOS takes the 50 largest cities in America, and counts up Y-chromosome indicators like number of home improvement stores, steak houses, "manly occupations" and motorcycles per capita.
But there's more. COMBOS nails cities for stuff like "an excess of cupcake shops and fancy furniture stores."
The Manliest Cities
So where are the manliest cities? By in large, down South. Oklahoma City took the top spot, and seven of the top 10 came from below the Mason-Dixon line. Despite not being southern, Ohio is well represented on the list, with both Toledo and Cleveland landing in the top-10, and Cincinnati and Dayton finishing in the top-20.
Least Manly?
Where are the least manly cities in the country? Well, the only three cities to finish below Boston were all located in the Golden State. Yes, it appears that California, despite having one of the manliest
former governors ever, is incredibly girly. San Diego was graded as the least manly city in America, and Oakland and San Francisco didn't fare much better, ranking #48 and #49 respectively.
Manly Categories / Criteria*
Below are the broader categories on which each city’s manliness was measured along with a brief description of the criteria that went into each category.
Sports --- In addition to the number of professional major league sports teams in a city (football, baseball, basketball and hockey), the number of nearby NASCAR tracks and events, NHRA events, local drag racing strips, monster truck events and triathlons/marathons were analyzed.
Manly Lifestyle --- Various consumer behaviors in each city were analyzed, such as the number of US-made cars and full-size pickups registered in the city, membership in motorcycle owner groups, sports TV viewing, bowling, fishing, hunting, woodworking and home improvement work.
Concentration of Manly Retail Stores --- The number of manly stores and businesses were evaluated for each city, including BBQ and chicken wing restaurants, steak houses and sports bars, sportsman stores, general hardware and home improvement stores.
Manly Magazine Subscriptions --- The percentage of households subscribing to manly publications were analyzed. Examples of manly publications include Sports Illustrated, Car & Driver, Maxim, Playboy, Men’s Health, Popular Mechanics, Boating, etc.
Salty Snack Sales --- Total sales for the “Salty Snack/Cracker” retail category were measured for each city. Combos is a product in this business category.
To see the complete manly list, click here.
http://www.americasmanliestcities.com/
