Feeling sinful? Then according to a WalletHub list, Columbia, Maryland is literally the last city in the United States to be.
The study’s premise and methodology, however, were called into question by some of its own experts.
According to WalletHub, Columbia ranked dead last at 182nd on their “Most Sinful Cities in America” study, though the city’s ranking across individual categories varied. West Valley City, Utah (179th) and Port St. Lucie, Florida (176th) are more sinful than Columbia, to give readers perspective.
To make these determinations, WalletHub compiled a “Vice Index,” which combined the scores of seven categories of “sins” for each city: Anger and hatred; Jealousy; Excesses and vices; Greed; Lust; Vanity; and Laziness. Each category was worth 14.3 points each (adding up to 100.1 total points, technically), and each metric within those categories was divided and weighted so that they would add up to 14.3. The city with the highest score once the seven categories’ rankings were combined was declared “most sinful” and the rest ranked accordingly.
Most “sinful” city overall in WalletHub’s index was Las Vegas, Nevada, with a vice index of 61.94, followed by Houston, Texas and Los Angeles, California.
Columbia’s vice index was 23.95 out of a possible 100 points.
Baltimore, the only other Maryland city on the list, ranked 19th. It scored a 47.43 points on the vice index.
Some of the measures used to determine a city’s score in these categories were tangible and binary while others were more subjective or potentially inaccurate. For example, to measure “Anger and Hatred” in a city, WalletHub considered known statistics like “Aggravated Assault Offenses Known to Law Enforcement per 1,000 Residents” and “Number of Mass Shootings.”
Other numbers used to determine “Anger and Hatred,” however, are less cut and dry. “Bullying Rate,” for example, begs the questions, “What officially constitutes bullying?” and, “What were the ages of people considered for the WalletHub study?” “Hate-Crime Incidents per Capita” is fully dependent upon reporting, and whether a police department and an attorney’s office agree to pursue an incident as a hate crime.
According to the FBI, in 2024, 81% of the 16,419 law enforcement agencies that reported data to them reported zero hate crimes. Fifty of those agencies serve populations of over 100,000. Nearly 3,000 other jurisdictions did not report data at all.
The very premise that anger is a vice rather than useful and natural, sometimes even protective, is never mentioned.
To measure “Jealousy,” WalletHub looked at things like thefts, identity theft complaints, and fraud, while overlooking the possibility that one might steal groceries out of desperation or necessity because they are unhoused.
“Excesses and Vices” included a mixed bag of statistics. “Excessive Drinking,” which the site defined as “the age-adjusted prevalence of binge and heavy drinking among the adult population” arguably has few actual physical or emotional benefits. “DUI-Related Fatalities per Capita” is clearly a category in which no city wants to rank highly. But WalletHub also used statistics about “Adult Coffee Drinkers” and “Share of Obese Adults” to rate a city’s “Excesses and Vices.” Some studies show health benefits to drinking coffee in moderation, and obesity has myriad components the medical community and society are just beginning to understand.
Additionally, the categories vary in number of things measured. To measure a city’s “Greed” WalletHub looked at three elements: “Casinos per Capita,” “Charitable Donations as Share of Income,” and “Share of Adults with Gambling Disorders.” The “Vanity” category considered only two: “Tanning Salons per Capita” and “Google Search Interest Index for ‘Top 5 Plastic Surgeries.’”
To measure “Laziness,” the site considered six factors, including percentage of adults who do not exercise, volunteer rate, and high school dropout rate. The dropout rate was, however, adjusted by the poverty rate. “Excesses and Vices” measured 10 factors, including debt-to-income ratio, retail opioid prescription rate, fast-food establishments per capita, and more.
Given that even the concept of “sin” is primarily religious in origin, and these categories hew closely to the concept the “seven deadly sins,” Columbia’s ranking last is unsurprising. James Rouse, the city’s creator and developer, “imagined a beautiful, self-sustaining American City–a new America, really–that fostered economic, racial, and cultural harmony.” In 1962-1963 he secretly purchased the land that became Columbia, Maryland piece by piece, and then took his vision to Howard County commissioners for a “balanced, planned community.”
Rouse wanted the city of Columbia to be self-sustaining, respectful of the land around it, accommodating to the growth of the people and community, and profitable. He dreamed of cultural diversity, affordable housing, short commutes to work, and easy walks to school. Nothing about those priorities sets the stage for a breeding ground for “Sin” with a capital “S.”
The very concept of sin clashes not only with Rouse’s vision of Columbia, but contemporary psychology and sociology cited by WalletHub itself.
“It is important to remember that neither sin nor deviance are necessarily criminal behaviors nor are they necessarily even wrong,” said Dr. Deborah J. Cohan, professor of Sociology at University of South Carolina Beaufort. “Rather, these are acts for which morality is attached and from which shame is often derived…. Furthermore, when a person’s behavior is labeled as sinful, they are labeled as sinful or as a sinner first and foremost, a kind of master status used to stigmatize a person.”
Ryan T. Cragun, professor of Empirical Sociology at the University of Tampa, agrees.
“It’s important to recognize that ‘sin’ is a social construct, meaning sin isn’t real in the same way rocks, trees, and oceans are real,” Cragun said. “’Sins’ are behaviors deemed inappropriate by a religion. For instance, drinking coffee is a sin in Mormonism, eating pork is a sin in Judaism, and drinking alcohol is a sin in Islam, but none of those are sins for Episcopalians. Religions construct certain actions as sins in order to regulate the behavior and thoughts of their members.”
Cragun also describes addiction as a social ill rather than immoral, whereas domestic violence can be both a social ill and immoral act, requiring a society that provides strong social support systems to help reduce its occurrence.
Chip Lupo at WalletHub acknowledges this but still sees value in the information.
“Regardless of any particular religious tenets, certain activities are considered ‘sinful’ by society as a whole,” Lupo said. “Sometimes, these activities are always bad, like violent crimes or identity theft. In other cases, they may be relatively harmless in moderation but incredibly destructive when not kept under control, such as alcohol use or gambling. The most sinful cities are those where illicit activities and vices alike are the most widespread.”
So, Columbia may be the least “sinful” city on WalletHub’s list. According to some of WalletHub’s own cited experts, though, the index itself is too narrow in its categories, and outdated in its assumptions, and perpetuates stigma of natural emotions.
