Four cities in New York are among the most sinful cities in the nation, according to a recently released study by WalletHub.
Earlier this year, New York ranked eleventh in a similar WalletHub study that compared all 50 states across categories like jealousy, greed, anger and hatred and laziness to determine which were the most sinful. New York ranked 11th among the 50 states.
The latest study named Las Vegas as the most sinful city in the nation, followed by Houston and Los Angeles. Philadelphia and Atlanta rounded out the top 5.
“Regardless of any particular religious tenets, certain activities are considered ‘sinful’ by society as a whole,” said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo. “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.”
Here is what to know about how these four cities in the Empire state ranked:
New York City, NY
New York City landed at the No. 17 spot with an overall score of 49.42 out of 100. It’s highest ranking vices include lust and vanity. Here’s how the Big Apple ranked in other categories:
Buffalo, NY
Buffalo landed at the No. 79 spot with an overall score of 38.25 out of 100. It’s highest ranking vice was laziness. Here’s how the Queen City ranked in other categories:
Rochester NY
Rochester landed at the No. 91 spot with an overall score of 36.94 out of 100. It’s highest ranking vices include excesses and vices and vanity. Here’s how the Flower City ranked in other categories:
Yonkers, NY
Yonkers landed at the No. 158 spot with an overall score of 31.23 out of 100. It’s highest ranking vice was laziness, followed by vanity. Here’s how the City of Seven Hills ranked in other categories:
WalletHub’s most sinful cities in the U.S.
More on the most sinful cities
Las Vegas tops the list with the most casinos per capita, the most adult entertainment options per capita and the fifth-most fraud and identity theft complaints per capita.
Houston residents particularly struggle with anger and hatred, with the fifth-highest number of mass shootings, according to the study. Like Vegas, Houstonians have trouble with vices – it tallied the third-highest number of adult entertainment establishments per capita and some of the highest Google search interest for terms relating to pornography, strip clubs and affairs. It also has high drunk driving fatalities and the eighth-highest share of residents with gambling problems, the study noted.
Los Angeles landed third on the list in part due to violence. Los Angeles has the third-highest share of students bullied on school property, 14th-most hate crimes per capita and the eighth-most mass shootings between January 2023 and June 2025, according to the study. Residents here are also less giving with few volunteering or donating to charities, according to the study.
How WalletHub assessed sinfulness
WalletHub compared 182 cities – including the 150 most populated cities in the country – across seven metrics: anger & hatred, jealousy, excesses & vices, greed, lust, vanity and laziness.
The anger & hatred category took a look at these aspects:
The jealousy category analyzed these components:
The excesses & vices category took into account these factors:
The greed category included these elements:
The lust category examined these factors:
The vanity category looked at these facets:
And the laziness category evaluated these parts:
Data used to create the ranking was collected as of Oct. 20, 2025 and the information was sourced from multiple entities, such as U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and National Council on Problem Gambling.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Four NY cities ranked among America’s ‘most sinful.’ See the list
Reporting by Victoria E. Freile, New York Connect Team / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
