Shreveport Drops Out Of The Top 20 Most Sinful Cities In America

At the end of 2016, WalletHub did their annual ranking of the Most Sinful Cities in America, and Shreveport checked in at #20. But as we wrap up 2017, WalletHub has updated their rankings, and Shreveport has taken a tumble.

Let's jump into the WalletHub methodology that was used to make up the list. From WalletHub's site, they say:

"In order to determine the most sinful cities in America, WalletHub’s number crunchers compared 182 cities — including the 150 most populated U.S. cities, plus at least two of the most populated cities in each state — across seven key dimensions: 1) Anger & Hatred, 2) Jealousy, 3) Excesses & Vices, 4) Greed, 5) Lust, 6) Vanity and 7) Laziness.

We examined those dimensions using 32 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the highest level of sinfulness. Please note that data for metrics marked with an asterisk (*) were available at the state level only. For metrics marked with two asterisks (**), the square root of the population was used to calculate the population size in order to avoid overcompensating for minor differences across cities."

So they really put some work into this. But what does that mean for Shreveport? Well, a pretty big drop. Last year Shreveport was at #20 last year, now this year the city has fallen to #70. 

What happened?

Well, the WalletHub metrics include more than just "vices", the metrics include "jealousy" and "anger & hatred". Which, according to their own site, includes:

• Violent Crimes per Capita: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
• Sex Offenders per Capita: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
• Bullying Rate*: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
• Hate-Crime Incidents per Capita: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
• Hate Groups per Capita: Full Weight (~2.86 Points)
• Thefts per Capita: Full Weight (~4.77 Points)
• Identity-Theft Complaints per Capita: Full Weight (~4.77 Points)
• Fraud & Other Complaints per Capita: Full Weight (~4.77 Points)

So might it have something to do with some of the lower crime rates that Shreveport has had? For 2017 compared to 2016, Residential Burglary is down 6%, Theft From Business is down 10%, and Theft From Residence is down 12%. That's all according to the Shreveport Police Department's reporting to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting.

That might have something to do with it...or it might just be that other cities are getting worse? Maybe they're sinning at such a higher rate than Shreveport that we can't keep up!

We'll never be able to say exactly what it is, but all we know is that (by comparison at least) Shreveport is sinning less this year.