Lusty Google Searches Help Put NYC Among 'Most Sinful' Cities

NEW YORK — The days when Times Square teemed with peep shows are gone, but New York City still has plenty of lust. The Big Apple is near the top of a new WalletHub ranking of the nation's "most sinful" cities, bolstered by New Yorkers' salacious internet searches.

The personal finance website evaluated more than 180 cities based on 37 factors in categories similar to the seven deadly sins: anger and hatred, jealousy, excesses and vices, greed, lust, vanity and laziness.

While Las Vegas unsurprisingly took the top spot, New York ranked No. 3 overall, taking second and third place in the vanity and lust categories, respectively.

Apparently helping the city win such a dubious distinction was its first-place ranks in Google search interest for online adult entertainment and the top five plastic surgery procedures. New York also has the nation's most beauty salons per capita and the second-most active users on Tinder, the dating app, according to WalletHub.

Despite its No. 1 ranking for the presence of terrorist attacks, other indicators suggest New York is safe compared to other places. The city ranked 173rd in the nation for sex offenders per capita and had the fourth-fewest deaths due to firearm deaths per 100,000 people, according to WalletHub.

More chaste New Yorkers may want to head north to South Burlington, Vermont, which ranked dead last on the list.

Here are the 10 "most sinful" cities in the U.S., according to WalletHub. See the full study here.

1. Las Vegas, Nevada
2. Los Angeles, California
3. New York City
4. Houston, Texas
5. St. Louis, Missouri
6. Atlanta, Georgia
7. Miami, Florida
8. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
9. Chicago, Illinois
10. Orlando, Florida

(Lead image: Pedestrians pass a sex-related shop in Times Square in March 2005. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)