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- Detroit and Grand Rapids, Michigan, were ranked as moderately boring, falling in the middle of the list.
- The most boring cities were primarily located in the South and Midwest, with Jacksonville, Florida, ranking as the most boring overall.
- The most exciting cities included Atlanta, Miami, and New York, known for their vibrant cultural scenes and entertainment options.
Is Michigan a boring place to live? Two Michigan cities were included in a recent survey ranking the most boring U.S. cities — but don’t worry, plenty of other cities were more likely to put people to sleep.
“Many U.S. cities have their own culture and personality. Some may be very laid back, while others are overworked and bustling. However, some are just plain boring,” FinanceBuzz, a personal finance website, said in a recent survey.
FinanceBuzz ranked 75 major cities on a 100-point scale based on what it says makes an area fun: restaurants, activities and nightlife. Cities with lower scores were deemed more boring while cities with higher scores were considered more exciting.
Jacksonville, Florida; Wichita, Kansas; Corpus Christi, Texas; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and Memphis, Tennessee are the five most boring cities, according to the finance website.
In Michigan, Detroit and Grand Rapids were in the middle of the rankings. No other Michigan cities were ranked.
The top five most exciting cities, according to the rankings, are Atlanta, Georgia; Miami, Florida; St. Louis, Missouri; Orlando, Florida; and New York, New York.
Jacksonville scored only 14.3 points. The largest city by area in the United States, but only the 10th largest by population, means there are large stretches of the city where population density is relatively low, leading to lower instances of things like nightclubs and award-winning restaurants. In fact, 54% of all restaurants in Jacksonville are chains, tied for the fourth-highest rate in the country, while the city has the third-lowest rate of nightclubs and fourth-lowest rate of concert venues per capita of any city, FinanceBuzz noted.
“Since everything is so spread out and public transit is nonexistent, you’ll have to find ways to entertain yourself at home,” FinanceBuzz said.
Atlanta scored 72.7 points, topping the “most exciting” rankings because of its nightclubs, concert venues and Michelin- and James Beard award-winning restaurants. In addition, Atlanta is home to the busiest airport in the U.S. which makes it a frequent destination for travelers.
Here is more on what makes U.S. cities boring:
What makes a city boring or exciting?
The most boring cities earned their rankings from their inability to offer interesting activities, FinanceBuzz said. The cities have fewer outdoor activities such as parks, hiking trails and overall walkability, or nightlife-activities like clubs, concert venues or major celebrations are needed to attract tourists.
For instance, Witchita, Kansas, earned an overall score of just 14.7 because it lacks in the culinary scene (0.8 points out of 20) — more than half its restaurants are considered chain outlets — and tourism — even though it is the most populated city in the state. Only Riverside, California, with 0.6 points out of 20 received a lower culinary rating.
Cities topping the exciting list, on the other hand, offer many activities, amenities, and food and entertainment options.
Miami, second to Atlanta, offers a nightlife scene comparable to Atlanta’s, and food is an area where the city really shines (16.4 points out of 20). Just 35% of restaurants in the city are chains, and there are 16 restaurants that have been recognized by the Michelin guide for every 100,000 people, the fifth-highest rate of any city. Chicago topped the culinary rankings with 19.9 points.
The city also scores highly when it comes to things to do, thanks to the robust collection of sports teams and attractions in the city, ranking behind only Las Vegas. Miami is also second in the country in terms of international tourists per capita.
How the Michigan cities ranked on the boring scale?
Neither Detroit or Grand Rapids placed in the top 20 most boring or most exciting cities, so Michigan, perhaps, offers a medium level of fun? No other Michigan cities were ranked.
Grand Rapids earned an overall score of 37.1 — not quite the mid-points of the scale — with nightlife and celebrations (10.6 out of 20) hosted by the city being the main things that make it a fun place.
Grand Rapids received 7.7 points for population makeup, 10.1 for outdoor activities and 6.5 for things to do.
Detroit earned an overall score of 33.9, with nightlife and celebrations also being its leading qualities (9.7 out of 20).
Detroit received 6.7 points for population makeup, 5.8 for outdoor activities and 6.0 for things to do.
Both Detroit (5 out of 20) and Grand Rapids (2.6 out of 20) scored the lowest for their culinary scenes.
What was the methodology used for the study?
Six categories were used to determine a city’s “boring” score: population makeup, culinary scene, outdoor activities, nightlife, celebrations, and things to do.
“Each of those categories was created using individual data points, listed below. Each data point was indexed using a 0-5 scale. Those scores were then weighted and added together to create a score of 0-20 for each category and added together to give each city an overall score on a 0-100 scale,” FinanceBuzz explained.
To find population metrics, FinanceBuzz used the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. International Trade Association.
To determine the culinary scene based on quality and per capita sources such as Yelp, the Michelin Guide and James Beard Foundation were used.
Tourism websites like Best Place, TrailLink, TripAdvisor, Sports League Maps, the Yellow Pages were used to research a cities activities.
20 of the most boring US cities
20 of the most exciting cities in the US
What cities were ranked the most boring in the Midwest?
In the Midwest, here are the cities ranked most boring (the lower the score the more boring):
- Wichita, Kansas: 14.7
- Sioux Falls, South Dakota: 18.2
- Columbus, Ohio: 20.3
- Indianapolis, Indiana: 23.4
- Lincoln, Nebraska: 26
- Fort Wayne, Indiana: 26.3
- Omaha, Nebraska: 26.3
- Toledo, Ohio: 30.3
- Detroit, Michigan: 33.9
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin: 34.7
- Grand Rapids, Michigan: 37.1
- Des Moines, Iowa: 41.2
- Cleveland, Ohio: 41.7
- Kansas City, Missouri: 41.8
- Madison, Wisconsin: 46.1
- Chicago, Illinois: 54.1
- Cincinnati, Ohio: 61.2
- Minneapolis, Minnesota: 63.7
- St. Louis, Missouri: 69
Contact Sarah Moore @ smoorelsj.com
