Tx City Rankings

[KimberlySayWhat]

www.KHOU.com:

Some Texas cities rank, some don't

Houston is the fattest, El Paso the sweatiest, Dallas the least charitable; so who's bragging now?

05:04 PM CDT on Sunday, April 10, 2005

By KATIE FAIRBANK / The Dallas Morning News

Texans love to claim bragging rights for being at the top of the heap, but often it ain't nuthin' to brag about.

Lately, cities in the Lone Star State are making Top 10 lists released by magazines, government agencies and charitable groups trying to draw attention.

Sometimes the rankings tout our finer qualities. But just as often, they aren't anything you'd put in the holiday newsletter.

Texas cities are listed as the some of the dumbest, bald- est, most stressful and illiterate places in the country.

Houston takes the cake as the "Fattest City in America," and not surprisingly also one of the worst cities to find a date.

Men's Fitness magazine tapped the city with the biggest-blubber honor in 2001, 2002 and 2003. The publication's methodology included such serious considerations as a Centers for Disease Control's survey showing that more than 23 percent of Houstonians are clinically obese. Less seriously: The number of doughnut shops per capita in Houston is more than twice the national average.

Not wanting to rest on their reputedly large laurels, city leaders put together an aggressive public-relations campaign to make sure residents knew that fat is bad. The campaign worked for a year, dropping Houston to No. 2, behind Detroit in 2004. But pie and gravy won out in the end. The city once again put the "wide" in wide-open spaces when the magazine's annual list came out this year.

The city can divert attention by pointing a chubby finger toward El Paso. Old Spice Red Zone antiperspirant says that far West Texas municipality is "The Sweatiest City in America."

"The average El Paso resident produced 1.09 liters of sweat per hour during a typical summer," according to Old Spice. "In a four-hour period, residents of El Paso collectively produced enough sweat to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool."

No surprise there, said Jim Albright, a professor of television production and advertising at the University of North Texas.

"I don't know whether it's true about Houston, but it is about El Paso," he said.

The city's residents might not have noticed the slam because they also are the most illiterate and the nation's second-drunkest, according to Men's Health.

Fortunately, those taunts haven't hurt their self-esteem. Apparently, El Paso is also one of the least-depressed cities in the country, the magazine said.

Dallas doesn't get off the hook either, although our issues seem to be with other people. Basically, we don't seem to like them much.

We are the least charitable of the nation's largest cities and one of the meanest cities in the nation, according to a couple of charity rankings.

Dallas also has had the highest crime rate of the nation's largest cities for seven years running, according to federal crime statistics.

If by this point, you're feeling insulted, don't take it too much to heart. Much of the sourcing and methodology used to create many of the lists is suspect. After all, Austin was selected as the No. 1 City to "Hook Up In" by Axe Deodorant Bodyspray, based on such things as the city's abundance of local bars and lingerie shops.

"We all just like to compare," said Dr. Albright. "It's all very light-hearted

[Sooner&RiceGrad]

Looks like we got told by the deoderant company...

[houstonsemipro]

That is true what they say about houston. This is the worst city to find a date in. I mean the WORST! You'll be single forever in houston.

[MidtownCoog]

Axe Deodorant Bodyspray

You know what they say about people who wear bodyspray.