Manliest Cities in America

There are plenty of ways to decide where you'd like to live. You might even look at rankings -- like which places were named the most dangerous in the country -- to decide what's right for you. Well, if you're looking to reside in an environment where a man can be a real man, this is the list you're looking for.

Recently, COMBOS® released its fourth annual list of America's Manliest Cities. The study was conducted in partnership with research expert Bert Sperling. A city's masculinity was determined, for the purposes of the rankings, by factors such as the number of "manly magazine subscriptions," and cities gained points in the "manly lifestyle" category for bowling, fishing, woodworking and home improvement work. In terms of sports, cities were judged on the number of major league sports teams and nearby NASCAR events. Other running and racing events counted, too. According to AOL's recap of the findings, "Manly businesses were also taken into account: a high concentration of home improvement stores, BBQ restaurants and steak houses made a city manlier."

The makers of these rankings also took points away for "emasculating" factors. If a high number of city residents admit to driving a foreign car or minivan, or if they'd rather read Vanity Fair and Vogue than Hustler and Playboy, that location was down graded. Points were also lost on teh manliness-scale for having lot of coffee shops, sushi restaurants, home decor stores or stores that specialized in "modern" clothing for men.

So, how did it all shake down?

You can read the full list of rankings here, but here are a few highlights:
• San Diego, California came in dead last (#50), and San Francisco, California was just before it at #49.
• Las Vegas, Nevada; New York, New York; Washington, D.C.; and Boston, MA were all well in the bottom half of the list.
• Tampa, FL had the biggest change in its ranking from last year. It moved up 16 spots, representing a big jump in its manliness, to # 23
• Nashville, TN moved down three spots from last year, to its current ranking of #4. It lost the title of Manliest City in American to Oklahoma City, OK.