When it comes to useless Internet rankings, Atlanta's had an admirable run of late — to the point this city could be declared the overall champion of nothing. Take pride in knowing the ATL has been named the funniest, nerdiest and most meat-lovingest city in America. Hell, the real estate blog Movoto declared our city the second "Best" in the land last year. Just in general. But a new, deeply researched ranking by Estately gives the clear-cut Capital of the South short shrift. Shouldn't Hick-lanta rank pretty darn high in a Top 50 list of America's "Most Country" cities? We're talking about the home of Jeff Foxworthy, the asinine Lester Maddox and 17,000 country radio stations. A city where dinners order ketchup with their steaks. Shhh, listen. Those muffled "yee-hahs" are our inner cowboys being oppressed right now.
Estately gave Atlanta a measly 38th place in the "Most Country" category, between head-scratchers Philadelphia and Miami. (With these metrics, how can Atlanta not beat Philly?)
Well, y'all, the methodology was pretty simple: Estately tallied up the most populated cities in the country and ranked them 1 to 50 based on the percentage of Facebook users listing 10 countrified topics as interests. These items included country music, fishing, hunting, NASCAR, firearms, barbecue, cowboy boots, pickup trucks, rodeos and sweet tea. Makes sense, but the study probably focused strictly on the city of Atlanta, and not the metro. Anyhow, when all the cow chips were tallied, Fort Worth, Texas was crowned "America's Most Country City." The aristocrats of San Francisco came in last,
Movoto, it should be noted, ranked Atlanta the most redneck city in America last year. They compiled data such as number of cowboy boot stores, taxidermists and Walmarts per capita. That should count for something.
Then again, Atlanta lost the NASCAR Hall of Fame to Charlotte in 2006, thereby allowing the mass financial hemorrhaging to happen elsewhere. And Atlanta was the saving grace — the sophisticated safe zone — in the book "Deliverance."
· 50 Largest U.S. Cities Ranked From Most "Country" To Least [Estately]
· Was NASCAR Shrine An Albatross ATL Didn't Need? [Curbed]
· Atlanta Ranked America's Second Best City. Right On. [Curbed]
[ABOVE: Image via Estately]
Loading comments...