How Manly Is Your City?

W

hen you think of cities, the first quality that comes to mind probably isn’t manliness. You probably think of things like availability of jobs, nightlife, cuisine, cost of living, etc. But since 2009, Combos, makers of those cheese-filled pretzel snacks, have compiled a list of America’s manliest cities, and this year, Oklahoma City, OK tops the list, having dethroned last year’s list-topper Nashville, TN.

Apparently Combos thinks of itself as a manly snack, which is news to us. To us, they suggest ickiness, not manliness.

Why would someone rate cities based on manliness? More specifically, why would Combos—who partnered with Sperling’s BestPlaces to conduct this research for the fourth year running—want you to know what cities it thinks are mas macho?

Apparently Combos thinks of itself as a manly snack, which is news to us. We don’t see what’s so manly about cheese-filled pretzel snacks. To us, they suggest ickiness, not manliness. But Combos undoubtedly has copious market research to show that its consumers are mostly men, and we all know how much men like to be thought of as manly. And far be it for us to suggest that men should choose their empty calories based on anything other than how they reflect on their testosterone level. So let’s just accept that Combos is manly and it’s the perfect brand to be sponsoring this research.

The criteria used in computing the results are pretty much what you’d expect. Cities were ranked on such categories as “sports,” “manly lifestyle,” “concentration of manly retail stores,” “manly magazine subscriptions,” and, least surprising of all, given who sponsors the research, “salty snack sales.”

What is equally unsurprising, but is not something Combos wants you to think about, is what other list many of the manliest cities also appear on. This year’s winner, Oklahoma City, topped a list of America’s Most Unhealthy Cities in 2010, thanks to an obesity level four points above the national average.

Memphis, TN, the third most manly city, was number two on the same unhealthy list, and many of the other cities on Combos list rank among the highest in the nation for obesity. So it’s not surprising that San Francisco and San Diego rank the lowest, considering that they are among the healthiest cities in the country, and, we’d be willing to bet, among the worst markets for Combos sales.