The least ‘glamorous’ big city in America is right here in Utah

A Utah city figures prominently in a ranking of the most glamorous places in America, although that’s not really a good thing.

West Valley City is dead last on a list of 200 U.S. cities.

LawnStarter, an outdoor home service company, compared the 200 biggest cities in the United States based on six categories broken down into 39 “glam factors.” The metrics include the number of million-dollar homes, Michelin-starred restaurants, plastic surgeons, luxury jewelry shops and exclusive yacht clubs.

Not surprisingly, West Valley City didn’t do well in any of these categories. There are no yacht clubs on Decker Lake. It finished 105th in clubs, 188th in status and wealth, and 176th in fine dining.

This is nothing new for the city on the west side of Salt Lake County, which has seen similar results in several other such studies. In 2022, it was named the least artsy city in America, and No. 200 (last place) in a ranking of best cities for breakfast lovers. West Valley City was No. 189 (out of 200) on a list of best cities for bagel lovers released in January. And, just this week, it was No. 197 (out of 200) on a list of the best cities for pizza lovers.

The only other Utah location on the list is Salt Lake City, which didn’t place in the top 1% but did place in the top 21%, at No. 42. Utah’s capital finished 25th in status and wealth, 64th in fine dining and 105th in clubs.

LawnStarter collected data and grouped it into six categories — status and wealth, clubs, fine dining, beauty, fashion and entertainment. It then calculated weighted scores for each city in each category, and averaged the scores for each city across all categories.

New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami and Chicago top the list of the most glamorous cities. And joining West Valley City at the bottom are cities in Michigan, Connecticut and Texas.

Most glamorous cities

1. New York.

2. Los Angeles.

3. San Francisco.

4. Miami.

5. Chicago.

6. Las Vegas.

7. Houston.

8. Atlanta.

9. Dallas.

10. Washington, D.C.

Least glamorous cities

191. North Las Vegas, Nev.

192. Waco, Texas.

193. Columbus, Ga.

194. Cape Coral, Fla.

195. Moreno Valley, Calif.

196. Laredo, Texas.

197. Brownsville, Texas.

198. Bridgeport, Conn.

199. Warren, Mich.

200. West Valley City, Utah.