Ho hum North Florida: Jax ranks most boring in America, Tallahassee not far behind

Jacksonville has beaches, a diverse population, shopping centers, areas with clubs and nightlife and yet, it’s the most boring city in America, according to at least one analysis.

FinanceBuzz, an auto insurance advisory company, analyzed data from the 75 largest American cities and found the so-called “Bold New City of the South” to be pretty ho-hum. Analysts labeled the First Coast burg “the most boring city in the U.S.”

The study analyzed elements such as population makeup, culinary scenes, outdoor activities, nightlife, celebrations and other things to do in order to tabulate an “excitement score.” Using those metrics, Jacksonville appears to be pretty dull.

Jacksonville racked up an excitement score of a measly 14.3, the lowest score for any city.

With nearly 900 square miles of land within city limits, Jacksonville is America’s largest geographic city. But that expanse is apparently part of the problem in terms of the lack of excitement in the Northeast Florida metropolis.

“This means there are large stretches of the city where population density is relatively low, naturally leading to lower instances of things like nightclubs and award-winning restaurants. In fact, 54% of all restaurants in Jacksonville are chains, tied for the fourth-highest rate in the country, while the city has the third-lowest rate of nightclubs and fourth-lowest rate of concert venues per capita of any city,” FinanceBuzz analysts concluded.

Tallahassee wasn’t far behind with an excitement score of 20.5, tied with Phoenix, Arizona. The Florida capital finished ninth on the list of most boring towns across the country.

Analysts gave credit to Tallahassee for being home to Florida State University and Florida A&M University. But outside of spirited college students, Tallahassee is pretty lame on exciting possibilities.

“If any of those young (college) people are interested in award-winning food, however, they are out of luck, as there are zero award-winning restaurants in Tallahassee. The city also ranks in the bottom five in the number of sports teams available to watch and is in the bottom 15 in terms of both concert venues and must-see attractions per capita,” the FinanceBuzz report said.

Texas was the only other state with two cities in the top 10 most boring cities including Corpus Christi in third and San Antonio in sixth.

Florida, though, fared well when it came to the most exciting cities. Miami had an excitement score of 71.7, finishing second behind only Atlanta, Georgia, which ranked first with an excitement of 72.7.

“While Miami’s nightlife scene is comparable to Atlanta’s, food is an area where the city really shines. Only 35% of restaurants in the city are chains,” the report said. “Miami also scores very highly when it comes to things to do, thanks to the robust collection of sports teams and attractions in the city, ranking behind only Las Vegas. Miami is also second in the country in terms of international tourists per capita, with more than 950,000 for every 100,000 people who live there.”

Orlando also has a lot of happenings to keep people hopping, with an excitement score of 68.1 finishing fourth on the list of most exciting cities. Theme parks, of course, contributed to that score as well as other factors.

“It comes as no surprise, then, that the 49.3 amusement options per 100,000 people in Orlando are the highest in the country, and the 29.3 ‘must-see’ attractions per capita are the second-most of any city,” the analysis concluded.

Florida was the only state with more than one city in the top 10 most exciting list, and Tampa posted an excitement score of 51.6, marking its place as 20th most exciting metropolis in the nation.