We’ve talked in the past about what to do and where to go in the event of a zombie apocalypse — but if you really want to nip the problem in the bud, it all comes down to where you live in the first place. The data analysis wizards at real estate site Trulia recently came up with a ranking of the most appetizing U.S. cities for zombies, and, well… let’s just say that if you want to survive, you’re better off not living in one of these places.
Trulia scored each location on four pieces of criteria:
- Highest Walk Score — that is, how walkable an area is (which, you might recall, factored into Zillow’s ranking of the 10 best cities for trick-or-treating)
- Lowest density of hardware stores
- Highest density of hospitals
- Most congestion
According to Trulia, zombie-friendly cities are walkable, allowing the undead free movement; have a low density of hardware stores, preventing survivors from both arming themselves and building up fortifications; contain a large number of hospitals, providing zombies with lots of “defenseless food”; and have high levels of congestion, making it difficult for those still alive to make a run for it. I would also argue that places with lots of congestion give the undead even more food options — the more populous a place is, the more prey there is.
And the top 10 cities zombies will likely find the most hospitable are… drumroll, please…
- Honolulu, HI
- New York, NY
- Newark, NJ
- Boston, NY
- Washington, D.C.
- San Francisco, CA
- Miami, FL
- Orange County, CA
- Los Angeles, CA
- Seattle, WA
If you happen to live in any of those areas…
But those aren't the only places you'll want to avoid if the dead suddenly begin rising; Trulia even went so far as to put together a map depicting the top 25 places zombies are likely to flock. Amazingly, Atlanta, GA didn’t make the list; maybe that explains how Rick Grimes and company have survived for so long:
<img width="655" alt="" src="http://www.trulia.com/tips/files/2014/10/Trulia-Zombie-Infographic-10.16-smaller.jpeg" height="655" class="article-body-image" title="Image: http://www.trulia.com/tips/files/2014/10/Trulia-Zombie-Infographic-10.16-smaller.jpeg"/>
Oh, and if you decide to make a run for it? Don’t forget to take Crusoe the Celebrity Dachshund with you. He’s rather adept at killing zombies, as we recently discovered:
Happy zombie hunting!
Images: Gifrific; Doctor Who/Tumblr; Trulia
