By Richard Bernardo
WalletHub
Northern Kentuckians looking for one of the best cities in the country for a New Year’s Eve celebration need look no further than their own backyard.
Cincinnati ranks sixth in the country for New Year’s Eve entertainment value, according to WalletHub’s 2016 analysis of 100 U.S. cities.
The top five cities, according to the WalletHub rankings are Orlando, Florida, San Francisco, Atlanta, Denver and Buffalo, New York
Seeing the ball drop in New York City’s Times Square might be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but Wallet Hub ranks the “Big Apple” only number 38 on its list of best places to spend New Year’s Eve.
Other prominent locations that rank lower than Cincinnati for a party on the last day of the year include Las Vegas (10), Washington DC (11), and Los Angeles (27).
In Kentucky, Louisville also beat out New York City, ranking 37th, while Lexington-Fayette County came in 60th.
Local businesses in some cities are notorious for hiking up prices when big crowds are in town for a major event. The cheapest hotel rates in New Orleans and Atlantic City, for instance, can rise in excess of 300 and 500 percent, respectively, on New Year’s Eve compared with their normal prices. The last thing you want to do in the final hours of 2016 is ruin your finances over one night of entertainment.
To help decide where to count down to the new year, WalletHub’s number crunchers compared the 100 biggest cities based on 20 key indicators of an epic New Year’s Eve. The data set set ranges from “legality of fireworks” to “average price of a New Year’s Eve party ticket” to “forecasted precipitation for Dec. 31.”
In order to identify the best spots for celebrating New Year’s Eve, WalletHub’s analysts identified three key dimensions: 1) Entertainment & Food, 2) Costs and 3) Safety & Accessibility.
Next, it compiled 20 relevant metrics. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with 100 representing the most favorable conditions for New Year’s Eve partiers.
In determining the sample, WalletHub chose the city proper in each case and excluded the cities in the surrounding metro area. Anyone who lives in this region, however, knows there are plenty of fun and affordable entertainment options on both sides of the river.
Rankings were calculated by assessing 50 total points for “entertainment and food,” 30 points for “costs” and 20 points for “safety and accessibility.”*
Finally, WalletHub calculated the overall score for each city based on its weighted average across all metrics and used the resulting scores to rank them accordingly.
The complete list of cities and the detailed methodology used to determine the rankings is available here https://wallethub.com/edu/best-places-for-new-years-eve/17263/
A trip to New York, Las Vegas or Los Angeles would still be a great way to spend New Year’s Eve for those who can afford it. But for those who can’t, or just don’t want to, it’s nice to know there is an affordable option that is ranked among the best in the country right here.
*Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, Council for Community and Economic Research, Priceline, Texas A&M Transportation Institute, American Pyrotechnics Association, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Walk Score, Eventbrite, AccuWeather, Kayak, Eventbrite, Yelp, Numbeo and WalletHub research.
NKyTribune managing editor Mark Hansel contributed to this story