Lubbock Makes a Website’s Top 10 Best Cities for Teenagers

In what is possibly another website randomly making a list about random stuff, Lubbock made the top 10 (out of 100) best cities for teenagers. Mainly, the list is based on fun things for teenagers to do.

Wait, what?

Look, I know Lubbock is getting better and better at being a city all the time. We're adding all kinds of new places to go have fun. But is there really enough fun stuff currently here for teens for us to earn the no. 9 spot? I highly doubt it. And the best city for teens in Texas? No way, Jose.

According to SmartAsset.com, they ranked the 100 largest U.S. cities to determine which were best for teens. (I don't think Lubbock actually is one of the 100 largest U.S. cities by the way. In radio ratings, we are in the 170s). The data they used was (and I quote their site here):

We looked at the number of basketball hoops, baseball diamonds, skate parks, beaches, disc golf courses, bowling alleys, theaters and arcades per 100,000 residents. We also looked at how many teens there are in each city (as a percentage of the total population) and how easy it is to get around each city on foot (the Walk Score).

We also considered metrics relating to the work environment for teens: the teen unemployment rate and the minimum wage. Lastly, we considered the average high school graduation rate at schools in each city.

Now, as people who actually live here, let's break this down, shall we?

We probably have a lot of basketball hoops, but I don't know where they are.

We do have a lot of baseball diamonds; this is Texas and we love baseball. I think we are down to two or three bowling alleys.

We have a really good amount of theaters and they are all top notch venues in my opinion, so that's right.

We have two skate parks that I know of.

And I think we might have two actual disc golf courses. That's all.

And zero beaches. None. Not a one. Well, Buffalo Springs Lakes has one, but almost no teenagers drive out there and use it, so it shouldn't really count here.

This site then goes on to include graduation rates and working rates which, call me old, but I never thought those were "fun" when I was a teenager.

So in essence, I think this study might just be a ploy to hopefully get people to talk about it because "we made the list!" Well, I talked about it for you, so don't bother clicking the links and seeing for yourself.