Of course you thought Silicone City would top the list of cities obsessed with looks -- and it does in some categories. There are 4.1 plastic surgeons per 100,000 people, and Angelenos spend nearly $50 million a year on cosmetics, hair products and skin care. California has more hair restoration surgeons than any other state, and we're betting they're heavily concentrated here. Number of personal care businesses? More than 3,700 -- second only to New York City.
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4. Salt Lake City, Utah
Shocking but true: the home city of the Mormon church boasts more plastic surgeons than any other city in the U.S.: for every 100,000 people, there are six plastic surgeons. Compared to other cities, Salt Lake has fewer businesses devoted to the art of beautifying (344 by Census count) but the citizens spent only slightly less on services each year: $2.2 million on hair coloring, $2.5 million on cosmetics, and nearly $4.5 million on skincare.
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3. San Francisco, CA
Despite the city's au natural patchouli-hippie history, San Francisco ranks third in vanity industries and spending. Citizens blow about $11 million a year on skincare, $5.2 million on hair products and $1.3 million on makeup, and there are 5.4 plastic surgeons per 100,000 people.
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2. Miami, Fla.
Miamians aren't the healthiest specimens according to Census statistics on smoking, drinking and exercise, but what they lack in natural assets they more than make up for in beauty products and services like manis and pedis, facials, hair treatments, makeup and plastic surgery. There are 5.2 board certified plastic surgeons for every 100,000 people (in a city of nearly 425,000). And the bare-it-all citizens spend more than $23 million annually on cosmetics, skin care and hair products.
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1. New York City
Sure, there are only 4.1 plastic surgeons per 100,000 people in the New York City region (compared to Salt Lake City's six), but the Big Apple outspends every other city in nearly every category -- more than $21 million on hair coloring, $32.5 million on skin care, $5.5 million on makeup and nearly $530,000 on hair growth products. According to the Census Bureau, there were more than ten thousand personal care businesses (think: hair and nail salons, day spas) in 2002 (the most recent year available) -- nearly three times the number in any other city. The state of New York also has the second highest number of hair restoration surgeons, and chances are they're centralized around The City.
We're all for wanting to look good -- heck, we spend our days telling you about the latest, greatest (and not so stellar) in the world of beauty. But then there's vanity -- being obsessed with looks to the point of spending major bucks on stuff that's supposed to make you pretty. We compiled data on the vanity industry -- plastic surgeons, tanning salons and businesses that cater to your hair, nails and skin -- to find out which cities are more obsessed than the rest. Find out if you live in a me-me-me city.
