What do you need in a zombie apocalypse more than a katana or shotgun? People. If humanity is to get out of World War Z alive, we need engineers, doctors, military personnel, and scientists. The US city stacked with the most of this zombifyable resource is Boston, Massachusetts. At least according to a subjective assessment the economics and employment records of the US’ major cities.
Using data from Economic Modeling Specialists Intl. (EMSI), CareerBuilder has completed a surprisingly thorough analysis of which 53 US cities with populations over 1 million would most likely survive a zombie outbreak and why. Cities were ranked based on eight factors within four categories: ability to defend against a zombie virus, ability to contain that virus, ability to find a cure, and ability to outlast the epidemic with an ample food supply.
For example, based on the percentage of residents that are involved with the military (the city has a large naval presence) and law enforcement, Virginia Beach, Virgina tops the list of cities best able to defend against the virus. And based on population density and the percentage of the population in top engineering careers, Denver, Colorado would best contain the virus.
But altogether, Boston was best equipped. Though the city’s total non-perishable food exports ranked low on the ample food supply scale, the significant number of biomedical employees — 24,000 biological and medical scientists and professionals — and relatively high defense score combined for the #1 ranking. Boston was followed closely by Salt Lake City, Utah (due to a high defense score) and Columbus, Ohio (a huge exporter of non-perishable foods).
The city least prepared for the walking dead was a hub you may not expect: New York City. Sure, it had a decent defense score, but its extreme population density resulted in a negative containment score that put it firmly at the bottom of a writhing pile of undead corpses.
CareerBuilder compiled all the results into an interactive map that you can explore here. Where does your city rank?
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Featured Image: Bethesda Softworks
