15. New Orleans, 545 public corruption convictions 14. Boston, 562 13. Sacramento & Fresno, 571 12. Orlando, 585 11. Austin & San Antonio, 610 10. Brooklyn, 761 9. Richmond, 764 8. Philadelphia, 852 7. Cleveland, 885 6. Newark, 909 5. Miami, 970 4. Washington, D.C, 1005 3. Manhattan, 1202 2. Los Angeles, 1275 And the winner, by a clear landslide, is ... (ding, ding, ding) 1. Chicago, 1531, public corruption convictions Source: Click2Houston: Most corrupt cities in the U.S. Based on data from the U.S. DOJ on public corruption convictions 1976-2010 analyzed at UICC. Note, however, that NYC is reported by boroughs (+ Newark just over the Hudson), which collectively come in much higher than Chicago, and a couple reporting areas include two major cities. The data really needs to be adjusted by population, perhaps organized by SMSA, for the rankings to be meaningful. If they'd adjust properly for population, I'd bet small smaller bureaucratic hellholes would really "shine".