If Zombies Walk the World, Boston's the Place to Be

Of all the information you don’t need to know, this ranks high. But, hey, it’s Halloween, and if you can’t talk about your city’s ability to survive a zombie apocalypse now, when can you?

Metro Boston is where you want to be should the walking dead start roaming the streets.

The folks at Careerbuilder took some time out from helping Americans find jobs to put together the Zombie Apocalypse Index, which scored cities’ chances of survival against an everyday flesh-eating virus in eight different factors in four categories: ability to defend against the virus; ability to contain the virus; ability to find a cure; and bility to outlast the virus with an ample food supply.

If you really want to survive — and if the world is suddenly overtaken by hordes of entrail-eating zombies, do you? — you should stay put in the Boston area.

Boston is the number 1 city to survive the attack, largely thanks to the advanced medical facilities in the area. The city has the best chance of finding a cure than any other place in the country, the zombie prognosticators say. Boston also ranked highly in its ability to defend itself (14th) and contain the zombie virus (17th).

The CareerBuilder study ranks the 53 largest U.S. metropolitan areas (with more than 1 million residents) based on their occupational skills and industry characteristics. A standard, flesh-eating virus transmitted via biting or contact with infected blood is assumed. The index is scored on eight different factors in four categories: ability to defend against the virus, ability to contain the virus, ability to find a cure and ability to outlast the epidemic with an ample food supply. The study is based on data from Economic Modeling Specialists Intl., which analyzes labor market data from more than 90 national, state and local employment resources.

Here are the top 10 places to survive the walking dead:

1. Boston

2. Salt Lake City

3. Columbus, OH

4. Baltimore

5. Virginia Beach, VA

6. Seattle

7. San Diego

8. Kansas City, MO.

9. Denver

10. Indianapolis

Happy Halloween.

» Patch file photo by Beth Dalbey