Denver ranks No. 4 in pretentious U.S. cities

Cafe Valet, a St. Louis-based coffee service company for hotel rooms, has deemed Denver the fourth most pretentious city in the U.S.

Is it our obsession with outdoor activities? Pilates? Yoga pants? Microbrews? What?

The the three cities that are allegedly more pretentious? San Francisco ranks No. 1 followed by San Jose and San Diego. After Denver, the rest of the top 10 list includes Portland, Austin, Seattle, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New Orleans.

Here’s what the coffee company said in its online blog: “Noting an increase in macchiato swirls, poetry readings, Moleskines and animal acupuncturists, Café Valet has cited San Francisco as America’s Most Pretentious City in their first annual Pretension Index, a quantitative analysis of pretension levels in America.

“Developed by a team of data scientists, the Pretension Index examines where these modern day latte art lovers are most concentrated, mining data from a variety of sources including the U.S. Census Bureau, Facebook, local business data and more in the 50 most populous U.S. metro areas.

“San Francisco earned a Pretension Index score of 85 out of a potential 100, besting San Jose (64), San Diego (59), Denver (56) and Portland (56). ‘As the standard-bearers for the ‘Regular Joe,’ we fear for San Francisco’s future,’ said Andrew Barnett, who led the analysis for Café Valet. ‘The notion that people are paying $100 for civet coffee to drink while wearing a woolen cap in the summertime is a problematic trend.'”

Cafe Valet says on its website that it analyzed “the top 50 U.S. metro areas, each with populations of 1 million or more. The Pretension Index was calculated based upon a combination of metrics from three categories.”

For the rest of the story, pull on your yoga pants and go to www.cafevalet.com/blog/san-francisco-cited-as-most-pretentious-american-city/.