New York City was dubbed “Fun City” more than 40 years ago as an ironic reference to the woes the city faced then.

Transit strikes, rising crime rates, soaring taxes were the news of the day. But the mayor, John Lindsay, a dashing ex-congressman in his mid-40s, took the bad news in stride. He said that no matter what happened, New York was still an enjoyable place to live. It was a fun city, he insisted.

A nickname was born. Columnists quickly put Lindsay’s offhand remark in capital letters, ironically dubbing the metropolis Fun City.

That’s not what people remember today. New York is still called Fun City, but the term stopped being a knock more than 30 years ago. It has evolved into a tribute to the city’s rebirth, energy, and spirit.

A new analysis by Portfolio.com/bizjournals finds “Fun City” fits New York perfectly. It offers the nation’s broadest range of options for recreation and entertainment, according to the study’s calculations. That truly makes it the fun capital of America.

Explore an interactive that breaks down the largest U.S. metropolitan areas and how they rank as best places to have fun.

Several factors make New York the clear leader:

—It’s the No. 1 market in three of the study’s seven categories: shopping, food and drink, and culture. And it’s a runner-up in three others, ranking second for high-impact sports and third for popular entertainment and low-impact sports.

—It overwhelms all other markets in sheer volume. The New York City area, for instance, has 431 museums and historical sites. That’s more than the combined total of 349 in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Dallas, the next three metropolitan areas in population.

—It boasts impressive concentrations in several fields. New York City has 399.7 stores, 82.8 restaurants, 12.5 fitness centers, and 2.3 museums per 100,000 residents, topping Los Angeles, Chicago, and Dallas in all four head-to-head matchups.

Read one writer's account of how fun New York City used to be a decade or so ago.

Portfolio.com/bizjournals created a comprehensive formula to evaluate the opportunities for fun in the nation’s 100 largest markets.

The process began with the collection of federal statistics for 14 relevant types of businesses, from retail stores and restaurants to gambling casinos and golf courses. Each market was graded on both the volume (total number) and the concentration (rate per 100,000 residents) of such businesses.

Results were then grouped in seven broad categories of fun: shopping, food and drink, culture, popular entertainment, gambling, and high-impact and low-impact sports. The best scores went to markets that performed well in a wide array of categories. (See the methodology sidebar for details.)

Second place on the list of America’s fun places belongs to Chicago, which ranks among the 10 leaders in six of the study’s seven categories. Its best performances are third place for food and drink and fourth place for popular entertainment.

Rounding out the top 10 are Boston, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland (Maine), Philadelphia, and Minneapolis.