By Jonathan Friedman
Associate Editor

November 26, 2014 -- If you want to make sure your next rental home has a hot tub, there is a decent chance you don’t have to leave town. The rental listings website Zumper reported this month that Santa Monica has the highest percentage of rental homes with hot tubs in the nation.

The report gained some media attention, including in the British tabloid The Daily Mail, which published an article on its website with the headline “Well It Is Home to the Stars.” 

“Considering that this beachfront city in Los Angeles County is home to countless celebrities ... it should come as no surprise that its residents have a penchant for hot tubs,” Margot Peppers wrote in the article.

It shouldn't be shocking that a British tabloid would take the celebrity angle. But Yahoo, which until recently had a large presence in Santa Monica with a building featuring its name on Colorado Avenue, also took this approach. 

“The upscale Californian beach town, on the doorstep of Los Angeles, is home to many Hollywood stars,” Brittany Jones Cooper wrote on Yahoo’s travel site. “Its proximity to the glitz and glamour of Hollywood might account for the popularity of hot tubs.”

Zumper determined that 4.5 percent of Santa Monica’s rental homes feature hot tubs, approximately six times the national average and .6 percentage points higher than runner-up Chicago. 

Wichita, Kansas and West Palm Beach, Florida were next on the list in a tie with 3.7 percent. They were followed by Kissimmee, Florida. with 3.6. Florida is hot tub heavy, with two other appearances in the top 10 -- Plantation at No. 7 with 2.9 percent and Aventura at No. 8 with 2.7 percent. 

Charlottesville, Virginia was the lone East Coast city on the list not located in Florida at No. 5 with 3.6 percent. The California cities of San Diego (2.5 percent) and Oceanside (2.4 percent) rounded out the top 10. 

Zumper determined this top 10 based on the listings on its website that note hot tubs as a feature. That is perhaps not the most scientific approach to creating a statistical chart, but it is one of the latest attempts in a growing trend of real estate websites and blogs that rate cities based on various categories. 

In some of these cases, Santa Monica has come off looking good. And in others, these lists have not featured something City officials would want to promote. 

Among the negative moments was when Movoto in April named Santa Monica as one of the 25 most dangerous suburbs in the country. Nearly three months later, the same website placed Santa Monica in the second slot for “The 10 Most Stressed Out Suburbs In America.” 

Many people had questions and arguments regarding the Movoto lists, including whether Santa Monica should be called a suburb. This is something to think about while relaxing in one of Santa Monica’s many hot tubs.