SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – Innerbody Research, an online health and wellness guide, compiled a list of the U.S. cities with the highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases — and one Bay Area city stands out near the top of the list.
San Francisco has the third-highest STD rate in the nation, at 3,150 cases per 100,000 people, behind only Jackson, Mississippi (with 4,281 cases per 100,000) and Baltimore, Maryland (with 3,707 cases per 100,000).
Innerbody Research compiled the list on a city-by-city basis after the Centers for Disease Control released its 2020 STD Surveillance Report earlier this year.
San Francisco is the only California city in the top 25. It had been No. 4 in the last Innerbody Research list.
The City By the Bay also boasts a significantly higher rate than Golden State runner-up Los Angeles, which is at No. 37 with 1,464 cases per 100,000. After the City of Angels comes Sacramento at No. 51 with 1,302 cases per 100,000, San Diego at No. 55 with 1,285 cases per 100,000, and Bakersfield at No. 68 with 1,220 cases per 100,000.
Oakland is No. 72, and San Jose is all the way down at No. 137 with 738 cases per 100,000.
Nationally, 19 of the top 25 cities are in the American South, where health officials have been warning about an epidemic of STDs for years.
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The Top 10 cities are:
- Jackson, Mississippi
- Baltimore, Maryland
- San Francisco, California
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Washington, D.C.
- Augusta, Georgia
- New York, New York
- Montgomery, Alabama
- Knoxville, Tennessee
- Fayetteville, North Carolina
Augusta, Montgomery and Fayetteville have relatively small populations but are adjacent to military bases — the guide notes.
Also, Washington, D.C. is new to the top 10, having been No. 17 before.
Florida has four cities in the top 25, with the highest being Tallahassee at No. 14. Miami is No. 24.