San Francisco 3rd Best City in the World to Live

31Mar09

In AskMen.com’s most recent mega-feature, they rated the world’s top cities to decide which ones are the best for men to live in. Coming in first is the US’ very own Chicago, followed by Barcelona. I can’t argue with Barcelona, but Chicago at Number 1?  Of more importance, though, is that San Francisco was rated at Number 3, besting locales such as Tokyo, Hong Kong, LA (how did they even make the list?), Sydney, and the most overrated city in the world, New York.

If you take a look at the graphic above, they rated cities based on Sports & Entertainment (have they heard of the Warriors, Raiders, and Niners?), Culture, Fashion, Health, Power & Money, Dating & Sex, and The Good Life. San Francisco scored the max on every category except Fashion. I guess the editors aren’t into Hipster trends.

The first thing I noticed in their feature was the “Average cost of a pint of beer in this city” which lists a pint at $4 in San Francisco, lower than the national average of $4.48. Sounds about right, but my unemployed self usually pays about $3-4 for a pint. 

Their reasons for rating San Francisco so high included many of the usuals, like our gorgeous bay, politics, recreation, bars and nightlife, and the world-renowned culinary scene that has “some of the best restaurants in North America, claiming one restaurant for every 279 people.”

One interesting fact they mentioned that some may not know is that “San Francisco was the healthiest city in the U.S. in 2008, at least according to USA Today.” It makes sense when you think about the fact that everyone here is an absolute health nut, but giving it an official ranking really puts it into perspective of how nutty everyone is here about their health.

You may also be wondering how they factored in the gay community, perhaps that is why it was rated so high as a city for men to live? And what do they think about the women in the city?

The city’s boy-to-girl ratio (male: 51%; female: 49%) doesn’t seem promising at first, but remember this is San Francisco, so you can shave a good 8% to 10% off the competition right there. Be advised that women here are the cream of the brain trust — San Francisco was named one of the top 10 smartest cities by Forbes last year — so the kind of “hey baby” come-on that works in L.A. or Miami Beach ain’t gonna work here. 

However, the real practical reason why men should live in San Francisco in 2009?

San Francisco today is home to one of the most stunning waterfronts in the world, arguably the country’s best baseball stadium, AT&T Park (which true locals call Mays Field, after the legendary Giants player Willie Mays) and one of the world’s most dynamic business cultures. The culture of innovation is the result of a continuous influx of highly educated new media creatives, scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs. In fact, economic recovery in the Bay Area is expected to lead the nation, bouncing back in the third quarter, according to the Association of Bay Area Governments.

But then why am I still unemployed!? Does running a blog make me a “new media creative?” Probably not, since you have to be creative.

Check out the full article here, and read more about the other cities that made the list.

Thanks for the tip, Brian!

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Tags: ask men, askmen.com, barcelona, best cities to live in, chicago, hong kong, la, new york, san francisco, survey, sydney, tokyo