The 'Healthiest City In America' Is A Scenic Coastal Gem With A Shockingly Bad Reputation

Once the center of America's "Summer of Love," San Francisco, according to some, is falling on hard times. San Francisco's image has taken a hit, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Two Gallup polls conducted 17 years apart showed that the percentage of Americans who viewed San Francisco as safe fell from 70% to 52%. Downtown storefronts are sitting vacant at almost double their pre-pandemic rates. In an open letter, local retailer Gump's took a page ad in the San Francisco Chronicle that accused the city of "allowing the homeless to occupy our sidewalks, to openly distribute and use illegal drugs, to harass the public and to defile the city's streets." The city also got shellacked by a post-pandemic departure of big tech firms, who halved their downtown office space from 16 million square feet in 2019 to roughly 8 million in 2024.

The money has been leaving downtown, and notoriety is creeping into the vacant space. However, San Francisco's residents are too busy living healthily to care about their bad reputation. MindBody, an online platform dedicated to helping people meet exercise goals, crowned San Francisco as the healthiest city in America in 2023. The platform acknowledged San Francisco's high number of yoga practitioners and its low percentage of smoking citizens. Similarly, Hers called San Francisco the best place for healthy living in the country. How can such an apparently dangerous place enjoy such high health scores? WalletHub summed up San Francisco's conflicting reputations perfectly. In 2024, it named San Francisco the healthiest place to live in the country while crowning it as the United States' worst-run city. Today, we'll give San Francisco a break and focus on the healthy side of this coastal playground.

The very breeze blowing in from the bay is a major reason for the city's high health scores. San Francisco's weather is famously cloudy but rarely super cold — the average high in January is a balmy 57 degrees Fahrenheit. This climate is like a petri dish for exercise: It's rarely too hot to make you feel like a slug, and it's not too cold to spend the day outside. However, it takes more than nice weather to get the people going. 

The city's ever-shifting cultural scene adds to the happiness and health of its residents, who can constantly take advantage of shows, street art, and fascinating architecture. Careful city planning has created one of America's most walkable cities, where you can take the stairs or choose the tram to head from architectural marvel to cultural draw.

So, the weather is nice and you can walk to a lot of cool stuff. But what else makes San Francisco's heart beat at a healthy rhythm? San Franciscans tend to get a good night's sleep, spend more of their earnings on wellness-related products and services, and have close connections with loved ones. Additionally, San Francisco invests more in parks and recreation than other cities, which means the majority of its residents live near a space, whether it be a walking path or fitness studio, to help them get moving.

A healthy day in the city starts with outdoor yoga at Baker Beach, one of the best LGBTQ+ beaches in America. This program offers year-round scenic stretches with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. Afterward, fuel up with build-your-own açai bowls at Palmetto Superfoods, whose flagship store is about a 45-minute walk from Baker Beach. You can also head directly to the Lands End Trail in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, a 30-minute walk from Baker Beach. Once you arrive at the trailhead, you'll enjoy 4 winding miles through Sutro Baths.

Walk to the Lands End Lookout and, if you still have strength, turn around and amble back toward the center of the city through Golden Gate Park. At the other end of the park, you'll find a healthy place to tackle your hunger at The Hungry Spot. The restaurant serves filling sandwiches and uses locally sourced ingredients. Even the turkey brisket is smoked in-house. The Hungry Spot is just 1 mile from San Francisco's iconic Painted Ladies houses, so you can grab your meal and enjoy it al fresco at Alamo Square Park. Finish the day with a relaxing session at Kabuki Springs & Spa, an authentic Japanese bathhouse in Japantown. Pamper up and then order some ramen at Marufuku or check out vegan options at Hinodeya Ramen Bar, both an easy walk from the spa. For a healthy nightcap, take the stairs up 17 floors and enjoy dinner in the sky at San Francisco's iconic revolving Regency Club restaurant.