‘Dirty streets and human waste?’ Twitter not buying survey claiming San Francisco is ‘healthiest’ US city

A new report names San Francisco, California the healthiest city in the United States, but the public seems skeptical, considering the endless coverage of the city’s homeless crisis and unsanitary streets.

Though WalletHub is typically used to check credit scores, it turned its attention recently to grading cities in the United States based on how ‘healthy’ they are. According to their experts and number crunching, San Francisco came out on top.

This has come as a surprise to many as every outlet from Fox News to the New York Times has dedicated coverage to the city’s exploding homeless population and feces-covered streets.

‘Walking San Francisco’s Dirty Streets,’ a video from NBC released last July, sent journalists on an adventure across the streets littered in used drug needles, feces and garbage. In December, the city’s Public Works Department reported over 30,000 cases of “human or animal waste” in public, and that is an increase over 2018.

Fox News did an investigative report last summer on the overflow of homeless citizens in the city.

The homeless population in San Francisco was reported to be over 8,000 last year, according to a count required by the US Department of Health and Human Services. Considering these are not typically reports and statistics that would come out of one’s ‘healthiest city,’ not many are buying into WalletHub’s assessment.

“Yeah, because human feces are a great moisturizer for the feet and toes,” conservative cartoonist Ben Garrison tweeted.

“Is this The Onion?” asked Dan Lyman, a foreign correspondent for InfoWars. 

Mark Tsu, founder of the Asian American Freedom PAC and a delegate from California, called the study a “hilarious attempt to stave off declining tourism.”

WalletHub focused its study on specific criteria — health care access, green spaces, food choices, and physical fitness options — that conveniently ignore the major issues the city is facing.

According to its report, San Francisco ranked the highest when it came to green spaces and food options. It then ranked fourth for fitness and 29th for health. Each of these rankings were given a score and then averaged out and the city came out in first place – with Seattle, Washington and San Diego, California following close behind. 

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