City Stories Index · United States · 2026 edition
New Orleans vs San Diego
Not opinions, measured walking data. On what we can measure, New Orleans leads 4–2. Character is a different question: New Orleans is the creole port; San Diego is the exposition city.
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| What we measure | New Orleans | San Diego | Leads |
|---|---|---|---|
| Places with a storyspots where a route tells you what happened there | 83 | 50 | New Orleans |
| How often you pass a storymetres from one story to the next; fewer is better | 208 | 260 | New Orleans |
| Historical figuresreal people you meet in its stories | 15 | 1 | New Orleans |
| Instagrammabilityscore /100, on the index’s fixed scale | 34 | 54 | San Diego |
| Group outingsof every 100 plays, how many bring a group of 3+ | 25 | 23 | New Orleans |
| International visitors% of player reviews written in a foreign language | 0 | 1 | San Diego |
Differences under 5% count as ties. Sample sizes and definitions on the methodology page.
What their stories are about
How many places with a story each city has per theme: New Orleans in orange, San Diego in blue. All bars share one scale, so lengths are comparable everywhere on the chart.
New OrleansSan Diego
26 places
legends & myths4 places
20 places
arts & culture17 places
13 places
guilds & trade5 places
11 places
faith & churches1 place
9 places
parks & leisure11 places
9 places
crime & dark history3 places
New Orleans scorecard →
The creole port
San Diego scorecard →
The exposition city